The Indoor Football Guys

Two soap operas end with teams moving to AF2

2006-11-14T14:58:00.000-05:00

Fort Wayne and now Tri-Cities will join the AF2 for the 2007 season, bringing the AF2 to 30 teams. After months of speculation, newspaper articles, internet rumors, and the like, the drama has finally ended.

An AF2 schedule is expected to be released on Friday.

Massive NIFL Expansion; EIFL Showcase a Disaster

2006-10-28T23:10:00.000-05:00

The first round of NIFL expansion has been announced. It looks like the league wants to compete in some AFL/AF2 markets now. The new teams are:

Alameda Action
Atlanta Thoroughbreds
Fort Meyers Tarpons
Fresno Fury
Jacksonville Pelicans
Los Angeles Lynx
Miami Vice
Palm Beach Waves
Port St. Lucie Mustangs
Sacramento Wildfire
San Diego Shockwave
San Fransisco Quakes
Sarasota Knights
Tampa Tide
Winston-Salem Wildcats

More announcements are expected on 11/1 and/or 11/15.

The EIFL showcase was held tonight. Sort of. According to mooheadradio.com, there were several problems. The showcase was delayed over 2 hours, as several teams had travel problems/issues. The team from Baltimore apparently showed up at 8:00. There is no confirmation if the Buzzards showed up. The River Rats did not attend, as they were never a real team.

Interestingly enough, the Bayshore Brawlers showed up on time. They went to eat at the Golden Corral and then left for home! That's right. They did not attend the showcase after checking out the Thunder Dome. All indications are that they will join the AIFA with the Charleston Sandsharks, to round out the AIFA's expansion.

The AFL is reportedly in talks with ABC/ESPN for a TV contract for the upcoming season. Until a deal is reached, a schedule will not be released. We could be waiting a while.

AF2 adds five; two more to be voted on next week!

2006-10-18T18:12:00.000-05:00

af2 expansion continues; five new teams added for 2007
Courtesy: arenafootball2
Release: 10/18/2006

Courtesy: arenafootball2

The arenafootball2 Board of Directors approved applications for five new expansion af2 teams for 2007, the League office announced today, including four in Texas and one in Cincinnati. The teams are scheduled to begin play in April.

The five newcomers, coupled with the previously announced additions of the Boise Burn and Mahoning Valley Thunder, bring the total expansion class for 2007 to seven teams. The af2’s current membership is now 28 teams.

““We (af2) are excited to announce the addition of five new teams to the af2 family for 2007,” said af2 President Jerry Kurz. “I have the utmost confidence in each operating group’s commitment to run top-notch organizations both on and off the field for many years. I know the fans in each market will thoroughly enjoy the total entertainment experience of Arena Football.”

A multiple-member limited liability corporation called Texas af2 Holdings, LLC, submitted the four applications for the Texas teams. Spearheading the Texas efforts was Doug MacGregor, President of the AFL’s Austin Wranglers and member of the Texas af2 Holdings group. This group will take the lead in the formation of new teams in Corpus Christi, Katy, Laredo and Lubbock. Two of the four teams have names and infrastructure already in place. The Katy team will be called the Texas Copperheads and the team in Laredo will be known as the Laredo Lobos.

“In the 49 other states, it’s just football, but this is Texas,” said MacGregor. “These are great football towns who we think are an ideal fit for Arena Football. Each market also boasts fantastic facilities and strong communities, communities that will quickly fall in love with this unique brand of football.”

The Cincinnati application was submitted by a limited liability corporation called CAF Holdings, LLC.

Further details on each of these new teams will be announced locally as they become available.

There is also the possibility for a final round of league expansion. Two more candidates still under consideration for 2007 will be voted on early next week.

About af2

With its seventh season just completed, af2 serves as a vehicle to bring Arena Football to small to midsize cities and as a developmental league with an unmatched history of sending players, coaches and officials to major professional football leagues each year. af2 operates under the same Mission Statement and Fans’ Bill of Rights as the Arena Football League, which concluded its 20th season in June. Log on to www.af2.com for more information.

The news continues: Milwaukee and Fayetteville in NIFL, Battle Creek disappears, and more

2006-10-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

The Fayetteville Guard will remain in the NIFL for the 2007 season. Also, as part of Carolyn Shiver's plan for having 50 teams next year, Milwaukee will be the first expansion team.

While looking at the CIFL site this morning, I noticed there was another team missing. However, I didn't immediately notice who it was, as I was in a hurry. The Battle Creek Crunch have disappeared from the league.

It also appears things are breaking down in the EIFL. The Brawlers did contact the GLIFL about joining, but the GLIFL declined the team. It is unknown if they will still play in the EIFL.

Breaking News: Rome and Raleigh cease operations

2006-10-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

No third season for Renegades; indoor football team disbands

(Renegades' PR) Harry Pierce and partners regret to announce the dissolution of their two indoor football teams, the Rome Renegades and the Carolina Bombers (formerly the Raleigh Rebels). Both teams were members of the newly formed World Indoor Football League (WIFL).

With regards to the Carolina Bombers, Pierce states that “it was always our goal to have local ownership of that team. We plan to leave the field and other assets of the Carolina team in place in the hopes that WIFL will be able to use those resources with an expansion team if a new owner comes forward.”

The decision about the Rome Renegades, however, was more than just about assets.

“This is the hardest business decision I have had to make in a long time. Everyone who knows me or who has attended a game knows how passionate I am about the sport, and how much I have enjoyed it. We made a difference in a lot of young men’s lives. I only wish it could have been more,” says Pierce.

Pierce goes on to state that “with limited seating and parking at The Forum, the venue will never be a financially viable venue for professional sports. If the leaders of this community believe that the stadium for the Rome Braves was a success, then they must believe that a quality arena for multiple professional sports with year-round use would also be a success.

"With the proposed SPLOST set for 39 months, it would be another 5 years before we could propose and build a new arena built in this community. That’s too much of a financial burden to continue playing at The Forum.”

“I’d like to personally thank all of our fans and sponsors for two great seasons,” says Pierce.

Season ticket holders and sponsors for the 2007 season should contact Doug Walker after Oct. 23 for a refund. The Rome Renegades staff will remain in place to close operations. Their future plans will be announced at a later date.

The World Indoor Football League will continue to grow as an indoor football league. Pierce has committed to helping the league grow into the most professionally organized league in the industry, but is no longer affiliated with the league as a team owner.

http://www.hometownheadlines.com/New_Site/e06out.html

The GLIFL is no longer...

2006-10-16T07:01:00.000-05:00

That's right. The GLIFL is no longer...the GLIFL. The latest in a string of announcements is that the GLIFL will now be called the Continental Indoor Football League. A new team has also been approved for play in 2007: the Kalamazoo Xplosion.

GLIFL's "one more in the works"

2006-10-14T16:45:00.000-05:00

Well it seems the "one more in the works" I referred to yesterday could be more accurately called "one stopped working." Or something like that... Whatever. In any case, the Motor City Reapers have bagged it and will not compete in the 2007 season. This drops the GLIFL to twelve teams. Pending Springfield and Chicago, the GLIFL will play with 14.

Who's going where?

2006-10-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

As we near the time for schedules, expansion announcements, and more tryout dates, a lot of things are still up in the air. Let's review what's been going on recently.

