Over a Cup of Coffee
by Jerry Hewitt
March 26, 2010 - Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)
Today we take a look at the media efforts of the five-team Southern Indoor Football League. There are no surprises for me here. I knew before collecting the data that the SIFL has been pretty good in the communications department.
| Press Releases Pre Season | Media Coverage Pre Season | Press Releases In Season | Media Coverage In Season | |
| Albany | 5 | 21 | 0 | 2 |
| Columbus | 13 | 8 | 2 | 1 |
| Greenville | 6 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Lafayette | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Louisiana | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
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| SIFL Totals (5 teams) | 35 | 33 | 7 | 6 |
| SIFL Averages | 7.00 | 6.60 | 1.40 | 1.20 |
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| IFL Totals (25 teams) | 122 | 161 | 99 | 196 |
| IFL Averages | 4.88 | 6.44 | 3.96 | 7.84 |
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| CIFL Totals (6 teams) | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| CIFL Averages | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.16 |
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| AIFA Totals (13 teams) | 53 | 34 | 16 | 23 |
| AIFA Averages | 4.07 | 2.62 | 1.23 | 1.77 |
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| Total All (49 teams) | 219 | 231 | 144 | 226 |
| Averages All | 4.47 | 4.71 | 2.94 | 4.61 |
My conclusions on SIFL teams
The SIFL numbers largely bear out my theory of more press releases equal more media coverage as we have almost a one to one ratio across the board. Dan Ryan, the original SIFL Communications Director set things up correctly for the league and I think for the most part his legacy lives on this season through Matthew Hester.
There are two teams in the SIFL I'd expect more from considering their standing in the second year league: the Columbus Lions and the Louisiana Swashbucklers. First, the Lions because their Communications Director also handles the leagues communications efforts. Overall he has done a good job, both for his own team and the league. Columbus has put out more releases than any other single team in the league, but their return on the dollar in releases sent versus media coverage is low. I am not blaming the Lions for this and have no idea why the local media doesn't cover the team better. Second, I would expect more from the Swashbucklers. Thom Hager said last season that in starting the SIFL he wanted to use the Swashbucklers as the model. They currently number second in the league in releases and have fair numbers there, but has it translated to local coverage.
Tomorrow I'll wrap up this series with my conclusions. It's not all negative, and there are bright spots in the numbers and I can clearly see some patterns and their reasons.
Tonight's action
In the AIFA, Wenatchee (1-0) takes to the road against last season's Western Division champion Wyoming (1-0). Both teams opened with road wins last week. Over in the IFL the Bloomington Extreme who appear to be a dominant force in the Central North Division travel to Green Bay. Both teams come into this matchup with 2-1 records and the winner here takes sole position of first place in the Central North. Being a division game at home I'd call this almost a must win for Green Bay. In the CIFL Marion is at Cincinnati in Marion's opener. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the 1-0 Commandos. No games are scheduled in the SIFL tonight.
Other stuff
Its funny that sometimes just one small comment buried in all my commentary gets noticed. Wednesday I commented on the Chicago Slaughter (IFL) and their 0-3 start. Last season they sailed through the CIFL season undefeated. I made the comment, 'what a difference a league makes.' Had I said a year instead of a league I wouldn't have received emails, so I did on that little blurb. So okay, I'm guilty of maybe not taking all the facts into consideration. Last season the AFL was off and the Slaughter benefited from having a number of the AFL Chicago Rush players on their roster which certainly added to their 2009 success. This season they were forced into rebuilding as those Rush players headed back to the new AFL. Most likely their 0-3 start is due mostly to that reason. So my apologies to those CIFL fans who took offense to my insinuating the quality of play is higher in the IFL than the CIFL. In fact, since the two don't have any interleague games, there is no way to ascertain that one way or the other.
This article and more archived at The Indoor Football Report located at www.IndoorFootballNetwork.com Comments about this article or suggestions can be made to indoorbowl@yahoo.com
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Southern Indoor Football League Stories from March 26, 2010
- Wildcatters Make Coaching Change - Lafayette Wildcatters
- Bucs Versus Lions, An Almost Mirror Image - SIFL
- Over a Cup of Coffee - OSC Original by Jerry Hewitt
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.
