New League

[perusix]

Any chance of some of the teams in the AIFA going to the possible IFL and AF2 merged league?

Hopefully the Fayetteville Guard!!!!

[#1 Guard Fan]

Is there talk of a AF2 and IFL merge?/??? I would like to think Mr King would do the right thing and take the Guard to the strongest league he could

[fwp]

Boy, I'd sure hope that the Guard would think things through. There are many things you'd want to consider.

A number of the teams listed or rumored to be considering this change are the same teams that had secret meetings and chose to exclude teams like the Guard when they formed the UIF. Now they're having secret meetings with "select" members to break away from their newest league?

You see a lot of UIF folk wondering why Wyoming wouldn't join their league. Where would they be now if they had? On the outside of the secret, select meetings? Back in the same place they were during the formation of the UIF?

Are the af2 teams MacGregor's teams? I don't follow af2, but am shocked how far the Fever have fallen since he took that team. I take it he isn't that successful?

[preeths]

Have no doubt, the former UIF folks know why Wyoming didn't join. They also know why the invitation to join them wasn't extended in the first place. Perhaps feelings on both sides have softened in the last few years.

McGregor owns like a third of af2's teams. As you can imagine, some of them are good, some not so much.

[exit322]

I doubt Wyoming's feelings have softened. Even with their beat down against Reading, the financial reasons for staying with the current course will make it pretty hard for Wyoming to agree to get back in bed with owners that would have pulled this stunt twice.

[IndoorExpert]

Wyoming controls their own destiny in the AIFA. They found themselves in that position due to the fact they (get into bed with the owners of the leagues) figuratively speaking. They will not be making any switches anytime soon.

[Caballo Diablo]

Are the af2 teams MacGregor's teams? I don't follow af2, but am shocked how far the Fever have fallen since he took that team. I take it he isn't that successful?
Last season he owned 9 teams in the af2, 4 made the playoffs and 2 were in conference finals. His team, the Tennesse Valley Vipers won the Championship last season.

[Caballo Diablo]

Have McGregor owns like a third of af2's teams. As you can imagine, some of them are good, some not so much.
Not any more. He had 9 teams last year and only 5 this season. There are 27 teams in the league this season.

Amarillo Dusters - sold last off season to Randy Sanders. Mr Sanders owned the Austin Ice Bats (CHL) which were forced out of town by the new AHL team the Texas Stars which will be the minor leagur team for the Dallas Stars.

The AHL players move up to the NHL, while the CHL moves their players up to the AHL. Austin can't sustain two hockey teams and the higher league prevailed. Randy tailgated with us at the Wrangler games, he was also a friend of Doug's. Hw folded the Ice Bats and bought the Amarillo Dusters (af2) and the Amarillo Gorillas (CHL). They both play in the same venue.

Austin Wranglers -
Lubbock renegades -
Texas Copperheads (Houston) - Doug MacGregor shuttered all 3 of these teams after the 2008 season

Tennesse Valley Vipers -
Peoria Pirates (formerly the Laredo Lobo's )
Corpus Christi Sharks -
Tri-City Fever -
Boise Burn - Still playing as of the 2009 season with rumors of several either folding or merging into a new league for 2010

[Caballo Diablo]

Is there talk of a AF2 and IFL merge?



Possible Merger - at this time it's still all speculation and they just throwing out test ballons to see what will fly and who might be interested

This "journalist" has a reputaion of bad info, so who knows what will actually happen/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was the link to the story but it's not there anymore?
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x...we-ll-know-more-Monday

The following is not the entire article.

LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN? Peoria Pirates majority owner Doug MacGregor is spearheading a group of af2 owners meeting this week with counterparts from the rival IFL in Oklahoma City to examine the possibility of a new league for 2010.

It would essentially be a merger, although a few teams would not be invited.

MacGregor’s vision, according to sources, is for a 32-team league, set up in four eight-team divisions.

“In the scenario that is being investigated, rebound nets and (af2) rules will be used,” said MacGregor, when asked about the source reports. “I can promise that we’ll be playing some version of arena football. It will not be indoor football, but arena football, like the AFL/af2 plays. The arena game that fans love and support will be preserved.”

Known to be on the invite list, from the af2, are Peoria, Quad City, Arkansas, Bossier-Shreveport, Rio Grande, Corpus Christi, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Boise, Tennessee Valley and Tulsa. Among the IFL invites are Bloomington, St. Louis, Wichita, San Angelo (Texas), Omaha, Odessa, El Paso, Colorado (Loveland), Sioux City (Iowa) and Richmond (Va.).

The Pirates would operate in a division with Quad City, Bloomington, St. Louis, Sioux City, Omaha and a seventh member as yet unknown.

A 14-game schedule would be played, entirely within the division, to limit travel costs. Head coaches would be capped at $35,000 and be declared seasonal employees, which means no insurance benefits or unemployment checks in the offseason.

Coaching salary caps likely won’t fly. A guy like Mike Hohensee isn’t going to work for that.

Owners also want to create an “AFL Light” in which current af2 teams Tulsa, Spokane, Iowa and maybe defunct Louisville, would move up and join some of the original AFL clubs — remember, that senior league ceased operations over the winter — in a rebirth.