The AIFL became the AIFA, as Mink and Morris take the reins from Haines. Haines will be in charge of getting sponsorships for the league. He's still also responsible for that $435,000 judgement that Mr. Boyd has against him.

The Springfield Stallions are out of the AIFA, which wouldn't be so bad if some teams hadn't have released their schedules already. Pending this situation, we should see a master schedule sometime next week.

So where is Springfield going? The GLIFL, along with Chicago. This will bring the GLIFL to fifteen teams. One more is in the works. Expect announcements before the next owners meeting.

It also appears that the AF2 has inherited the Lexington Horsemen from the UIF. The AF2 expansion deadline is this Sunday, so expect official announcements over the next week or two.

The NIFL is lookng to Florida, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Texas for their next round of expansion teams. However, Cleveland Gary and the gang are going out of their way to be deceptive about the state of the league. How many people will they fool?

The Arkansas based Ultimate Indoor Football League plans to announce at least seven teams on October 31. Besides the Stars, there have not been many guesses on who the other teams could be.

Last, and certainly least, the EIFL currently claims it has four teams ready to play in an October 28th "showcase." The site of the game will be the ThunderDome, where the field is about 30 yards long, with 2-3 yard enzones. The seating capacity is an estimated 250 people. The league has yet to disclose any insurance information or basically anything else, such as arena leases. Any media going to the showcase will have their driver's license photocopied. The showcase is closed to the public.

Has Carolyn Shiver lost her mind for good?

2006-09-05T14:47:00.000-05:00

www.niflfootball.com has an update for the first time since the conclusion of the Indoor Bowl. All I can say is WOW. A big party in Florida to celebrate so many dead NIFL franchises, it appears to be. See all those team logos on the left side of the flier? I'd say a solid three quarters of them are dead teams from years past. We also have a "Florida division," which consists of the following:

Palm Beach Waves
Port St. Lucie Mustangs
Sarasota Knights
Miami Vice Squad
Jacksonville Pelicans
Fort Myers Tarpons
Tampa Bay Red Tide
Fort Lauderdale Frenzy

Fort Meyers is an af2 territory and Tampa Bay is, of course, an AFL city. It's a real shame to see that Shiver just can't admit that her little charade is over. I'm not going to delve into all of the factual inaccuracies currently on the NIFL website; you can figure those all out on your own. But I would like to draw one bit of sad, yet positive news. Jim Terry just got steamrolled. He tries to be the best liar he can be, but my friends, he just can't compare with Carolyn Shiver. Jim Terry will just have to settle with the title of Best (worst?) Failure.

In other news, Wyoming, Tri-Cities, and River City have announced their allegiance to the UIF. The UIF should make this official next week.

Expansion, lawsuits, and more

2006-09-03T19:17:00.000-05:00

It appears the AIFL North is set for 2007. The division will consist of Erie, Johnstown, Reading, Pitsburgh, Danville, Springfield, Huntington, and Canton. This all looks fine except for Danville and Springfield. Travel costs to the likes of Erie and Reading can't be good. At least we don't have a last-minute franchise like Syracuse, though.

The AIFL South is a little more up in the air. Five locked in teams are Lakeland, Montgomery, Tupelo, Florence, and Tallahassee. A sixth franchise should be announced in Winston-Salem shortly. Macon is also a possibility, as the AF2 Knights have ceased operations.

There is little news in the world of AF2 expansion. However, we will know a lot more after September 15th. Alaska looks to be out of the league, as it has been claimed that the ownership group is lacking in funds. Tacoma is a new possiblity, as well. Also, don't look for Lubbock to be joining up in 2007. Things seem to have fallen through there.

The NIFL has an expansion team! Yes, the Palm Beach Waves will join Greensboro, Beaumont, as the current teams in the league. The big announcement on defections to the UIF should be coming sometime tomorrow.

On to the lawsuits part of this blog. The AIFL is close to filing suit against the Augusta Spartans, claiming a breach of contract and unpaid bills to the league. I'm guessing this, or another, lawsuit will extend to all of the WIFL and GLIFL defects. Remember that the NIFL was supposed to sue the IFL last year for violating noncompete agreements and such? Yeah, that never happened because the NIFL didn't want to open their books in court. With Haines not defending himself so far in the Boyd lawsuit, it makes you wonder if this latest big of legal paperwork should have the WIFL worried or just plain laughing. We'll see how it plays out.

On a quick positive note for the AIFL, the Huntington Heroes are moving into a new arena. This appears to be an honest move at improving the team's standing within the community.

Worst ArenaCup Ever; Expansion Deadline Pushed Back

2006-08-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

If I could sum it up in one word, it would probably be "disgraceful."

Well i sat down for the ArenaCup. I was all pumped up to see how this San Juan thing would work. So I'm hearing the National Anthem being sung, but where's the video? Next thing I see is "Technical Difficulties." Then some colored bars. Then they finally got the video feed going at CSS. It was pretty blurry throughout. The coverage, overall, was unprofessional. In an obvious onside kick situation, the camera quickly zipped to the other end of the field after the kick, then slowly panned back to see who recovered the ball.

So even if the production quality was poor, it was still going to be a good showing from the league right? Wrong. The turf was borrowed from Macon, and each enzone had a big gold and black "MACON KNIGHTS" painted on. And you know how when guys hit the boards, there's usually very little give? Well this time, boards were coming out of place and even falling.

So what about the crowd? The league announced 5,658 fans, but it appears most of these fans were disguised as blue seats. There were no fans in the enzones and just before the game, when the announcers were talking about the matchups, you saw about 100 people behind them in half of the arena. Total attendance was no more than 3,000. And as far as excitement, the loudest person there was public address announcer Allyn Black. He had a miserable time trying to excite the fans, who obviously had no rooting interest. Newsflash: If you want to get these people interested in the game, have some preseason exhibitions where the rules are explained, etc.

All in all, the AF2 took several steps in the wrong direction with this showcase. For the second straight year, the term "national coverage" did not mean national coverage. Stop promising big things if you're not going to deliver.

The one thing that kept people tuned in at halftime, when the score was 41-14, was the promise of expansion announcements. This was also a broken promise, but was at least for a good reason. The deadline for expansion was pushed back until September 15. Latest additions look to be Laredo, Corpus Christi, and Lubbock.

Huntington leaves WIFL

2006-08-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

In a not so shocking move, the Huntington Heroes have left the WIFL. I guess you can't blame them, seeing as how they would really disrupt travel expenses in the new league. However, this decision should not have been rushed and now the organization is looking pretty bad, crawling back to Andrew Haines and the AIFL.

Columbus, GA will now be the seventh team to join the new league. More announcements on teams will be coming out this week. Stay tuned.

The Latest...

2006-08-13T15:24:00.000-05:00

News is starting to pile up again, so let's drain the tub to make room for more...

The APFL ended its 2006 season with a 2-0 forfeit victory for the Kansas Koyotes. APFL management is placing the majority of the blame on the Wichita Aviators not marketing the game, forcing the league to move it to the Koyotes' home venue. The popular thought is that the APFL will disband next season and Kansas and Wichita may join the Intense league or maybe even the PIFL. It looks to me like the AIFL and APFL tried to compete with the NIFL for some kind of ultimate sleeze award. The APFL wins it, folks. How can you end a season without a championship? Definitely uncacceptable.

