National Indoor Football League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| National Indoor Football League | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Sport | Indoor football |
| Founded | 2001 |
| No. of teams | 29 |
| Country |  United States |
| Current champions | Billings Outlaws (no longer in NIFL, part of UIF now) |
| Official website | www.niflfootball.com |
National Indoor Football League is a minor league indoor football association based in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, af2, however, that has changed with their expansion into AFL markets such as Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, and Tampa, as well as af2 markets such as Cincinnati, Fort Myers, and Houston. The NIFL is based in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The league has spawned two spinoff leagues. In 2005, nine teams left the league to form United Indoor Football (UIF). In July 2006, Osceola left to join 2 former AIFL franchises to form the World Indoor Football League (WIFL).
The league was also the temporary home of four teams during the 2005 hiatus of the Intense Football League.
After a chaotic 2006 season, more than half the league's franchises left for other indoor leagues. In addition to the WIFL, teams left for UIF, the af2, and the AIFA.
The NIFL lists five current teams, and twenty-four expansion teams, scheduled to play in 2007.
Contents |
[edit] The 2006 Season
The 2006 NIFL season was a troubled one. The league started the season with 22 teams. However, three of them (Hammond, Charlotte, and Miami) didn't even make it to the start of the season. In addition, several other teams folded during the season, leaving a very large number of forfieted games during the latter stages of the season. Several of these teams were underfunded in the first place and didn't have the working capital to complete a full season with poor attendance figures. Among the various SNAFUs during the season were:
- The Arkansas Stars had to be bailed out financially during the season by a new owner. As a result one game was played in their home arena with only one goalpost up and no wall boards. The arena was secured for the game only a few hours before kickoff.
- The Lincoln Capitols played the first few weeks in Lincoln, then moved the franchise in midseason to St. Joseph, Missouri by replacing the APFL franchise there. The Lincoln players were out of jobs and the St. Joseph players assumed their positions on the field. The results were disastrous as the Capitols were blown out in the two games they played, attendance in St. Joseph was abysmal, and the team folded for good at that point.
- The Twin City Gators, West Palm Beach Phantoms, Tennessee River Sharks, and Big Sky Thunder folded during the season and at various points fielded replacement teams of unpaid semipro players.
- The Montgomery Maulers made the national press when their owner, Jamie LaMunyon, fired all of her players who were complaining about not being paid a single game check during the season. LaMunyon was bought out, and new ownership was able to complete the season for the Maulers. This saga wound up being the subject of a highly critical article in Sports Illustrated.
- The Billings Outlaws and Osceola Outlaws along with the NIFL office and commissioner Carolyn Shiver fought a particularly nasty battle over the Outlaws name. Osceola was granted the name as a new franchise, and it became apparent later on that Shiver crossed out the Outlaws name on the Billings franchise application and replaced it with Billings Mavericks. During the 2006 season the Osceola team embarrassingly had to be known as "Osceola Football" while Billings wasn't allowed to use the Outlaws name. Billings was restored to their original name three weeks from season's end after it became clear they would prevail over Shiver in court. Both teams left the NIFL after the 2006 season.
- The Rapid City Flying Aces suffered when their owner took all of the cash from the franchise and fled town. It turns out the owner has been indicted in the past for embezzlement and had bled funds from several NIFL franchises in the past. Shiver claimed to that this person didn't actually own the Rapid City franchise and was simply listed as an "investor". Local investors put up a stake in the team and the Aces were able to complete their schedule as one of the top teams in the league.
- The playoffs brought more embarrassment to the league:
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- During the first week of the playoffs, the Cincinnati Marshals and the team known as Osceola Football were due to play in Osceola. The Outlaws had the higher seed, but the arena they played in, Silver Spurs Arena, was taken over by a week-long rodeo, so the Marshals were awarded home-field advantage. However, US Bank Arena was setting up for a Tim McGraw-Faith Hill concert, so Shiver asked the two teams to play in Lakeland, Florida. Cincinnati refused initially. A few days later, after the first round was already complete, Shiver told both teams to play each other at Scottrade Center in St. Louis with the winner playing the River City Rage the next day. Osceola declined and refused to participate in the playoffs.
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- The Katy Copperheads, the lone expansion team to not suffer from financial failure, found itself in a travel SNAFU when Shiver ordered the team not to book travel to their playoff game at Rapid City. Shiver promised the team a bus to travel in, and when it didn't arrive the team was forced to caravan in an overnight trip to Rapid City.
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- Finally, the championship game was upset by Shiver's attempt to move the game to Fayetteville, NC, home of the Fayetteville Guard despite the fact that the Billings Outlaws had earned home field advantage for the title game. Shiver reversed course during the week before the game and allowed the title game to be held in Billings.
