72 NIFL TEAMS FAILED or DEFUNCTED!

[bonkers]

The Wikipedia list 72 teams that have either failed or are defuncted in
the NIFL! UNREAL! And they keep getting more owners to buy in!

[akrizman]

The Wikipedia list 72 teams that have either failed or are defuncted in
the NIFL! UNREAL! And they keep getting more owners to buy in!

Speaking of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Indoor_Football_League)...

It looks like a league official recently revised the entry to give it a more positive spin. Among some of the more chuckle-worthy revisions include their version of the Billings/Osceola battle for the Outlaws name, their blame-shifting take on the Katy Copperheads playoff travel incident, and their justification for the championship homegame fiasco.

[akrizman]

Compare the current Wiki entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Indoor_Football_League) with the original:


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:

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.

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.

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.

[Paul S]

Full props to AKrizman for getting the original. I looked at the NIFL wikipedia entry a while ago at work and if work allowed me to post I would have. AK has got the original vs the GC touch up job. I know which version of events I believe.

[GoCavs1]

The good thing about wikpedia is it can always be changed.. So if we were to rewrite it and save it somewhere. Then when CG see's it and changes it to his version we in turn can change it back to the truth. So Who is interested in writing a truer version? How's it look now?

[indoor fan]

The good thing about wikpedia is it can always be changed.. So if we were to rewrite it and save it somewhere. Then when CG see's it and changes it to his version we in turn can change it back to the truth. So Who is interested in writing a truer version? How's it look now?

And there are 5 people in the world who actually care.

[GoCavs1]

And there are 5 people in the world who actually care.


LOL Nice! I agree if someone says I want to buy a franchise lets see what wikpedia says and goes by that.. Well then I say.. Let em buy in.

[akrizman]

Somebody went and fixed the Wikipedia entry, but it's interesting reading to check out the "history" tab to read the spin job that a user named "CShiver" edited this morning.

[bonkers]

The entry about the Arkansas Stars, states that the team used only one goal post because the team just secured the arena hours before the game.
That was the second home game, they had already played one game in the arena. I saw part of that game, one goal post, no banners on the walls,
the walls actually were falling over on impact. they had about 150- 200 people at the game. The Stars had 2 players sharing 1 helmet.

[Minor League Man]

Ummm...Ms. Shiver has an interesting Wikihistory...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Cshiver

Check it out!

[OneBetter]

The NIFL wikipedia page has been updated to state that the league is now defunct!