The AIFL has picked up a few surprise teams. I never would've guessed that Montgomery and Lakeland would leave the NIFL for another struggling league. However, it looks like Haines has offered the teams a stake in league ownership. Montgomery has also changed their name to the Bears.

However, the AIFL did have some trouble with resident indoor football conman Jim Terry. Jim Terry threatenned to sue the AIFL and all parties involved with the Pittsburgh River Rats, the latest AIFL expansion franchise. Jim Terry claimed that the name was too similar to his imaginary 3 Rivers Rats. Apparently this threat was enough to scare the AIFL's practice facility in Pittsburgh, and it has since been changed. It also seems that Jim Terry's threatenned legal action was nothing more than that.

The EIFL has its own problems. With the latest arrest of Maurice Clarett, Jim Terry has begun selling "Free Mo!" t-shirts. I hope I speak for everyone when I say that this is absolutely disgusting and tasteless in every way possible. Since Clarett's arrest, Jim Terry has been all over national media, making jokes and even refering to Clarett has "a marketing tool." Obviously, he has made nothing but a joke of himself and has brought bad media attention upon the Youngstown area. He has also announced other people whom will be part of the league's front office. However, with him prematurely announcing tryouts at J.F.K. High School, it is hard to tell if these people will actually be involved, or if it is more talk from Mr. Terry. We have heard nothing from supposed league commishoner John Guy. Whatever he does, it will certainly be difficult with several people following the EIFL debacle, alerting everyone in Jim's path to his criminal history and other issues.

The AF2 is down to its final four teams. Green Bay and Florida will play for the American Conference title, while Arkansas will go to Spokane for the National Conference championship. My guess is that everyone in Chicago is rooting for an Arkansas victory. If Spokane gets to Arenacup, they will travel approximately 4,000 miles to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The league looks really bad if one team has to travel that distance for this game.

The IFL has completed its season, with Odessa dropping 97 on the Corpus Christi Hammerheads. The great regular season records finally turned into postseason success. Odessa has won 39 of its 50 games in franchise history, but this was the first time that they even made it to a championship game. Congratulations to the Odessa Roughnecks!

The NIFL is losing teams faster than the UIF can take them all in. Wyoming, Rapid City, Tri-Cities, River City, Cincinnati, and Billings are all in the mix to join the well balanced UIF. The UIF may become the nation's first superleague of indoor football, like the NCAA's Atlantic Coast Conference or something. By the end of the month, Carolyn Shiver could be looking at six or seven teams spread out across the nation. Well, there's expansion, you might say. The problem is, she's running out of markets to screw. People have done their homework and they know the NIFL is not the greatest thing. Add to that the fact that the NIFL and PIFL will be competing for any remaining markets, and Ms. Shiver is in a heap of trouble. If we're lucky, we might finally see the end of the National Indoor Football League.

The WIFL will hold league meetings this week and will also be launching a more legitimate website. The league could end up with as many as twelve teams, but noone is sure at this point. This league will be great for the casual and hardcore fans alike. All of these franchises are well established (with a question mark in Charleston), which should lead to less off the field talk about financial difficulties and such.

The PIFL, which calls itself "the league of dreams," may be nothing more than a dream in the end. With several teams having made up their mind on which leagues they are moving to, the PIFL's problem is much like the NIFL's. Where do they go to get teams? It may be easy to get two or three in one part of the nation and then another few in another, but the PIFL stipulates that there must be 4-6 teams within a region to make it happen. The league has still yet to announce any significant information regarding teams and time is running out. Who knows, maybe they have like 14-16 teams lined up already and they are just keeping it a secret. Somehow, I doubt that, though. We should see some announcements withing the next 2-3 weeks.

Stay tuned to the Indoor Football Guys this week, as it looks like there will be several developments...

Billings wins Indoor Bowl VI

2006-07-29T00:07:00.000-05:00

In what isn't much of a surprise after so much turmoil and dramma, the Billings Outlaws beat the Fayetteville Guard for an Indoor Bowl title. The final score was 59-44, as Billings had a double digit lead for most of the night, leading 34-14 at the half and 40-20 after three quarters. Fayetteville will most likely announce their move to the WIFL very shortly.

Congratulations to the Billings Outlaws and their fans on an awesome season!

WORLD INDOOR FOOTBALL LEAGUE TO KICKOFF IN 2007

2006-07-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

The long awaited Southeastern league has been made official, thanks to the fine folks at OSC. Thanks to Paul Reeths for getting this up tonight!!

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3351735

OurSports Central has learned that the World Indoor Football League will announce its formation Thursday. The new league will consist largely of teams in the southeastern U.S. One of the driving forces behind the circuit is Rome Renegades and Raleigh Rebels co-owner Harry Pierce.

While the league is new, its inaugural teams are not. The WIFL will initially consist of seven franchises - five teams from the American Indoor Football League and two from the National Indoor Football League. Joining from the AIFL are the Augusta (Ga.) Spartans, Daytona Beach (Fl.) Thunder, Huntington (WV) Heroes, Raleigh (NC) and Rome (Ga.). Osceola (Fl.) Football and the Charleston (SC) Sandsharks will move over from the NIFL. The WIFL expects to add more franchises in the coming weeks.

Raleigh, Rome and Huntington all earned AIFL playoff berths last season. The Renegades finished as the league runner-up after falling in a sold-out title game at home. Rome had played in the NIFL in 2005 before joining the AIFL this season, and Daytona Beach had also fielded a team in the NIFL the same year.

The AIFL expanded from six to 16 teams in 2006. Two teams folded during the AIFL season, and semi-pro squads were used to fill in most of the resulting gaps in the schedule, leaving several team owners questioning how league president Andrew Haines operated the league and his strategy of rapid growth. A recently revealed $435,000 judgment against the league by former Asheville team owner Robert Boyd has also shaken confidence in the league and cost Haines a sale of the AIFL.

In the NIFL, 10 of 22 teams either suspended operations at some point this year or experienced an ownership change during the season. Forfeits and replacement teams became commonplace during the second half of the campaign. This is the third consecutive year the NIFL has lost teams to another league after 10 teams left following the 2004 campaign to help form United Indoor Football and four more departed last season to form the Intense Football League.

Both Charleston and Osceola were embroiled in public disagreements with the NIFL office and league president Carolyn Shiver late this year.

Though Charleston appeared to earn an NIFL playoff berth by winning its final game of the season, they declared shortly before the contest that they would decline their postseason spot because the league owed them money. Sandsharks General manager Al Bannister stated the team did not believe the debt would be paid or that they would be reimbursed $10,000 for playoff travel expenses. The NIFL later claimed the Sandsharks forfeited their final game by using ineligible players but did not provide proof. Charleston coach John Patterson vehemently denied the allegation.

Osceola was slated to appear in the NIFL postseason as well, and the NIFL awarded them a first-round playoff forfeit when opponent Cincinnati failed to secure an arena. But the league changed course and instead required Osceola to travel to St. Louis to face off against Cincinnati on a Friday for the right to play the St. Louis team the following night. Citing potential danger to his players and Shiver's sudden reversal, Osceola co-owner Dave Doebler declined the offer and withdrew his franchise from the playoffs. Doebler's club had also refused to sign a noncompete agreement with the NIFL, which became a major point of contention between his franchise and the league. In an email exchange obtained by OurSports Central, he questioned Shiver's leadership and honesty.

