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Over a Cup of Coffee

by Jerry Hewitt
December 15, 2010 - Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)


At this time of the year I wouldn't expect to see much from leagues as everybody is concentrated on celebrating the holidays, but I thought I might take this opportunity to do a state of the leagues update.

The IFL, SIFL, and UIFL have all released schedules, but the AIFA West and CIFL are still keeping theirs under wraps. They are definitely behind on getting schedules out and the reason, in my opinion, is they do not have all their teams signed up yet.

The AIFA West has provided little to no information lately. Once in awhile I see Reno announce a player signing, but little else. I would have expected an official announcement of the San Jose Wolves move to Stockton by now and even some news on the fourth team still slated for Oregon. The AIFA West needs to step it up if they want fans to buy tickets and support the teams in the league for 2011. The problem areas here are obvious, if San Jose doesn't take the field or the fourth franchise fails to materialize the AIFA most likely will not happen. It needs both teams just to get four on the field this year. Considering the time of year, this would leave any remaining teams with no option other than to cease operations for 2011 and maybe start lobbying for IFL membership in 2012.

The CIFL has been as quiet as any league could be since completing its 2010 season. Their website hasn't been updated in nearly two months. Most feel the CIFL is hoping to have six teams on board for 2011: Cincinnati, Marion, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Chicago, and Port Huron, with Fort Wayne and Wisconsin undecided, but most likely out of the picture. Outside of a couple player signing announcements and the press release about Port Huron entering the league, there has been little to nothing. It is rumored the IFL West Michigan ThunderHawks are dead, but replaced by the Grand Rapids Fury, now part of the CIFL. There is a website announcing player tryouts, but no league affiliation is mentioned. It's time the CIFL got their act together and put out some official word on the upcoming season and the teams that will participate. Last year's CIFL champion Cincinnati is said to be returning, but this team is rumored to have lost big big bucks last season and if they can't figure out how to turn things around, they may find themselves too deep in debt to go much further. Marion folded mid-season in 2010, but now returns with new ownership. The Marion teams have a history of near failure so it will be interesting to see if new ownership can change history. The CIFL has not been the most stable league and once again enters a new season with multiple new teams which may or may not see more than one season of play.

We've seen no league announcements from the IFL since the Oklahoma team joined, but there have been many releases from teams on player signings and other activities. With its schedule and 2011 teams set, there doesn't appear to be any need to hear from the league. All seems to be proceeding as expected. The biggest question mark this off season has been the Allen Wranglers. Their history of rumored unpaid bills in Little Rock have some questioning whether this team can even make it through the season. Adding former Dallas Cowboys great Drew Pearson as GM has quited the fears some. Pearson may turn out to be a gem of a GM, but he doesn't write the checks. Another question mark might be the Prescott, Arizona team which doesn't appear to be all that organized.

The "new" SIFL under Commissioner Gary Tufford seems to have crawled under a rock as far as releasing information goes. Considering the merger between the AIFA East and the SIFL was the biggest news in indoor football this off-season I would have expected more news. There has been the usual releases from some teams announcing tryouts and player signings, and I could easily say they are on target much like I say the IFL is, but I have this gut feeling that isn't the case. It just appears to me that outside of a couple teams there is no real effort to market or promote. There may be question marks surrounding the new Fayetteville franchise when old Guard owner Richard King was apparently pushed out of the picture. The new Fayetteville team may be a done deal, but maybe not. Another area of concern is Mobile. I was told earlier this month by an SIFL insider that the money man had pulled out and this team is now in jeopardy of folding. To add to this rumor of problems in Mobile, the team website has been down since sometime in November. I, along with some others, question whether the "new" SIFL with former AIFA teams on board can make things work without major problems. The rumor that this league is setting itself up as the next af2 still persists, but unless they can show the AFL to be more or less trouble-free, they may not find that league showing much interest.

The UIFL appears to be set to go, although some are questioning the viability of the Saginaw franchise since the league took it over. Some feel since the venue is requiring most of their money up front and will control all funds related to the team going in and out that the league may be hard pressed to meet financial obligations. Although a concern, I'm not sure whether it's valid or not. Not helping Saginaw was an article in the Saginaw News pointing out all of UIFL co-founder Andrew Haines' past failures. That article can't help ticket sales, so needless to say the local media may not be on the Sting's side. Even if the UIFL is forced to drop Saginaw they can still have a relatively successful first season with the remaining five teams. Outside of a very well-updated transactions section on the league site, I've seen little from the teams in the way of news. The UIFL was supposed to have a media plan for its teams and I'm not sure that was silence. New teams need to promote more than what I see from the UIFL teams.

Looking ahead to the 2011 season and comparing it to this time last year I see more problem areas. Last season there was concern the AIFA was setting itself up for failure in adding teams in the West that shouldn't have been included in any league. Then there was the exodus of old af2 teams signing on with the IFL. This time last year those were the two biggest topics. Outside of the IFL, this season it appears there are major problems yet to be solved in all of the other leagues. January and February will be the two months that tell us the true story of how things look, but until then, we'll just wait and speculate.



Southern Indoor Football League Stories from December 15, 2010


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.


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