RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Roughly half of the Rapid City Marshals roster left the team on Friday, Co-Owner Wes Johnson tells KOTA News.

Team ownership notified players this week that moving forward they will only get paid $250 per game – that’s the 25% agreed upon in the contract between the team and the Arena Football League. As a result, nearly a dozen players quit.

Wages have been the primary concern from players all season, not only in Rapid City but across the country. It’s what ultimately led to last Saturday’s game, May 11, against the Billings Outlaws to be forfeited.

CONTEXT: Marshals players ‘refuse’ to come out of locker room

On Monday of this week, KOTA News heard from former players Tim Lukas and Brian Villanueva on what made them hold out against Billings, and do it the way they did.

”We’ll do anything to play this game, and we’ll believe anyone that tells us really good things,” Lukas said. “The more that we started seeing cracks in the walls and some of the things that seemed like they were getting ignored by a lot of people, the more it became apparent that we had to act on it.”

Marshals players started brainstorming how they wanted to send a message several days before last Saturday’s game. While it remains unclear what exactly those conversations looked like between players in private, it’s known that the timing of their actions were deliberate.

“Things were getting dragged out in previous weeks and we wanted to make sure that you know decisions were made you know quicker, and that was part of the strategy,” Villanueva said. “If it was truly about making sure that we were taking care of the players than I felt like there would have been a game played, honestly.”

READ: Hear from Marshals ownership as AFL receives backlash

Players whole-heartedly believed that the team ownership would meet their requests and pay them in full before kickoff against the Outlaws. That did not happen.

The Marshals wanted to make a statement, loud and clear, and the end result was felt by their peers across the league.

“A lot of the guys were proud that we stepped up and that we stuck together as a team to write a message to the entire league,” Lukas said.

“Had we not done it in that way, I don’t think it would have been felt as strong,” Villanueva continued.

Although players thought that not playing was the right move, ownership believed otherwise. Forfeiting the game against Billings put the franchise in a “really uncomfortable” financial position, according to Marshals Co-Owner Wes Johnson.

“Wes usually tells us how much time he spends with this organization, and knowing that there’s not a lot of personnel or resources in the building, I know that they both (Wes and Rebecca) are working extremely hard on it,” Lukas said.

Looking back on all of this, Lukas is happy he came to South Dakota, but thinks that if he would have done more research, some of these issues wouldn’t have come as a surprise.

“I wish I would have dug a little bit further into some of the people who are at the very top, running the AFL, just for my own peace of mind,” Lukas said. “But as far as having regrets, I don’t have any regrets.”

On Tuesday of this week, league owners unanimously voted to appoint Jeff Fisher to AFL interim commissioner. Fisher is a former NFL head coach and serves as the president of operations for the Nashville Kats. This move pushes out former league commissioner Lee Hutton.

MORE: Jeff Fisher named interim commissioner of AFL

In addition to league front office changes, many teams have undergone schedule reconstruction to help with scheduling logistics among the teams left in the league. This will take several weeks to finalize, according to Chris Chetty of G6 Sports Group.

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MISSOULA — During the school elections, DeSmet School District had an interesting ask of its voters, the district asked voters not to support a bond that would have been used to purchase land to build a rectangular field for the school.

This request came after Missoula County scheduled to transfer the land in question to the city, because of this, the city and the school district began discussions on ways they could work together to build the field.

Parks and Rec Director Donna Gaukler explained why those discussions took place.

“There’s no real reason for local government to buy land from local government when all we really need to do is think about what’s the best use of all these regardless of who it’s owned by,” Gaukler said.

“City, county, one of the schools and how do we get the greatest benefit out of it instead of selling land back and forth let’s save our money for improvements and for maximizing the benefits of the land for the public.”

Although this is not the first time the city has made an interlocal agreement with a second party, Matthew Driessen the superintendent of DeSmet School was appreciative with the city’s willingness to find a solution that would be more beneficial to taxpayers.

“Coming together to say here’s a way for us to continue with the vision but not increase the taxpayer’s bill I think is pretty important,” Driessen said.

“I think that type of collaboration is the type of government cooperation that the people of Missoula are looking for.”