- As a result of these and other episodes, the league took swift action to prevent the same events occurring in 2007. A new President of Football Operations, former NFL player Cleveland Gary, will oversee a rumored massive expansion project consisting of an eventual 64 teams. In addition, new owners of teams must report for training in Casper, Wyoming, the home of the NIFLs only remaining charter franchise, the Wyoming Cavalry. Also, in order to avoid midseason chaos, Gary has implemented a new set of stringent financial requirements for the league, requiring owners to show a net worth of at least $700,000 and contribute $150,000 up front to a league “safety fund” to be used in the event that the franchise folds during the season. The NIFL will no longer bail teams out with salary payments or arena assurances.
Also, Gary hopes to divide the NIFL into eight team geographic regions, ensuring that NIFL teams will only play their 14-game schedules inside their own division, thus allowing for cuts in travel costs. Gary announced the week of October 23 a massive expansion project featuring teams from Florida to California in the hopes of achieving that plan.
[edit] 2007 NIFL Teams
[edit] Atlantic Conference
[edit] Florida Division
[edit] Atlantic North Division
[edit] Atlantic South Division
[edit] Pacific Conference
[edit] California Division
- Anaheim Street Boys
- Long Beach Muscle Heads
- Los Angeles Diamonds
- Los Angeles Lynx
- Pomona Cool Riders
- San Diego Shockwave
[edit] Pacific North Division
[edit] Pacific South Division
[edit] Not aligned yet
Source: [1]
[edit] Former Teams
- Arkansas Stars
- Atlantic City CardSharks
- Austin Knights
- Austin Rockers
- Big Sky Thunder
- Billings Mavericks
- Billings Outlaws
- Bismarck Roughriders
- Black Hills Red Dogs
- Charleston Sandsharks
- Colorado Venom
- Corpus Christi Hammerheads
- Dayton Bulldogs
- Daytona Beach Hawgs
- Eugene Mercury
- Evansville BlueCats
- Everett Hawks
- Fayetteville Heat
- Florida Frenzy
- Fort Wayne Freedom
- Greenville Riverhawks
- Houma Bayou Bucks
- Johnstown J Dogs
- Katy Copperheads
- Kissimmee Kreatures
- Knoxville ThunderCats
- La Crosse Night Train
- Lake Charles Land Sharks
- Lakeland Thunderbolts
- Lexington Horsemen
- Louisiana Bayou Beast
- Louisiana Rangers
- Lubbock Gunslingers
- Lubbock Lone Stars
- Mississippi Fire Dogs
- Mobile Seagulls
- Montgomery Maulers
- Myrtle Beach Stingrays
- New Jersey XTreme
- Odessa Roughnecks
- Ohio Valley Greyhounds
- Oklahoma Crude
- Omaha Beef
- Osceola Football
- Palm Beach Phantoms
- Rapid City Flying Aces
- River Cities LocoMotives
- River City Renegades
- River City Rage
- Rome Renegades
- San Angelo Stampede
- Show Me Believers
- Sioux City Bandits
- Sioux Falls Storm
- St. Joseph Explorers
- Southern Oregon Heat
- Southwest Louisiana Swashbucklers
- Staten Island Xtreme
- Tacomas Finest
- Tennessee Riverhawks
- Tennessee River Sharks
- Tennessee ThunderCats
- Tri-Cities Fever
- Tri-City Diesel
- Tupelo FireAnts
- Twin City Gators
- Utah Rattlers
- Utah Warriors
- Waco Marshals
- Washington Shockwave
- Watatch Wolverines
- Wichita Falls Thunder
- Winston-Salem Energy
- Yakima Shockwave
[edit] Indoor Bowl games
| Year | Winner | Loser | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Mississippi Fire Dogs | Wyoming Cavalry | 55-21 |
| 2002 | Ohio Valley Greyhounds | Billings Outlaws | 55-52 |
| 2003 | Ohio Valley Greyhounds | Utah Warriors | 45-37 |
| 2004 | Lexington Horsemen | Sioux Falls Storm | 59-38 |
| 2005 | Tri-Cities Fever | Rome Renegades | 47-31 |
| 2006 | Billings Outlaws | Fayetteville Guard | 59-44 |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The National Indoor Football League | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Conference | North Division | South Division | Florida Division |
| Cincinnati Marshals | Atlanta Thoroughbreds | Fort Myers Tarpons | |
| Fayetteville Guard | Columbia Stingers | Miami Vice Squad | |
| Greensboro Revolution | Jacksonville Pelicans | Palm Beach Waves | |
| Port St. Lucie Mustangs | |||
| Sarasota Knights | |||
| Pacific Conference | North Division | California Division | South Division |
| Colorado Candoos | Anaheim Street Boys | Beaumont Drillers | |
| Colorado Castle Rocks | Long Beach Muscle Heads | Fort Worth Sixers | |
| Denver Aviators | Los Angeles Diamonds | Houston Wild Riders | |
| Pueblo Pistols | Los Angeles Lynx | San Antonio Player Haters | |
| Wyoming Cavalry | Pomona Cool Riders | ||
| San Diego Shockwave | |||
| NIFL seasons | NIFL playoffs | The Indoor Bowl | Indoor Bowl Champions | NIFL Mascots | |||