Though the exact league structure has not been unveiled, the WIFL will be run by its owners in an effort to avoid some of the problems faced by the AIFL and NIFL.

The WIFL will kick off its inaugural season in February of 2007.

The Latest

2006-07-25T15:09:00.000-05:00

Despite things being quiet at the blog, that is far from reality in the world of indoor and arena football.

Port Huron finished their season at 12-0 with a championship win over Rochester. Like the previous two games, this one was a classic contest. Meanwhile, the once Toledo bound Rumble are now the Wayne County Rumble of Wooster, Ohio. The first two defects from the AIFL are official, as the Miami Valley Silverbacks and Steubenville Stampede will play in the GLIFL next season. Are their more defects on their way to this league that has been successful in its first year?

Gary Tufford, executive director of the AIFL, has resigned from the AIFL. Rumor has it that he will head up the new southern league. So Haines is losing several teams, $430,000 in a lawsuit, and now this. It's really hard for him to be optimistic at this point. With some Southern Conference teams dropping out, where are Danville and Tupelo going to go? Perhaps they will pull out at the last minute? Or maybe we could have four or six teams play a full season in the Northeast, with the champion playing the winner of Tupelo versus Danville.

In NIFL world, things are crazier than ever. We once thought that the playoffs could go smoothly. That mood changed with the Osceola mess, and now things might get worse. Fayetteville has filed an injunction to keep Billings from hosting the Indoor Bowl. Billings has not signed a no compete agreement with the NIFL and Fayetteville alleges that the Outlaws have yet to pay fines. Seems kind of odd for Fayetteville to do this, seeing as how they've stated they will break their no compete agreement next season. So now, instead of talking about what a good game Billings v. Fayetteville would be, we're all wondering where the game will be played and who will participate? Would Billings refuse to travel to Fayetteville? Perhaps we will see Rapid City come out of the offseason? A decision will be reached tonight by the NIFL's executive committee.

The Colorado Ice will be the UIF's next expansion team, joining Chicago. Meanwhile, the United Bowl game is what we've expected and wanted all along: Lexington @ Sioux Falls. Heck, if not for Rock River, we'd be getting a matchup of undefeated teams. The thing that makes this game very interesting is that they did not meet in the regular season and so the teams only have film to go off of.

The Southern indoor football league (we'll call it the SIFL for now) is expected to be announced very soon. What teams will be in it? The possibilities are as follows: Daytona Beach, Rome, Richmond, Raleigh, Florence, Fayetteville, Osceola, Lakeland, Charleston, and Columbia.

Port Huron wins Championship!

2006-07-22T21:41:00.000-05:00

The Port Huron Pirates capped off an undefeated season Saturday night, defeating the Rochester Raiders, 40-34.

The first ever Great Lakes Bowl proved a thriller for fans that saw a lead no bigger than two scores. PH lead at the half, 27-21.

Stats from http://www.glifl.com

	Raiders	Pirates
First Downs	13	10
Rushing Yards	130	71
Pass Comp/Att	9/21	6/8
Passing Yards	169	222
Total Yards	299	293
Turnovers	1	1
3rd Down Conv.	3 for 8	1 for 3
4th Down Conv.	2 for 4	0 for 0
Red Zone Opp.	1 for 3	3 for 3
Possession Time	22:40	22:20

A Little Sugar...

2006-07-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

So, maybe I have been a little rough on the AIFL lately. Let me say a few nicer things. They have good people there in those offices, who work very hard to make sure fans get good indoor football action. I'll give tons of credit to Andrew Haines, League President, for his comments recently. He admits they have some faults and that people are working to fix those faults.

That's a start.

Some say the shipping is sinking, eh, maybe only damaged. There is still hope to get things right for 2007. Maybe a mass defection is what they need. Get back to six or eight teams, keep it small for a couple of years then slowly begin expanding again. Take it easy on a "national" expansion and concentrate on a region---perhaps down South, because it appears the Midwest and Northeast are becoming over-saturated with indoor football.

Just look, Ohio alone has teams in Cincinnati, Troy, Steubenville, Canton, Youngstown(2), Columbus, Marion---well, you get my drift. And there are rumored expansions into Findlay, Toledo and Cleveland. Pennsylvania has Reading, Erie, Johnstown, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the list continues for other states.

The AIFL might have lost a potential buyout---but they are not down and out. I believe (now) that they will be back in 2007--but in a smaller capacity. Which is fine...if there is potential they is success.

Is it even worth it?

2006-07-12T18:51:00.000-05:00

After some technical difficulties on my end, I have returned....Le'ts get down to business.

The circus we call the NIFL is putting on another act at center ring. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the playoff switcharoo! Who's playing River City? Is it Cincinnati? Is it Osceola? Will it actually matter? The answer is that Cincinnati will play the Rage and no, it won't matter. Earlier today, the Osceola Football declared they are giving up for this season. It seems that ownership got sick of the NIFL's mountains of bullcrap. Imagine that.

Let's do a little recap here. Osceola finished ahead of Cincinnati in the playoff standings. Osceola's Silver Spur Arena was unavailable for the weekend. That's understandable. So it was up to Cincinnati to secure U.S. Bank Arena for the game. They didn't come through. So the NIFL decided the game would be played in Lakeland and Cincinnati decided that they couldn't make the date due to work obligations and the like. The NIFL needed to pick a winner, so they decided to allow Osceola to advance. Then Shiver and the executive committee had a brain storm. They said Osceola didn't file the right paperwork necessary to advance in the postseason. After a series of miscommunications, Shiver had another great plan: Cincinnati would play Osceola on Thursday or Friday night in St. Louis. The winner would play Saturday night against the Rage. Two games in two or three nights.....umm...NO. Osceola stood up to the NIFL and basically said "Shove it." Way to go, Football! (by the way, at the bottom of this blog entry is a copy of an email correspondence between Osceola and the NIFL, which Paul Reeths was nice enough to provide on OurSportsCentral.com)

Well, you might as well give the Rage a forfeit win, now. With all this turmoil between the Football and Marshals, I'm positive that neither would have been ready for a superior group like River City. The Rage will win this one by at least four scores.

Also noteworthy: Cincinnati's forfeit win over Osceola is the 28th forfeit of the NIFL season by my count. That's 28 games. 28 home dates not filled. And most of all, 28 fake wins and losses on the NIFL standings page. So the question is asked again: was this season even worth it? Probably not. Carolyn Shiver and her "executive committee" are the biggest joke in all of business. If any potential owners or investors ever find this site, my advice would be to stay far far away from this patheitc excuse for a league. Don't even bother with cons like this.

Meanwhile, the GLIFL had a little mixup last week. The league announced the Toledo Rumble for next season. However, the league and team ownership learned that the AF2 is waiting on a study for a new arena. If the city decides to construct the arena, the AF2 will have the rights. The old venue will not be home to any indoor or arena franchises.

