The
Indoor Football League is a professional
indoor football league created in
2008 out of the merger between the
Intense Football League and
United Indoor Football. Heading into
2010, the IFL will be second only to the
NFL in
the number of teams a North American Professional Football League
contains.
The IFL is now referred to by many sportswriters as the "Premier
League of Indoor Football". With the dissolving of the AFL and the
af2, the Indoor Football League has now become the largest of the 3
major leagues in Indoor/Arena Football. The other two leagues are
the
AIFA and the newly created
Arena Football 1. Though the IFL and the
AIFA do not intentionally coordinate in any way, the two leagues
are not directly competing with each other for markets. Only three
states (Maryland, Virginia & Washington State) and only one
city (Richmond, Virginia) have teams in both the IFL and the
AIFA.
History
The merger which formed the new IFL was announced the day before
the 2008 National Indoor Bowl Championship, a game which pitted the
champions of the two leagues against each other. In this hard
fought match, the Sioux Falls Storm (United) defeated the Louisiana
Swashbucklers (Intense) 54 to 42.
Of the 17 teams involved in the two previous leagues, 14 carried
over to the new organization's 2009 season. An additional 3 teams
came over from the
CIFL and two expansion teams
began their life in the new IFL. In the 2009 IFL United Bowl, the
Billings Outlaws (Intense
Conference) took the league championship by defeating the
River City Rage (United Conference) by a
score of 71 to 62.
After losing 2 teams to attrition after the end of the 2009 season,
the IFL added an additional 9 franchises to boost its membership to
26 for the 2010 season. 3 of the new teams were expansion
franchises. 2 moved over from the
Southern Indoor Football
League and
Continental Indoor Football
League. 4 teams were members of the now defunct AF2 that chose
to join the IFL instead of aligning with the newly formed
af1.
2010 teams
| Team |
Location |
Arena (Capacity)
|
| Abilene Ruff Riders |
Abilene, Texas |
Taylor County Expo Center (5,000)
|
| Alaska Wild |
Anchorage, Alaska |
Sullivan Arena (6,406)
|
| *Amarillo Dusters |
Amarillo, Texas |
Amarillo Civic Center (5,000)
|
| *Arctic Predators |
Wasilla, Alaska |
Curtis
D. Menard
Memorial Sports Center (1,700)
|
| *Arkansas Twisters |
North Little Rock, Arkansas |
Verizon Arena (16,000)
|
| *Austin Turfcats |
Austin, Texas |
Luedecke Arena (6,720)
|
| Billings Outlaws |
Billings, Montana |
Rimrock Auto Arena (8,700)
|
| Bloomington Extreme |
Bloomington, Illinois |
U.S. Cellular Coliseum (7,000)
|
| *Chicago Slaughter |
Hoffman Estates, Illinois |
Sears Centre (9,500)
|
| Colorado Ice |
Loveland, Colorado |
Budweiser Events Center (7,200)
|
| Corpus Christi
Hammerheads |
Corpus Christi, Texas |
American Bank Center (8,156)
|
| El Paso Generals |
El Paso, Texas |
El Paso County Coliseum (5,250)
|
| Fairbanks Grizzlies |
Fairbanks, Alaska |
Carlson Center (4,595)
|
| *Green Bay Blizzard |
Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin |
Resch Center (10,200)
|
| *La Crosse Spartans |
La Crosse, Wisconsin |
La Crosse Center (11,000)
|
| Maryland Maniacs |
Upper Marlboro, Maryland |
Show Place Arena (5,800)
|
| Odessa Roughnecks |
Odessa, Texas |
Ector County Coliseum (5,131)
|
| Omaha Beef |
Omaha, Nebraska |
Omaha Civic Auditorium (9,300)
|
| *Richmond Revolution |
Richmond, Virginia |
Arthur Ashe Athletic Center (6,000)
|
| Rochester Raiders |
Rochester, New York |
Blue Cross Arena (11,215)
|
| San Angelo Stampede
Express |
San Angelo, Texas |
San Angelo Coliseum (5,260)
|
| Sioux City Bandits |
Sioux City, Iowa |
Gateway Arena (6,437)
|
| Sioux Falls Storm |
Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
Sioux Falls Arena (4,700)
|
| *Tri-Cities Fever |
Kennewick, Washington |
Toyota Center (5,970)
|
| West Michigan
ThunderHawks |
Walker, Michigan |
DeltaPlex Arena (4,416)
|
| Wichita Wild |
Park City, Kansas |
Hartman Arena (5,000) |
* = New to IFL for 2010
Potential future expansion teams
Inactive
- RiverCity Rage - Owner suspended
them to focus on the Omaha Beef. There remains the possibility that
new ownership could step forward and the Rage could resume play for
the 2011 season.
- Saginaw Sting - played 2009
season, but owners have chosen to sit out the 2010 season to
restructure and to expand the financial picture. The team hopes to
resume play in 2011.
Former IFL Teams/Failed Expansion
IFL United Bowl results
References
-
http://www.billingsgazette.com/sports/football/professional/arena/blog/article_d1666b04-ce7c-11de-a663-001cc4c03
- [1]
- IFL Announces Franchises for 2010 season
- Swashbucklers Leave IFL for new SIFL
External links
was being renovated; website has since gone
offline
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