So much for the AIFL being "above the other leagues&quo

[American Dragon]

Didn't take long for a team to fold in mid-season..

Looks like the Carolina Sharks are no more. Instead, the team will play the rest of the season on the road as the GHOSTRIDERS.

Way to "break the mold" eh?

[rams80]

Actually its more like the owners of the Carolina team got thrown out of the league right before the season started. It looks bad, but its better than having the team going belly-up mid-season.

[Geoff]

This happened before the season even started. They wont play the rest of the season on the road, they will play ALL of the season on the road. Looks like you have egg on your face.

[hawkeye]

Actually it's rumored the Ghostriders will have one home game in Elmyra, NY. Make sure you don't give away all those eggs. ;)

[Pounder]

Give away the rest of the eggs.

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3176937

Well, give them credit for cutting 2 weeks off the regular season instead of all remaining 4.

I guess there's now a precedence for a league doing this and surviving to another season. That league doesn't happen to be known as the IPFL, so you can tell what odds I put on the return of this bunch.

[exit322]

You have to wonder, that's for sure.

But hell, they've got 2 expansion teams for 2006, plus a slew of others on the "getting stuff put together" list. At least (unlike the ABA), the two teams announced already have arena deals in place.

[nksports]

Daytona Beach I can see as a viable market. Steubenville, Ohio? They must be counting on everyone from Pa. to W.Va. to Youngstown coming out to support this team. It's an interesting gamble. If it makes it, you have natural rivals with Erie and Canton. But boy howdy, talk about your small markets (the city's website said the population was "almost 20,000.") Unless there has been some kind of revival, that area has been economically depressed for more than 20 years.

[Pounder]

In Steubenville's defense, Weirton WV is right across the Ohio River and is almost the same population. I thought both towns were closer to 25,000, but I'm not about to speculate on whether there's been a Rust Belt effect there. It's a slightly reasonable "metro" area IIRC.

As for the league, well, yeesh.

[tony-o]

The league plans on a 12-team expansion. Their third expansion team is Reading.

[Sykotyk]

Well, in just Steubenville, there's 19,000+, in Weirton there's 20,000+, and if you add Wintersville, Follansbee, and Mingo Junction you have almost 16,000 more people in just the general viscinity.

The team is not going to have a hard time drawing. Remember, this is the only professional sport this area has, and only high school and American Legion baseball that overlaps. And don't look to much at a conflict with the Greyhounds, it's a non-issue.

Sykotyk

[nksports]

"They" say (the ubiquitous They) you need a metro area of about 100,000 for a minor league sports team to succeed (not the city itself, but the market you are trying to draw from). But that's never stopped someone from trying. And many a team from a large city has folded.
I read one report that Troy, Ohio, is another market coveted by the AIFL. Hobart Arena (a hockey arena built in the 50s) seats somewhere just under 5,000. I'm sure they are looking to draw from Miami County as well as Piqua, Sidney (or is it Sydney, I can't remember), Greenville and maybe even Springfield (only about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes away depending on traffic).

[Houston Caldwell]

Granted, web design and maintenance is not one of my specialties, but isn't this something most leagues would do in the offseason, instead of the regular season end/playoff beginning?

[wncsport.com]

You got it.

[WacoTitan]

"They" say (the ubiquitous They) you need a metro area of about 100,000 for a minor league sports team to succeed (not the city itself, but the market you are trying to draw from). But that's never stopped someone from trying. And many a team from a large city has folded.
I read one report that Troy, Ohio, is another market coveted by the AIFL. Hobart Arena (a hockey arena built in the 50s) seats somewhere just under 5,000. I'm sure they are looking to draw from Miami County as well as Piqua, Sidney (or is it Sydney, I can't remember), Greenville and maybe even Springfield (only about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes away depending on traffic).

Well if thats the case then why can't Waco have any type of team. Our area has 500,000 people but not one single team.

[nksports]

I've never figured out Waco, unless Baylor is such a strong force there that nobody follows anything else. Or the economy is in a state of depression. No minor league team has ever seemed to succeed there.
They had indoor football (the Marshalls), but it was the typical underfinanced ownership. If I remember correctly (and those of you out there I'm sure will correct me if I'm wrong), they had to bring in the semi-pro Texas Thunder to try and finish their season last year.
I think there were some attempts at minor league hockey (WPHL if I remember correctly, I don't remember any CHL teams there. Again someone will correct me).
What do people in Waco do on a Saturday night (other than hang out in your stereotypical honkey-tonk bar)? How do you market to the good folks there?

[WacoTitan]

We usually just go out to eat and see a movie or something. I'm underaged but I still know there arnt any really good bars in town. The deal with our sports teams is that none of them reeally get good marketing. Over 75% of the people never knew we even had an NIFL team. I mean we have a 6,000 seat arena that was recently renovated and it even has a video replay screen :D. I think were in the most populated 40 miles of the country without some type of team.

[midwave]

Steubenville, Ohio? They must be counting on everyone from Pa. to W.Va. to Youngstown coming out to support this team. It's an interesting gamble. If it makes it, you have natural rivals with Erie and Canton. But boy howdy, talk about your small markets (the city's website said the population was "almost 20,000.") Unless there has been some kind of revival, that area has been economically depressed for more than 20 years.

I live in Youngstown area, and I think just myself and some family and friends, are the only people that realize that there is indoor football a few hours away. I drive the 2 hours to Erie myself, all year long, cause there is so much more to do there besides football. Erie has alot more to offer than Steubenville. I don't visit a city for just football...that gets too boring too fast.
It's a real shame, and highly offensive, that Global Entertainment and the Youngstown Steelhounds don't really care about this area, by utilizing a 'no-compete' clause for sports for their first season...In fact, I even feel that Steelhounds is such a backwards name :roll: ...I'm tired of hearing about the long-gone steel industry mecca we had, especially when we have moved on since then, and small industries turning into national and international success stories is our ongoing pride (I should know...I work for such a company)
I will never attend a Steelhounds game, and I can only hope that Global and that strange Central Hockey League realize they messed up.
This is football country, only 40 minutes from the NFL Hall Of Fame.