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Raptors Welcome River City Rage and Billings Outlaws to the UIF

September 26, 2006 - United Indoor Football Association (UIF)
Rock River Raptors News Release


Rockford, IL - The Rock River Raptors of the United Indoor Football league (UIF) would like to formally welcome the Billings Outlaws and the River City Rage to the league . After an intense application and review process, the two teams were voted into the league yesterday and they will begin play in 2007.

While the Outlaws have enjoyed the last six years playing in the NIFL (National Indoor Football League), they could not help but feel it was time to move on and up. "Whatever we do, we want to be associated with a quality program", stated Billings owner, Dan Austin. "The UIF is a team - owned league just like the NFL or MLB. The team owners decide the goals and the philosophy of the league and share in any league profit revenue from TV, licensed apparel and corporate league partners. We have proved to all that we can be competitive and put forth a quality program on and off the field. It is time to raise the bar and look for new challenges."

Joining the Outlaws in the move is another quality organization, the River City Rage out of St Louis. Ty Elliot, GM of the Rage shared Austin's enthusiasm for the move when he stated, "making the move to the UIF was a long time in the works. When we learned that the Outlaws were making the move as well, that is all we needed to make the decision. We look forward to continuing to compete with the Outlaws for many years to come, a better organization would be hard to find".

Dakota Crow, President of the UIF echoed the statements of the two teams. "Having the Outlaws and the River City Rage (the two best teams in the NIFL) join the league is a great addition. They will be joining two other great expansion teams this year, Fort Collins, Colo. and Chicago." "These additions will help make the UIF the premier indoor football league in the country."

"The move to the UIF will only bring a higher level of play and competition to Billings, "stated head coach Heron O'Neal. "My phone has been ringing off the hook with guys from all around the country, including some of the top players in the NIFL." We look forward to winning back to back championships in two different leagues for the great fans of Billings!"

"As a league, we are very excited about the Rage moving to the UIF; we feel that the Rage franchise was the best team not in the UIF this past season," said Crow. "Everyone I've dealt with, in the organization, has been a class act and I believe the Rage will only enhance the operation and respect of our league."

For the UIF, the new league will be acquiring a team that has won 24 games in the last two years, against seven losses. The Rage has been 15- 3 at home with the three home losses coming in double overtime, overtime and on the last play of the game. The Rage also holds the record for most yards in total offense and scored, on the average of, over 70 points per game in 2006.

The Rage will be reuniting with former rivals in the Omaha Beef, Lexington Horsemen, Fort Wayne Freedom, and Evansville Blue Cats, all of which are known to have fans that travel to road games which adds to the game day enthusiasm.

"The move to the UIF will allow us to bring Rage fans an even greater level of excitement during each game," said Rage Head Coach Mike Wyatt. "Once the fans get to experience the level of competition that the UIF will bring here, they will be impressed. We will have to bring our "A" game each week in this league."

For the 2007 season, the Colorado Ice of Fort Collins, Colo., will join the Rage in the expansion of the UIF. Other cities with teams currently in the UIF are: Evansville (Indiana) Bluecats; Ohio Valley (Wheeling, WV) Greyhounds; Fort Wayne (Indiana) Freedom; Rock River (Illinois) Raptors; Bloomington (Illinois) Xtreme; Peoria (Illinois) Rough Riders; Omaha (Nebraska) Beef; Sioux City (Iowa) Bandits; Lexington (Kentucky) Horsemen and Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Storm. The Sioux Falls Storm defeated the Lexington Horsemen in the 2006 United Bowl II, 72-64 to claim their second straight UIF Championship.

You can purchase your season tickets by contacting the Raptors Front Office at 815-965-7000 or visit the Raptors website at www.raptorsuif.com.

Information was provided by the Billings Outlaws (www.billingsoutlaws.com), River City Rage (www.ragefootball.com) & OurSports Central (www.oursportscentral.com).

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United Indoor Football Association Stories from September 26, 2006


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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