Rochester Raiders To Withdraw From CIFL
June 8, 2008 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Rochester Raiders News Release
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (June 8, 2008)- After the Flint Phantoms failed to show up to the last regular season game of the 2008 CIFL season causing the game to be canceled the Rochester Raiders will withdraw from the Continental Indoor Football League. Each team in the CIFL was required to pay a security fund fee to ensure that each game would be played during the 2008 season. The Raiders were the only team in the entire league to comply with this rule. Earlier today after the Raiders were informed that ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Flint would not be making the trip to Rochester and the decision to cancel the game was made, Raiders owner Robert Bartosiewicz contacted league officials asking them for the security deposit back. His request was denied. "It is outrageous that something like this can happen." commented Raiders Owner Bob Bartosiewicz, "The CIFL's inability to show professionalism on this situation is unacceptable. To my knowledge not one other team complied by this rule and paid the security deposit. If the league had done a better job enforcing this rule, today would have never happened the way that it did. It is not fair to our fans to have to cancel the final regular season game of the year because of something like this." The Rochester Raiders are not the only team in Rochester to change leagues in the middle of a season. The Rochester Razorsharks withdrew from the ABA two years ago. "We had to change leagues in the middle of our season a couple years ago," stated Razorsharks owner Dr. Severko Hrywnak, "We had to do if for the sake of fans and the business. It was not beneficial for us to stay in the league whatsoever. The Raiders are put in an extremely similar situation right now. I wish them the best and this seems like the right decision in my opinion by the Raiders." With the forfeit the Raiders have finished their tenure in the Continental Indoor Football League by winning 25 out of their previous 27 games dating back to last season giving them a 24 game win streak which is currently the longest in the country. Due to the game being cancelled all of the Raiders corporate sponsors and season ticket holders will receive 1/6 of their money invested into the team. Just because the Raiders have withdrawn from the CIFL does not mean that they are done playing football this season and years to come. The Raiders will look for another league to finish out the season with and for the future. The Raiders wish all the remaining teams in the CIFL the best of luck for the remainder for the season.
• Discuss this story on the Continental Indoor Football League message board...
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from June 8, 2008
- Muskegon Thunder Headed to CIFL Playoffs - Muskegon Thunder
- Rochester Raiders To Withdraw From CIFL - Rochester Raiders
- Xplosion to Host Thunder in Opening Round of Playoffs - Kalamazoo Xplosion
- Goal Line Stand Keeps Kalamazoo Undefeated at Home - OSC Original by Randy Snow
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