Well I'm gonna wrap this up while you all have fun reading some Shiver BS...Have fun :)

------------------------------------
From: Osceloa Football

The Osceola NIFL football team has been notified by the NIFL President of Operations, Cleveland Gary, via telephone this morning that we are disqualified from our playoff game in St Louis this weekend because we have not completed all league mandated paperwork.

To clarify our position, Osceola is current with all dues, has complied with all league operating rules all season, and is willing to sign all league participation documents except for any non-compete clauses.

After being allowed to "participate" in last weekends playoff game in which Cincinnati at the last minute could not arrange a venue and then cancelled the Monday night game we arranged to host in Florida I thought Cleveland Gary got a taste of this year's NIFL experience. Before committing to next year in the NIFL I want to see what actual changes are going to take place. We incurred over $9K in transportation and hotel expenses in last weekend's fiasco that we were allowed to participate in. It doesn't sound like Cincinnati had a safety fund with the NIFL. How could they have played?

As of 12:30 PM today St Louis has not been notified of any "pending" change in Saturday's game with us.

Questions to the NIFL and the Executive Committee:

Is Cleveland Gary President of Operations as he has explained to us? (Randy Wagley said he is a commissioned marketing guy)

Have we been officially disqualified from the playoffs?

Have all the other playoff teams that have outstanding league issues such as unsigned paperwork, unpaid dues/fines, unsigned non-competes or other issues been allowed to compete in the playoffs?

How is this late "enforcement" helping the NIFL public image?

-------------------------

Osceola
3033 Mercy Drive
Orlando, FL 32808

Re: Team Participation Agreement

Dear David,

The Executive Committee has reviewed the entire situation concerning this upcoming playoff game. We have determined
that Osceola must do the following to meet compliance with current league rules to be eligible for any playoff games.
Osceola must:
1. Post the standard $100,000 letter of credit per our standard required form
2. Post the safety fund per our current requirements.
I am attaching information on both of those for your completion. We are faxing back your signed copy of the Team
Participation Agreement.
Due to the lateness of your signing your Team Participation Agreement and your comments to Cleveland Gary that you were
not going to sign the Team Participation Agreement, we have already notified Cincinnati to prepare to play St. Louis this week on
Saturday. It is the Executive Committee’s decision to allow Cincinnati to proceed forward in the playoffs.
The Executive Committee has determined that if Osceola meets the requirements to be in the playoffs by completing the
required paperwork and financial assurances by noon on Wednesday, we will allow Osceola to play Cincinnati on Thursday or Friday
in St Louis. If Osceola wins that game, they will play St. Louis on Saturday. Reimbursement of costs will be as follows:
Osceola will pay their own costs to get to St. Louis for the first game with Cincinnati on Thursday or Friday. Cincinnati will
do the same. Tye Elliot, St. Louis’ owner, will arrange the playing facility, stats and officials for the game and those costs will be
deducted from the costs owed to the team that plays St. Louis.
The St. Louis team will be responsible for paying the team that wins the playoff game on Thursday or Friday for their travel
expenses and payroll. The other team will bear its own expenses for the trip.
This may not be the only solution, but bear in mind that this would not have happened if Osceola had completed the
paperwork and requirements that we have been requesting since September 2005.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Randy Wagley, Executive Director, or Cleveland Gary, President of
Operations, will both also be able to assist you if I am not available.

Sincerely,
Carolyn Shiver
NIFL President

-------------------------

We give up. Osceola will not be associated with an organization that continually says one thing and does another. Agreements made with league representative's changed or ignored by the league.

Osceola has never let down the league or the other NIFL franchise partners in any way. We've never been a league embarrassment by not paying players, not showing up for games, not having our players locked out of hotel rooms, not firing our team the day before we were to play one of you, by not playing indoor football outdoors, not paying the arena, not having medical insurance for it's players, not having to get our field out of hock from another facility, not playing on a 35 yard field, by not being an imposter, etc, etc, etc.

It seems that if things are going the way they should the NIFL looks for ways to increase bad press. Everyone agrees that the NIFL is in need of drastic overhaul. But should that take place the last 2 weeks of the season? Let's get the season over with with as little bad press as it can and then see what's left and make the necessary changes for next year. I don't understand what running us out of the league at this point will accomplish.

How will the continued turmoil help in recruiting new solid franchises for next season? The NIFL now has 30 more players looking for alternatives for next year outside of the NIFL. I really hope that some global plan will emerge shortly that explains the NIFL's actions.

The NIFL through Randy Wagley agreed yesterday at 3:30 PM to allow Osceola to sign the TPA with the exception of the non-compete clause. We signed and faxed to the league office and Randy. We talked to Randy at 5:30 and confirmed that the LOC would be issued today in the AM and that Osceola would be playing St Louis this Saturday. What Randy agreed to yesterday was what we had been asking for over a month in conversations with Randy, Carolyn and Cleveland Gary, President of Operations. Had they agreed then
this would have been cleared up weeks ago.

This morning we receive the attached letter changing our agreement. Randy said this AM that the executive committee overruled his negotiations.

Playing 2 games in 48 hours is ridiculous and an embarrassment to the NIFL.
I don't understand what the league gains by their actions.

Success Rate

2006-07-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

I beg the question...is indoor football failing everywhere?

Everybody involved in indoor football in the States, appears to think they can do a better job than previous league management. Yet the turmoil continues, through the AIFL and NIFL--and somewhat to the APFL.

New leagues are abound in 2006; GLIFL is probably the most successful and appears to be stable and have the correct financial plan. With planned expansion in Michigan and possibly Toledo, there are more teams that may be coming aboard very soon. Other than the GLIFL, who is in good shape for 2007?

The NIFL is down to 2.5 teams (one would think) for their playoffs. Cincy forfeited (who knows?) and it appears the champion will again come from the West. The NIFL is hurting for money, the league President there filed a lawsuit to try and drum up some cash---that isn't working so well either.

The AIFL is a mess with travel teams (semi-pro), unpaid bills, bad officiating, a PR guy with a bitter attitude towards some former radio guy, teams defecting, and a sale that just got cancelled. Rumors are abound that the Southern Conference will break off to form there own--Richmond alread has left (unofficially) and more are expected. The Northern Conference has seen Syracuse fold up mid-season, and there are rumors that Miami Valley, Huntington, Canton, and Steubenville may be on there way out.

The APFL is relatively unknown to those in the sport, but appears to have minor problems. Rumored expansion, well, doesn't exist at the moment.

That brings me to the creation of the EIFL, a league that hasn't played a game yet--but is "scheduled" to in January of 2007. Jim Terry is heading up the league, and is also coaching the Mahoning Valley Hitment--yes, the same city that the AF2 has placed a team. He is getting HAMMERED by the press in Youngstown, OH and not to many people are happy with him. It's still to see how it forms together and if the "signing" of Maurice Clarett will generate sponsorship interest.

There are other leagues coming to fruitation, but not much information is available. It's still to see if people continue to learn from mistakes or if we'll be talking about the same thing next season.