The new AFL would cap player salaries at $500 per week.

The new af2 — or whatever it ends up being called — would maintain its current $250 per week pay rate.

Rebound nets will be a major argument between the af2 and IFL owners. The IFL is 8-man football without nets. The af2, of course, uses the rebound nets and uniform field kits. It has proven to be a better product.

The patents on the arena football rebound nets and concepts — held by the AFL and af2 for 19 years — have expired this summer.

That means a newly-formed, or reforming league, like MacGregor envisions, could use the nets, too.

“I am a fully participating owner in the af2,” MacGregor said. “My focus is on making the af2 stronger. But it’s just good business to examine options, investigate things.

“I’m not saying another league would happen. The AFL (which suspended operations in 2009) is such an unknown as to whether it comes back in 2010, and that is going to impact things.

“If the AFL does not come back, I am fairly certain some of those teams will want to join a new league and operate.

“Right now, it’s all exploration for us. I don’t even know what such a league would be called. But I think everything will be clarified one way or another by the end of August.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pirates franchise back on plank
If local ownership doesn’t step up, Texas millionaire will fold af2 team
By DAVE EMINIAN (deminian@pjstar.com)
Journal Star
Jul 21, 2009
-------------

PEORIA — The Peoria Pirates head into the final week of the 2009 af2 season in a do-or-die situation. On and off the field.

While the Pirates chase a playoff berth with a must-win game at Stockton, their ownership is in a must-sell mode.

Peoria majority owner Doug MacGregor, a Texas-based millionaire, says the clock is running on the search for local investors. If none step forward, then Peoria’s af2 team will cease operations next month.

“It’s not so much that I want to get out of football, it’s that I don’t want to be the sole provider in Peoria,” MacGregor said. “The league will require a commitment from Peoria to play in the 2010 season by the end of August, early September.

“I don’t want to wait that long. If we don’t have local ownership in Peoria, then it’s over. The Pirates will be folded.”

Pirates minority owner and local managing partner Jim Foster says he has made progress in talks with prospective local investors. He is trying to put together a group that would replace MacGregor.

There are attractive aspects to the af2 team, which averaged 3,481 per game this season, and has gone 4-4 after a 1-6 start. Game operations improved, and the fan base responded with a strong show of support in the home finale two weeks ago.

The Peoria Civic Center is working behind the scenes to assist in locating ownership candidates, and the building wants the af2 to remain. It is believed MacGregor would sell the team for as little as $50,000. That includes the field kit — turf and dasher padding — which is worth $150,000.

Mike Hohensee, brought in as head coach around mid-season, would be an asset, too. If the senior-level AFL — where Hohensee led Chicago to a title in 2006 — remains dormant, the coach would likely stay in Peoria.

MacGregor, meanwhile, foreshadowed his own exit when he fired several Pirates business office employees late last week, including executive vice president Jerry McBurney, director of community relations Kelsey Wright and sales rep Brian Wonders.

The team deemed these seasonal layoffs, but it’s believed the move was made to reduce operational deficits and to clear the way for any new ownership to bring in its own staff.

“I don’t want to be majority owner anymore, I’m not looking for someone to come in and buy 2 percent of the team,” MacGregor said. “My initial GM hiring was not strong enough, and in retrospect, I never should have come into Peoria without local ownership partners in place.”

MacGregor owned all or part of nine af2 teams two years ago. Peoria had no team in 2007, after two failed seasons in the United Indoor Football league. MacGregor arrived in 2008 to return Peoria to the af2, where it had successfully operated from 2001-2004.
But MacGregor’s ownership stake in the af2 is down to five teams — Peoria, Tennessee Valley (Huntsville, Ala.), Corpus Christi, Boise, and Tri-Cities (Kennwick, Wash.).

He has significant local ownership partners in Tennessee Valley and Boise, and those franchises are thriving.

“Peoria, Corpus Christi and Tri-Cities, though, need local ownership,” MacGregor said. “If those teams don’t find local investors, they all will fold.

“I think Peoria is a great market. We saw the fan support start to return late this season, we brought in a great coach and you could see the corner turned.

“But someone else needs to come in here now, or it’s over.”

Dave Eminian can be reachedat 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com.

[roozy]

I can tell you, Wyoming better do something. The fans are getting restless with this current arrangement and attendance is starting to show it.

[Froztbyte]

[QUOTE=roozy;122594]I can tell you, Wyoming better do something. The fans are getting restless with this current arrangement and attendance is starting to show it.[/QUO Can't be to much fun playing against the three same teams over and over again for the whole season.

[roozy]

If the games were competitive, it would help tremendously. Through the second half of last season, UV was competitive, so that gave us 4 decent games. But the other 2 teams were like HS teams and I'm not even sure they could beat a lot of those.

Yeah, the same 3 teams over and over and over and over....

We fans also miss the Billings rivalry. Also Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Omaha. Never got to play Colorado Ice, but there is already one hell of a rivalry between University of Wyoming and Colorado State (located in Fort Collins as well). The opportunity for a quick road game for the fans to Billings (4 1/2 hours) or Fort Collins (3 hours) would be nice. UV and Ogden are twice as far.

[ryanpgroovy]

wyoming eh