NIFL contributing to indoor football soap opera

by Josh Stein
Published on May 10, 2007 under Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)

This has been one of the more interesting and memorable weeks for the soap opera side of indoor football in recent memory. On one side, we have teams throwing out co-owners that have (allegedly) embezzled money, players basically throwing out owners that aren't paying them, players that "don't mind not being paid," and new management groups coming in designed to get the team through a season somehow. On the other side, we have the NIFL owners revolting against the league (finally). It really couldn't get any more interesting than this, could it?

Honestly, I hope not. Every time something newsworthy happens in this sport, it's bad.

Sure, it's a great read to talk about how CIFL Springfield Stallions owner Justin Gettys suckered two co-owners into "buying into the team" without them ever actually forcing him to get the proper paperwork, and then take all the money that was put into the team. But that's not really good for the sport. This is simply yet another case study on how owners of indoor football teams need to do their due diligence on the team, the other owners, the league, the team employees, the players, and everything else.

Or they'll lose everything they put into it, and then some.

Then we have the case study that is Steubenville. The reasoning for letting Ramone Davenport in was that he had substantial financial backers. It took a half-season (where Steubenville had five freaking home games) for the players to completely revolt and refuse to play in a situation where he is still the owner. So my question is this: if he had these substantial backers, where are they? Where is this substantial money? Why didn't the league make sure the owner actually had this money and that they weren't basing his acceptance as a CIFL owner on his personal promises (apparently there are other teams having similar problems, though not to the degree as in Steubenville)? I mean, really, what was the acceptance process here? Did they get flashed with a bunch of the dark orange $500 Monopoly bills and go with that?

Now, the situation in Steubenville is at least pseudo-improved, in that QB Ryan Maiuri's dad (Martin) has taken over operations of the team. But we still don't know who actually owns it. And that's just not too reassuring. At least they're going to get a likely win over Springfield (if they show up).

Let's be honest, this isn't the big story in indoor football. At one time, way back in the day, the National Indoor Football League was the premier indoor football league. Granted, it was the only one, but it was actually somewhat successful. Fast-forward to 2007, where well over half the NIFL's teams are league-owned in a situation where the league has less money than I do. It probably took too long (this should have been done before kickoff), but the owners of the legitimate teams have finally had enough. As such, they took their ball and reconfigured the whole league schedule.

Is this an ideal situation for the ten teams (it is assumed the noted "league-owned" franchises in these ten have outside ownership, but I am not sure)? Of course not. Really, all of them outside of the California teams could be in a different league. The Cincinnati Marshals of Dayton almost joined the CIFL. Fayetteville/Greensboro/Columbia probably almost went to the AIFA. Wyoming has been rumored to go to the UIF since they kicked off. There's a phrase that I'll use here to explain why these teams didn't make the move: "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't." It's natural; people are afraid of change. And making a move to a different league is a big change. Sure, the UIF has somewhat proven itself, but Wyoming's probably made more money this year with 2500-3000 fans a game and no travel than they would have in the UIF with 3500 fans a game.

Remember, indoor football is a business. Even though he's good at not paying his bills, the Koyotes have been infinitely more profitable in the APFL than they probably would have been in any other league with those attendance figures. That's not to say if Topeka had a team in a real league they'd draw better still, but for what they're putting into it, the constant beat downs aren't that bad for business.

What will happen from here? That's the big key. There are seven professional indoor football leagues (if you count the APFL). The better ones (UIF, WIFL) are licking their chops waiting to pull the good teams from the doldrums of the leagues with major problems (AIFA, CIFL, NIFL). And they have the ability for selectivity! They can pick and choose the teams they want. No matter how worried people were, the WIFL by all accounts has had a great season with FOUR TEAMS! There is no incentive for the WIFL to go and expand to 25 teams next year like almost everyone else likes to do! Fans want the WIFL to pull all those good NIFL/AIFA teams from the southeast into their league for 2008. There's probably a reason they didn't go to the WIFL in the first place, and don't think Tufford and the crew don't know that.

Same goes for the UIF. I don't think they're nearly proactive enough to be sustainable in a 10-20-30 year type frame. That said, I may be wrong. There are no immediate dangers of folding with the eleven they have, and if there are defection worries, they're with Lexington and Ohio Valley; the two teams that are so far out of the way the UIF probably won't miss them. Let's look at the teams that exist now that could in theory go UIF. Wyoming...but they better be ready to pay a full franchise fee; that ownership has had three shots to go UIF and hasn't taken one yet. Chicago CIFL, but I don't know the financial position of the current ownership (I assume it's pretty fair, though). Marion in the CIFL could easily afford it, but the UIF isn't financially sound for a team in a 3200-seat arena. Port Huron could probably pull it off, and those fans deserve a league where they'd have some competition. Then again, if OV/LEX were in theory to go somewhere (I don't think this is going to happen, mind you), PH/MAR would make no geographical sense there again.

Everyone wants the existing leagues to take all these NIFL teams, when in reality there's probably an external reason (beyond Wyoming) they didn't in the first place. The WIFL and UIF won't expand with these NIFL teams. There are good AIFA teams that the WIFL may take a look at (Mississippi, Lakeland), but Wyoming is probably the only feasible UIF market. Expansion done by the two top leagues will most likely be in the 'true expansion' realm. La Crosse still deserves a new team, for example. The middling teams will go to the middling leagues, and maybe finally, the NIFL will go away.

But at least those ten teams left will leave the NIFL with a little of that glimmer of how great and fun the NIFL once was.

If you have any questions about anything I wrote in here, or want to add something for next week, do it! Email me at exit322@indoorfootballfan.com. Until next week, this is the war Between the Walls.

Continental Indoor Football League Stories from May 10, 2007

• NIFL contributing to indoor football soap opera - OSC Original by Josh Stein

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.