BREAKING NEWS: GRWW to AIFL: NO SALE

2006-07-05T22:21:00.000-05:00

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060705/law067.html?.v=58

reens Worldwide Terminates Definitive Asset Purchase Agreement to Acquire American Indoor Football League
Wednesday July 5, 7:06 pm ET

HERTFORD, N.C., July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Greens Worldwide Incorporated (OTC Bulletin Board: GRWW - News) announced today that it has terminated a Definitive Agreement to acquire the assets of the American Indoor Football League. (AIFL) (www.aiflonline.com). The closing of the transaction was subject to completion of customary final due diligence, and delivery of documentation to effect the closing, which was scheduled for or before June 30, 2006. Upon conducting due diligence, a judgment in favor of a former team owner was uncovered that was not disclosed to Greens Worldwide, and despite repeated requests for additional due diligence items, AIFL was not forthcoming with the documents requested and required by Greens Worldwide management.

About Greens Worldwide Incorporated

Greens Worldwide Incorporated is a vertically integrated sports marketing and management company, engaged in owning and operating sports entities and their support companies and is publicly traded under the stock symbol GRWW. Our current operating subsidiaries are the US Pro Golf Tour, Inc. www.usprogolftour.com , Breakthru Media, Inc. www.breakthrumedia.com , Crowley and Company Advertising, Inc. www.crowleyadvertising.com, New England Pro Tour, Inc. www.neprogolftour.com, Still Moving, Inc. www.still-moving.com , and Las Vegas Golf Schools, Inc. www.gotogolfschool.com. In our continuing effort to develop a more cohesive and synergistic organization, we are structured in a way that allows all of our wholly owned subsidiaries to utilize each other's resources to the greatest extent possible. In addition, the Company's strategic plan is to be able to deliver substantial value by providing multiple sports platforms and media to leverage our partners advertising and promotional dollars, while delivering the finest entertainment opportunities to retain and build customers. For our non-sports businesses, we will utilize the media and promotional benefits of our media platforms in Television, Radio, and Print, together with Internet Television and other like strategic relationships, to grow our consolidated revenues. The Company intends to continue its strategy of acquiring profitable sports organizations and sports related firms, together with other businesses that would benefit from the synergy the Company provides. www.grwwsports.com

Important Information About Forward-Looking Statements

The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Forward-looking statements deal with the Company's current plans, intentions, beliefs and expectations. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    Contact
   Tom Kidd
   Chief Executive Officer
   252.264.2064

Lots of News

2006-07-05T10:07:00.000-05:00

After taking some time off for the holidays and whatnot, there's a lot of news to catch up on.

It seems Rome learned nothing from their Indoor Bowl appearance a year ago. The Renegades turned the ball over several times and by the fourth quarter, were fighting amongst themselves. What was a 24-24 tie early in the third quarter, became a 61-40 rout for the Canton Legends. Kevin Mason was a fumble machine in the first half, constantly having trouble with the snap from center. However, like they've done so many times before, the Legends and their coaching staff made all the necessary halftime adjustments and Mason's butterflies went away. Congratulations to the Canton Legends.

The AIFL's netcast of the American Bowl was done through teamline.cc on a phone line. However, just a few feet away from Dan Ryan, Sean Morley, for the Canton Legends, did a high quality netcast in streaming MP3 format. He also got several shots in on the AIFL, much like the guy from Miami Valley did. It's pretty sad when a team can have a much higher quality netcast of a championship game than the league's crew.

As you may know, the AIFL did a Game Night segment on Sunday night. In interviews with Tufford and Haines, we are given some interesting tidbits. First, Tufford was asked how he'd grade this season. He said he'd give the league a B+. A B+ ? Are you kidding me? When you have two teams folding, replacement squads, forfeits, and several markets with dismal attendance figures? Hell, this league doesn't even pay the bill for statistics to be updated! Even the NIFL has somewhat updated stats! I'll give you a D+ at best, Mr. Tufford.

Haines was not much better, as he said one or more teams from existing leagues will join the AIFL next year. That tells me that they will inherit some damaged goods from the NIFL. They certainly can't land a decent franchise, like Fayetteville. The most truthful and honest statement Haines made was when he was asked about the biggest mulligan he would like to have back. He said he wished he hadn't rushed Syracuse. Wow. Great to see you realized that AFTER the fact. Like you didn't know that a team set up a few weeks before a season will fail? Give me a break.

In EIFL news, the league has announced its fourth team will be in Maryland. If it's anything like the situation in Ohio, Jim Terry will set this team up in an ice rink across from the Chesapeake Tide's home in Marlboro. Perhaps a better website to check, rather than the EIFL's official webpage, is at http://www.eieiofootball.com Here, you will find all kinds of interesting facts and stories about this new league and the not so loved Jim Terry.

The NIFL is at it again! Charleston's 38-29 victory over Montgomery this past weekend has been declared a forfeit due to ineligible players. According to reports, the Montgomery coaches went through past participation reports and found some not so familiar faces. Let me just stop here and point out all the replacement teams. These rosters change week to week and most of the time, they are just numbers without names. Of course, we knew before this week that Charleston would forego their playoff spot. Charleston coaches and ownership claim they have not been reimbursed $40,000 by the league for Florida's failure to show up to their game. If Charleston were to play (at Osceola) this weekend, the league promised $10,000 more. The Sandsharks don't trust the league to follow through on their promise. Shocking. Like the NIFL would break a promise? Anyways, I'll believe Charleston's story over the NIFL's any day. I guess this Montgomery forfeit win is just to make things look right in the playoff standings. Whatever helps Shiver sleep at night...

In the Pacific Conference, the NIFL is making up another story to give Beaumont a division title over Katy. There is NO WAY you will ever get me to believe that a team with eight wins gets the division over a team with eleven wins. Again, the NIFL is trying to make things look good because Katy is not hosting a playoff game. Instead, the Copperheads will play at Beaumont. Why? Noone has figured this one out yet. One person is saying because Katy's arena is demanding triple rent for a Monday night game. That makes no sense. Katy newspapers report that the NIFL made the decision for the Copperheads because a Monday night game would not draw well. That makes no sense either. When has Carolyn Shiver and the NIFL ever cared about the financial standing of any teams?

Arkansas played the Louisiana Swashbucklers Saturday night. This game kicked off at about the same time as the Louisiana Swashbucklers were playing a home game against Odessa(and upsetting the Roughnecks to end a 26 game regular season win streak, 70-63) . So someone is mixed up here. Apparently, the league sent a replacement team, like they usually do, to play the Stars, trying to pass them off as the Intense league's Swashbucklers. I wonder if they were introduced as the Swashbucklers? If they were, I suggest the IFL and/or the real Swashbucklers file suit against the NIFL. If I was a team owner, I'd never want to be associated, in any way whatsoever, with the NIFL.

Oh and the one market slated for expansion, Toledo, is no longer an NIFL market. The GLIFL has swooped in and announced the Toledo Rumble. Thank you GLIFL for stepping in before Shiver messed up another viable market for indoor football.

It looks like one of the most storied franchises in indoor football history is in its final days. The Peoria Roughriders are currently 0-14 with one road game remaining this weekend. Reportedly, only 650 fans showed up to their home finale. The franchise has played eight seasons and won two championships, appearing in two more championship games. Add in a perfect season in 2000. It's a sad story, but hopefully after a year off, the market will be fresh for the AF2 oncemore.