Gaukler says even with an interlocal agreement between the city and the district the development of the field will still cost taxpayers, but this will be the most efficient way to get it built.

“Land is really expensive in the valley, development is really expensive, so the better in our opinion that we can use those lands the better that we can jointly spend taxpayers dollars and share as many facilities and lands as possible the greater our quality of life is for less money.”

No agreement between the district and city is official yet but one is expected to be made within the next year.

HELENA — Montana’s attorney general told supporters he skirted the state’s campaign finance laws by inviting another Republican to run against him as a token candidate in next month’s primary so he could raise more money for the November general election, according to a recording from a fundraising event.

“I do technically have a primary,” Attorney General Austin Knudsen said last week when asked at the event who was running against him. “However, he is a young man who I asked to run against me because our campaign laws are ridiculous.”

Knudsen separately faces dozens of professional misconduct allegations from the state’s office of attorney discipline as he seeks a second term. He made the comments about his primary opponent during the fundraiser on May 11 in Dillon, Montana, according to the recording obtained by the Daily Montanan, which is part of the nonprofit States Newsroom organization.

In the recording, Knudsen is heard saying that Logan Olson “filed to run against me simply because under our current campaign finance laws in Montana, it allows me to raise more money. So, he supports me and he’s going to vote for me.”

Knudsen’s senior campaign adviser Jake Eaton declined to comment on the recording.

Olson, a county attorney in rural northeastern Montana, denied being recruited by Knudsen. Campaign finance records indicate his filing fee was paid by a longtime Republican operative who is also a Knudsen donor.

The state’s campaign finance watchdog agency, the Commissioner of Political Practices, is investigating complaints filed by the executive director of the Montana Democratic Party that allege an agreement between Knudsen and Olson.

Under state law, a person cannot pay or “promise valuable consideration” to another person to induce them to be a candidate, or to withdraw as a candidate.

Democrat Sheila Hogan’s complaints say Knudsen started raising donations exceeding the $790-per person allowed without a primary opponent long before Olson filed on March 11 — the final day for candidate filing.

“Olson is not a legitimate, good faith candidate for Attorney General,” both complaints state.

Eaton, who called the complaint against Knudsen frivolous, said it was “common practice for candidates to accept primary and general contributions and then return the money if there is no contested primary.”

He suggested Democratic Attorney General candidate Ben Alke, a Bozeman attorney, was also accepting more money than what is allowed from individual donors.

However, a search of Alke’s campaign finance reports shows only contributions to his primary campaign.

Knudsen and Olson have until May 23 to respond to the complaints, although Olson has requested an extension, commissioner Chris Gallus said Friday.

Olson has not raised or spent any money in the race, according to a report filed by his treasurer on Friday.

His April campaign finance report listed a debt of more than $1,500 to Standard Consulting of Helena for reimbursement of his filing fee.

“I did pay Logan’s filing fee and helped him file for office,” Chuck Denowh, a Republican operative and owner of Standard Consulting, said in an email Friday. “I did so because he asked me to.”

Denowh has donated $1,580 to Knudsen — $790 each for the primary and general elections.

Alke said the professional misconduct allegations and other actions by Knudsen are why he’s running for attorney general.

Knudsen is facing 41 counts of professional misconduct on allegations his office tried to undermine the Montana Supreme Court while defending a challenge to a state law about judicial nominations. The Commission on Practice is scheduled to hear the case in mid-July and recommend whether Knudsen should be punished.

Separately, in early 2021 Knudsen ordered the Lewis and Clark County attorney to dismiss concealed carry weapons charges against a man who allegedly threatened a restaurant manager trying to enforce the state’s pandemic mask mandate. Knudsen’s office later pleaded the case down to disorderly conduct.

In October 2021, a Helena hospital said three unspecified public officials threatened doctors after they refused to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin, a drug for parasites that is not federally approved for the virus. Knudsen’s office later confirmed that he participated in a conference call with hospital executives and that he sent a Montana Highway Patrol trooper to the hospital to talk with the patient’s family after they claimed mistreatment — something the hospital denied.

“This sort of conduct from the chief legal officer and law enforcement officer of the state of Montana is inappropriate and I hope people are paying attention because this is just one of several issues with Austin Knudsen,” Alke said Thursday.