Anchorage Daily News

Just four days after firing his head coach and setting off a potential players' strike, Alaska Wild owner David Weatherholt is now apparently ready to sell the team.

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David Weatherholt

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Intense Football League president Chad Dittman on Monday said the league has stepped in to make sure Weatherholt sells the rights of the franchise to ensure the current players return to the field.

Nothing was official as of Monday night, but Dittman did confirm that the team should be under new management as early as today or by Sunday when the Wild host the defending league champion Louisiana Swashbucklers in a possible playoff preview.

"The league is doing everything it possibly can to get this team ready for Sunday. The game is going to be played," Dittman said by telephone. "Dave understands there needs to be a new owner. We're hoping to have something done as soon as possible.

"We've had a lot of interest from all over."

Some of the interested owners include defensive lineman Mao Tosi, a local football star and former NFL player with the Arizona Cardinals, Dan Austin, a former Anchorage resident and owner of the Billings Outlaws indoor football team, and Dr. Randy Deeter, an oral surgeon in Anchorage who already owns 15 percent of the Wild.

Deeter is part of the current group Dittman is negotiating with.

"He's the person I'd like to see involved," Dittman said. "He was born and raised there. He wants this team to be there a long time, and he has the financial wherewithall to do that."

With Weatherholt out of the picture, the current Wild players -- who threatened to strike if Weatherholt fired popular head coach Hans Deemer -- would return. They practiced Monday with assistant coach Abe Hernandez running the show.

The players aren't the only ones upset with Weatherholt, who has gone through four coaches in less than two seasons and made many other personnel changes. The cheerleaders apparently threatened to strike with the players and the fans have had it with him, too.

"It's unfortunate that it happened, for the fans more than anything," Dittman said. "They're getting cheated on our product."

Dittman said he received more than 100 e-mails since Friday from Wild fans asking the league to step in and make a change in management. The team is 4-2 and in playoff position.

"I'm not gonna kid anybody at this point. They want the team there but they want a different owner," Dittman said. "I think it's the only way we could solve this issue."

The Wild have been a sideshow under Weatherholt since he brought professional football to Alaska last year. If it wasn't the coaching carousal, it was an abusive behavior toward employees, Deemer said, and an unprofessional attitude toward the players, Tosi said.

Dittman said the IFL -- a fourth-year, nine-team league in Texas, Louisiana and Alaska -- needs the Wild to succeed.

"We know Anchorage is our best market. We don't get nearly the interest in Texas and Louisiana as we do in Alaska," he said. "(The fans) appreciate the product, but we have to give them their money's worth. Right now, we're doing that in Anchorage."

Figuring out a selling price for the Wild won't be easy. Each IFL team is worth $100,000, Dittman said, although the price tag for the Wild is higher than that. That's because the new owner will have to cover other expenses such as equipment and business offices as well as the existing debt the team has racked up under Weatherholt.

"The key is finding out all the liabilities and sharing that with potential parties," Dittman said. "Right now we're trying to finalize some things. We're talking to several different groups to make sure the team is there for a long time."

Find assistant sports editor Van Williams online at adn.com/vwilliams/contact or call him at 257-4335.

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