Some articles of interest:

Katy moves game to Beaumont venue
Forfeit victory sends Maulers to playoffs after all
Sharks end season on a positive note
Offensive outburst helps Stars trounce Swashbucklers
Polks Picks and Mason's Moves Lift Canton to 61-40 American Bowl Victory over Rome

Rome wins South; American Bowl set

2006-06-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

Rome defeated Raleigh on Monday night at the Forum, 63-14, to win the AIFL Southern Conference. Rome will now host the Canton Legends for the second annual AIFL American Bowl Championship.

Canton's late charge in the regular season put them past Erie and Reading to win the North. Now, Canton will meet up with the Southern power Renegades. Rome was the NIFL Atlantic champion last year who joined the AIFL in 2006 for their inaugurual season. So the stage is set:

AIFL American Bowl Championship
Rome vs. Canton
Monday 7PM

Severe Weather

2006-06-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

Those of us at The Indoor Football Guys were talking about the bad weather the East Coast has seen since the weekend. Flooding, storms, tornadoes---irony we thought to the realm of indoor football. This off-season for the NIFL and AIFL is going to be interesting. As it also will be with the addition of 472 indoor leagues that will be sprouting up across the Midwest.

Teams have been announced in Danville and Tupelo for the AIFL. The GLIFL is rumored in Toledo and has confirmed an expansion in (near) Detroit. The cough EIFL, headed by Jim Terry is adding teams in Jersey, Ohio and Nova Scotia. Okay, I kid about Nova Scotia but Terry is adding a team in Youngstown--yup, the same place the AF2 is putting a team. Double-market teams only seem to work in New York City and Los Angeles. Not in Youngstown Ohio. Terry has said in numerous reports he's going to take them head on. Good luck--they'll outspend you in marketing, sell more tickets, have a better environment, and probably even put on a better game.

Free tickets are nice, but even I don't want to sit on dirt in a barn.

The AIFL wants to expand to 24 teams, again--good luck. Here is a novel idea: let's stablize the teams you currently have, then expand. Put yourself on a five-year expansion plan. The first two years must hold the current teams you have. The third year must show growth financially and from a fan-base perspective. If the bottom line isn't in the black and getting larger, repeat back to year one of expansion. The fourth year an investor must come forward, the league cannot "purchase" teams and run them till an owner steps forward--that is a backwards process. By all means, go get investors, but don't own/run/buy/watch new teams--that isn't good for the league as a whole.

The fifth year can be the first year for an expansion team(s). The league also needs to setup a Rainy Day fund. This fund is ONLY to be used for teams who are struggling to pay the bills. The league CANNOT have more than 20 teams at one time, after the fifth year of course.

As for the NIFL, well--a national league for minor league sports has never worked. For baseball, football, or hockey. Everything is regionalized for a reason and making Florida teams go to Washington for games is not econmically smart nor is it good for the fans of the travelling team. And what team in the NIFL has enough money to get a team out to Washington and make sure it's players and staff members are comfortable. Because I can tell you, there is nothing worse than 50 hours on a bus ride and sharing a double bed. It isn't fun, nor worth it.

So I ask that expanding leagues use sense and smarts when making the decisions they do. Don't grow to fast, or it will be regrettable. Learn from mistakes, whether yours or others and capitalize on those mistakes. Finally, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

Messy weekend for all

2006-06-25T13:36:00.000-05:00

This week's schedule of NIFL games was supposed to be a promising one. Instead, a host of blowouts were delivered and some more teams seem to have dropped out.

The biggest story of the weekend is Katy's 132 point record. The Copperheads destroyed one of the many thrown together teams in the league, 132-3. The replacements kicked a 39 yard field goal in the fourth quarter, just for the sake of avoiding a shutout.

The other big story is the Florida Frenzy. A week after their home game was cancelled because the Dayton Bulldog replacements didn't show up, the Frenzy decided not to travel to Charleston. The Charleston Post and Courier article reports that after a two hour delay, an NAFL team showed up to take a beating. Fans with ticket stubs can purchase tickets to the next home game for half price. Apparently the semipro replacement team was not notified they were playing until 10AM yesterday. At least the AIFL can get their NAFL teams in on time and with some kind of notice.

I've also been told that the Montgomery Maulers were a replacement team last night. I have been unable to confirm this, but I'm not ruling it out just yet. The final three teams in the Atlantic Conference fighting for a playoff spot are Charleston, Florida, and Montgomery. All three are in some turmoil. Looking good, NIFL!

The other half of the Texas semipro squad went to Beaumont, where the Drillers got a 67-0 victory. The Dayton replacements put up a good fight with the Arkansas replacements, as the Stars won 39-13.

In what was supposed to be a good game, the Outlaws made the Fever look like a semipro team, with a big win. Let's just hope the playoffs go off without a hitch...

The AF2 was full of blowouts, as well. My Pioneers were destroyed, 65-35, as the team begins to fall apart behind the arm of Mike Granieri. Basically, the Pioneers didn't get off the bus. The offense was terrible, the defense was put in tough spots and caved, and special teams was equally bad. Thank goodness there's a bye week next week before the Florida Firecats come to town.

Central Valley, Green Bay, Oklahoma City, Memphis, Florida, and Tulsa all won by atleast 19 points. The Talons dropped an 87 spot on the Amarillo Dusters, as the Dusters continue on a long losing streak. Several teams will have a week to recover with the holiday weekend and hopefully we'll have some better games in two weeks.

The AIFL message boards are down, as the league tries to deflect all the negativity for a while. They plan to give us a voice by shutting down the message boards. Another reason for the shutdown is so that the potential ownership in Tupelo and Danville doesn't see all the criticism that the league is getting. Andrew Haines can't get it right with six or sixteen teams, so twenty-four will just be a bigger diaster.

Heart of a champion? Not on the Express team.

2006-06-22T22:38:00.000-05:00

The Reading Express got out to a 21-6 lead in the first quarter of their semifinal game against the Canton Legends. After that, the Express took their foot off the gas pedal and off the collective neck of the Legends, allowing them to take a 27-24 halftime lead. That was alright, I mean the Express were going to get the ball first in the second half, so things were going to be alright, right? WRONG. The Express came out looking like they did back in week one. Tom Stetzer was throwing up prayers and overthrowing passes. Receivers dropped balls, and the defense was on the field so much that they ultimately caved. Twice in the third quarter, the Express had excellent opportunities to score and take the lead, but didn't. Eventually, the Express players were worn down and shutout, 17-0 in the second half. The players on the bench were leaning over the boards, exhausted and noone was talking. There was noone on that team being a vocal leader or anything, which leads me to believe this team didn't have the heart of a champion. They just kind of gave up in the second half. Eric Rockhold, who is usually reliable for several rouges and anywhere from 12-15 points per game, missed several field goals and had no rouges. He scored six points. Give credit to the Legends for never giving up and for their offensive line constantly breaking down Stetzer's pocket, but the Express pretty much gave up in the end. Even with the defense creating opportunities, Reading couldn't take advantage. The Legends will represent well in the American Bowl against either Rome or Raleigh.

BREAKING NEWS: Canton Legends Advance to American Bowl

2006-06-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

Tonight (Thursday) in a not-so-surprising upset, the Canton Legends defeated the Reading Express 44-24 and will advance to the AIFL Championship game the American Bowl. Canton will either host the game if Raleigh upsets Rome on Monday night for the Southern Conference Championship.

