Over a Cup of Coffee
by Jerry Hewitt
Published on October 11, 2010 under Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Friday I had an idea that would take me away from my usual path. I was thinking of doing an article on what leagues are doing to help indoor football as a whole in their own little worlds. I contacted the commissioners in the CIFL, IFL, SIFL, and UIFL with the same question, what is your league doing to further stabilize the sport?
In doing this I knew I was going to get the company line. Their comments are direct quotes and nothing edited or left out. I do want to thank Gary Tufford of the SIFL and Tommy Benizio of the IFL for their prompt replies. I also should mention that I received no reply from the CIFL. I did not try to get anything from the AIFA because I believe anything from them considering their state of affairs would be anything but believable.
I asked Commissioner Tommy Benizio about the stability of the IFL and what they were doing to improve on it. He replied, "A little over two years ago, we created a league that despite its imperfections, had a solid foundation and business model. We have been blessed with the addition of over a half dozen solid teams each season since and hope to continue to grow throughout our future. In my time in this business, I have come to learn that pruning tends to produce greater fruit. We are moving forward in the 2011 season without several teams which is a sad thing for me. However, these are teams that either did not want to, or simply could not afford to be part of our great league and I believe that we are stronger for it. We continue to become more and more particular as we recruit new teams and have made improvements to our due diligence process at the same time. New teams are continually meeting higher and higher financial and other business standards in order to gain membership within the league. I am very pleased with the direction of the IFL and feel blessed to be serving this league."
I am trying to take what the leagues say here at face value, giving them the benefit of the doubt, yet compare what is said versus what I see. I would agree the IFL is not perfect, but built on a solid foundation. It is possible that both Billings and Sioux City are gone, both big losses, but I don't think either can be attributed to anything the IFL has or hasn't done. I can see where dropping Maryland and West Michigan does strengthen the league overall as well as the teams they have added. I think that the addition of Wyoming and Reading is proof that those teams outside of the IFL see the league as progressing in a good direction. I think for the most part what Commissioner Benizio says is proven with action.
I asked the same question I asked of the others to SIFL Commissioner Gary Tufford. He responded, "The SIFL has bolstered its regional footprint to include additional markets within defined areas. In order to implement growth that makes sense it is necessary to build bridges across those areas that reach playing partners. The long term affect on teams is reduced travel and reduced bottom line costs. With the addition of more teams the reality of divisional play is more likely".
The SIFL has a point that logical positioning of teams to reduce travel costs just makes good sense. I would like to have seen something on the strengthening of admission qualifications as this league has had problems in admitting teams that they should have left out, but I do feel these areas are being addressed and we can look for stability in the SIFL to improve. Adding in four Texas teams does put meaning to Commissioner Tufford's words as travel ought to be favorable within the league for the most part and help in reducing the bottom line for teams.
Since I didn't hear from the CIFL I can only go on what I've been told in the recent past. There were two things that might lead to more stability for the 2011 season, an increase in franchise fees for new teams and a letter of credit. To date the CIFL has added only one new team, but also found new ownership for Marion, which folded mid season in 2010. Returning the majority of their 2010 teams says a lot for the CIFL, all good, and if the new ones they have added are financially sound, it points to this league finding a certain amount of stability.
The UIFL is brand new and has no track record to go on unless we look at the league creators and their track record. If we did that it might not be a pretty picture, but I tend to put less into that than some and want to be optimistic towards the start up league. We also have to remember there are others involved in building this league, including team ownerships. Ultimately it will be the efforts of all who determine whether this league proves out or not. The UIFL, although new, did send me the longest of the responses.
Michael Taylor, cofounder of the UIFL, responded, "We are doing several things to help the stability of the league:
Included in our 2011 territory fee - logo, marketing materials, website, footballs, uniforms, league dues for the 1st year, ticket sales training, sponsorship sales training, and more. We are trying to help the teams by providing the things teams need to operate and also keep a consistent quality throughout the league.
League partnerships - we are working to secure additional league partners that will help save the teams money, make the teams money, and improve the overall quality of the league. Currently we have several league deals in place, and will be announcing them at a press conference during our league owners meetings on the 29th.
Application process for new teams.
Being selective with our owners, and our markets. This year is a perfect example, we could have easily added more teams. We have leases we could have signed, owners, existing teams wanting to join.
We have set timelines when we launched the UIFL, and have met all of them to date.
Giving the owners enough time to be successful and not rushing or forcing a team or city at the last minute.
We are focused on getting information to the fans. Each press conference we held was videoed and on our league website. Several of the press conference were available to watch live on our website...and for FREE.
We have a plan, and we are executing it. We are not looking to be the biggest league or expand just to expand. We are working towards being the best league.
This year, you can see a consistent quality throughout the league. I feel we have the best team websites in all of indoor and arena football, the quality is high, and consistent with EVERY team. Logo design, marketing materials, etc. All teams have professional design, and professional printed marketing materials. Our uniform deal will be announced at the owners meetings, and all teams will showcase their uniforms which again will be the highest of quality and consistent throughout the league.
Our ownership groups and the league have common goals, and they understand what we are trying to do with the UIFL, and want to help us reach those goals."
It's hard to argue with what the UIFL says, but they are new and have no track record to go on. I will say that from what I've seen they appear to be putting meaning to the words. All I can say is many have had their owns ideas of how to start a league and most fall short of the mark, but at least on paper it appears the UIFL is on track for a stable league.
The bottom line for all is is there are positive steps toward increased stability, and given the history of instability of teams and leagues in the sport, I can see where there has been some progress but more is needed. I can see some doing things to further stabilize the sport within their own leagues, yet I still see too many who don't belong getting into the game. I also see some maybe promoting the wrong reasons to field a team. I do believe we are heading into 2011 with more stable teams than we did in 2010 and that's a good thing. Unfortunately for this sport to receive any attention as to stability we need more than just one near problem-free season and we need leagues to continue to work to further stabilize the sport.
Continental Indoor Football League Stories from October 11, 2010
- 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.
