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FireHawks To Sit Out 2011 Season

December 30, 2010 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Fort Wayne FireHawks News Release


Fort Wayne, IN - The Fort Wayne FireHawks will not be playing in 2011. The announcement was made today by J. Michael Loomis, CEO of Championship Sports Enterprises, LLC, owner of the Fort Wayne FireHawks. The team played in the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) in 2010.

Loomis, stated "Our fans have been wonderfully supportive, and we are very grateful for that support. However, the economy in northeastern Indiana is still rebounding from the last quarter of 2007. The safer, more conservative financial position for the team is to ride out the storm and attempt to emerge in a year." Loomis indicated that the team is focusing on the 2012 indoor football season, and that he intends to continue trying to attract investors in order to be better capitalized before returning to the field.

The team finished 6-4 in the CIFL, after losing to the Wisconsin Timberwolves 25-24 in Madison on June 19 in the first round of the playoffs. Wisconsin went on to lose 54-40 to the Cincinnati Commandos in the league championship game. The FireHawks team had been operating under a one-year lease agreement with the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, which has now expired. The team had announced its intention to enter into a new two-year franchise agreement with the CIFL, but that agreement was never completed. "We worked closely with the CIFL during the off-season in an attempt to play in 2011, and we thank CIFL Commissioner Jeff Spitaleri, and the other team owners, for their patience", Loomis added. "We believe it is more prudent at this time to revamp the team's financial position, work with our creditors, grow our fan base, and draw more advertising sponsors before we make any other commitments."

Loomis said, "There is a lot of potential for arena football in this area, but to be successful, we must be capitalized properly. We'll try to regroup and be ready to play in the 2012 Season with a lot of improvements to our sports entertainment product."



Continental Indoor Football League Stories from December 30, 2010


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