Raleigh and Rome play Monday night at 7PM in Rome. Should Rome win, they will host the championship game.

Indoor Fan was at the game in Reading and will have a full report later.

Tupelo next on AIFL list

2006-06-21T12:27:00.000-05:00

Tupelo, Mississippi is next on the expansion list for the American Indoor Football League. The Northeast Mississippi Journal is reporting that the AIFL will hold ownership of the team until an owner steps forward (usually how it happens) but the article is an intersting read. This caught my eye:

"The feedback was so positive on this league," said Skinner, who did his homework, contacting AIFL facility directors and owners.

Skinner is the director of the BancorpSouth Center in Tupelo. Who exactly did he call again? And the article also begins with a gleaming note and certainly would draw any pro team to town. It speaks for itself...

Tupelo's not a pro sports town, but darn if we don't keep trying to be one.

Oh boy! Here we go again. Remember, te AIFL wants to expand to 24 teams for the 2007 season. One has already defected which leaves them with 15. Add Tupelo and Danville and they are up to 17 with only seven more to go.

Opps!

2006-06-21T12:15:00.000-05:00

Well, Jim Terry is at it again. Spreading more rumors, but then again, that is all he is really good for. Terry stated in a Tribune Chronicle article that three AIFL teams were joining his "EIFL:" Miami Valley, Steubenville, and Huntington.

The Eastern Indoor Football League, which consists of the HitMen, the Bay City Brawlers (New Jersey) and 3 Rivers Rats (Pittsburgh-Monroeville, Pa.), have established franchises such as Huntington (W.Va.), Steubenville, Miami Valley (Dayton-Troy) and Cincinnati looking at joining the league, Terry said.

Well, he's wrong on all three, and the Miami Valley Silverbacks issued a statement today, posted below.

(Troy,OH)—The Miami Valley Silverbacks, Northern League members of the American Indoor Football League (AIFL), have no plans to join the Eastern Indoor Football League (EIFL) and deny public claims made by Jim Terry, general manager and coach of the Mahoning Valley HitMen.

“The Silverbacks have no plans to join the EIFL,” stated Jeff Kolaczkowski, owner and president of both the Miami Valley Silverbacks and Steubenville Stampede. “As you can imagine, we were quite surprised to see this erroneous information in the media.”

Kolaczkowski was referring to a news article that appeared in Monday’s Mahoning Valley Tribune-Chronicle. The article focuses on Terry’s new indoor football team that will play in the Mahoning Valley area. A portion of the article, a direct quote from Terry, states that Steubenville, Miami Valley and Huntington, also an AIFL team, will join the EIFL for the 2007 season.

“I spoke with the ownership at Huntington this morning and they were equally shocked at the information,” continued Kolaczkowski. “I’m not sure where this information came from but I want to assure our fans that the Silverbacks, Stampede and Heroes have no plans to join the EIFL.”

ArenaCup in San Juan?!

2006-06-20T19:33:00.000-05:00

The AF2 has announced that the ArenaCup will be held in San Juan, Peurto Rico for this season and the next. It appears that the league has forgotten about its fans, with this slap in the face. Roundtrip airfare is incredibly expensive for most fans that don't live in Florida and going out of the country for a championship game is relatively unrealistic for most. The AF2 is putting the game in San Juan because they want a team there eventually, and of course, none of the owners will be paying their own way to the game. So how do we fix it? Let's bring back the "old school" playoff system, where the team with the best record hosts the ArenaCup! Or at least put the game in a reasonable neutral site, such as Las Vegas or Oklahoma City.

Unfortunately, it looks like we will never return to the old system. The AF2 has lost sight of the fans that made this league and its teams popular. One thing is for sure: these next two ArenaCups were not planned with the fans in mind and will not be in the least fan friendly. Shame on the AF2 for making such a selfish decision.

The NIFL's lawsuit

2006-06-20T13:54:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, the NIFL has filed suit against the UIF, IFL, APFL, and AIFL for violaitng the patent that Carolyn Shiver holds on indoor football. Well it seems that Andrew Haines and the AIFL don't think their league is worth fighting for, as they have given in to the demands of the NIFL. They will apparently change their rouge rule and will pay the fines as per the lawsuit. Meanwhile, the UIF is getting the venue changed from Louisiana, which will is a delay tactic that will cost Ms. Shiver more money. The IFL and APFL will battle the lawsuit in court and people on Danthefan.com are saying that the judge is heavily in favor of the APFL and IFL already. I mean, how can a league that has been listed as having "questionable business practices" even begin to file a lawsuit against another league? It's ridiculous. Perhaps Carolyn is so miserable with her failure of a league that she has to make everyone else miserable. A "if I can't have it, noone will" kind of attitude. Hopefully all involved in this lawsuit will see that the NIFL is incredibly unstable and is quickly falling apart. Why, just this past weekend we had 5 forfeits. That's 10 teams and half the scheduled games.

Of course, a good number of the NIFL's teams are replacements or semipro teams. Tennessee, Montgomery, Dayton, West Palm Beach, Big Sky, Lincoln/St. Joseph, and Twin City have all had or still have replacement players. How can you honestly run a league like this? The competitive balance is an absolute joke. Four times the winning team has scored over 100 points on one of these replacements. That doesn't even begin to touch the several 74-14 or 90-8 scores that we see week in and week out. Look for six of those this coming weekend, as there will only be one forfeit and several replacement teams will be on the road.

Then we have the NIFL2, or the AIFL as it is actually called. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Reading Express. That organizaiton is doing it right in just about every way. But the league itself is nothing more than a joke. Replacement teams, forfeits, traveling teams, you name it, the AIFL has got it. Most recently, the Richmond Bandits left the AIFL at playoff time, foregoing their shot at defending the league title. Somehow, the Haines administration managed to spin this so it looks like Richmond was suspended from the postseason for not being in good standing. And just a few days after another mess blows up in his face, an expansion team in Illinois is announced. Haines has said he plans to play with 24 teams next year, which is no good. He couldn't do it right with 6 or 16 teams, so what will happen if they add 14 or so more? I say 14 because a lot of teams will jump ship after this dismal season. Richmond was just the first in what will probably be a flood.

I'll wrap this relatively brief rant up by saying ROOT ON THE IFL, APFL, AND UIF! There's no way Carolyn Shiver and the NIFL should get anything from these leagues....

A couple expansion notes

2006-06-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Intersting notes on GLIFL and AIFL expansion.. Detroit is being added to the GLIFL for the upcoming season. And Rumors are circulating that the AIFL has invaded UIF territory and swiped up Danville, Illinois for 2007.

It's almost sure that both leagues will expand for next season. The GLIFL appears to be the most stable and the AIFL is going to be needing teams anyway. Looks like Danville could replace Richmond in the Southern Conference. One would assume with the current expansion underway, there will be significant realignment of the teams into divisions for 2007. That means, three years, three different setups.

More as it comes...

Welcome!

2006-06-19T22:41:00.000-05:00

The Indoor Football Guys welcome you to our blog. Here, we'll discuss the fawcets of five leagues we follow, the AIFL, NIFL, IFL, UIF, and AF2. We'll offer commentary, news, and maybe the occasional interview. Comments are welcome, but please be nice--or else. Check back daily for updates from The Indoor Football Guys.