| Current season or competition: 2009 Indoor Football League season |
|
 Indoor Football League logo |
|
| Sport | Indoor football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 |
| Commissioner | Tommy Benizio |
| No. of teams | 26 |
| Country(ies) | United States |
| Most recent champion(s) | Billings Outlaws |
| Most championships | Billings Outlaws 1 |
| Official website | goifl.com |
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"[1]. 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.
Contents |
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
* = New to IFL for 2010
Potential future expansion teams
- Hidalgo, Texas (Rio Grande Valley) [2]
- Moline, Illinois (Quad City Steamwheelers)
Inactive
- RiverCity Rage - Owner suspended them to focus on the Omaha Beef. [3] There remains the possibility that new ownership could step forward and the Rage could resume play for the 2011 season.[4]
- 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
- Arctic Predators - originally announced as 2010 IFL member, but stalemate between ownership group and head coach led to lease difficulties, IFL franchise now
Kent Predators , Arctic Predators team seeking to join American Indoor Football Association - CenTex Barracudas - originally announced as an IFL member, but not included in 2009 alignment
- Everett Destroyers - originally announced as an IFL member, but not included in 2009 alignment, website has since gone offline
- Frisco Thunder - originally announced as 2009 IFL member, then announced they would take season off while Dr Pepper Arena was being renovated; website has since gone offline
- Louisiana Swashbucklers - left IFL prior to inaugural season, now a member of the Southern Indoor Football League [5]
IFL United Bowl results
| Year | Winner | Loser | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Billings Outlaws | RiverCity Rage | 71-62 |
References
- ^ http://www.billingsgazette.com/sports/football/professional/arena/blog/article_d1666b04-ce7c-11de-a663-001cc4c03
- ^ Williams, Clay (September 15, 2009). "Death Of The Dorados:af2 Folds". KGBT-TV. http://www.valleycentral.com/sports/video.aspx?id=350289.
- ^ [1]
- ^ IFL Announces Franchises for 2010 season
- ^ Swashbucklers Leave IFL for new SIFL
External links
- Official Indoor Football League Website
- Announcement of new league's formation
- IFL Merger media guide
|
||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
