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Rumble Roam on to Akron

February 28, 2007 - Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)
Summit County Rumble News Release


WOOSTER, OH - The Wayne County Rumble professional indoor football team regrets to announce to potential fans in the Wayne County area that the team will relocate to an arena in nearby Summit County after failing to come to terms with two Wooster facilities to host home games for the 2007 season.

Agreed upon in principle, the Rumble announced in July that they would play at the four-year old Alice Noble Ice Arena in Wooster. Because of a wide discrepancy in the estimated seating capacity and the actual number determined by the team, financial terms could not be reached. The number of seats was pegged at "around 1,500-1,800" when the team first contacted the arena, but those numbers soon dropped to around 850 after the team brought in professionals to take measurements and get a more accurate count. "It mostly had to do with abiding by the proper building codes and walkway clearances," said Rumble Operations Manager Sean Morley. "We thought that we could just jam the place with bleachers and we obviously learned that we couldn't do that."

When it appeared that the team wouldn't be able make a go of it at the ANIA, officials from the Gault Recreation Center were contacted in an effort to keep the team not only in Wooster, but basically on the same property. The Gault, situated across the parking lot from the ANIA, is attached to Wooster High School and is a wide open recreational facility that would provide challenges of it's own, but the potential seemed sky high.

School officials did what they could to help the team but similar problems arose there as well, all of it related to seating capacity. When the team first approached the Gault Recreation Center, estimates put capacity at 3,000 people. This number was reached after contacting an identical facility in Lodi's Cloverleaf school district.

However, the Wooster complex lacked the sprinkler system and fire exits necessary to accommodate that many people. The team was then told that a variance could be issued just for the six home games to get up to 800 fans inside. Just last week, the team was notified that the variance could not be obtained without a wait of nearly twelve months and going through the state of Ohio, but in the meantime the Gault could allow up to 150 people inside for home games, and that included the players and team support staff. With an average seating capacity of 4,000 around the league, this was obviously not practical for the team.

"We don't blame the Wooster School District at all for what happened at the Gault Recreation Center," said team owner Ramone Davenport. "They seemed very excited to have the opportunity to host the team and it's not their fault that the building wasn't designed to hold a large number of people." "I'm personally very disappointed that we couldn't work something out here, but we've been looking around this county for the past seven months trying to not only secure a place to play but also find housing for the coaches and players as well as medical services for the team," said Davenport. "We've hit roadblocks each way we've turned."

Ever since the Rumble landed in Wooster, the one constant has been the question, "Why Wooster?" The answer had always been, "Why not?" The league cited the example of Marion, OH, only 70 miles southwest of Wooster; the smallest market in the CIFL in 2006, the Marion Mayhem led the league in attendance. "We also were led to believe that a new 3,000 seat arena that had been planned at the same time as the current ice arena would be built in the next year and be available to the team for our 2008 season," said Morley. "After talking to the people responsible for building the first arena, indications were that groundbreaking would have to have been around New Year's for that target date in the spring of 2008 to be reached. This news also deflated the team and precipitated the desire to look elsewhere."

The Rumble's downtown Wooster office was closed on Monday, but the team can still be reached through their website at www.waynecorumble.com and by phone at (330) 439-6133. Refunds to season tickets holders will be made, and the process to go about that can be found on the team's website. There will be a short form to fill out to request either a refund, or replacement tickets to the relocated games.

Davenport wanted to stress that the team is not folding, just relocating. "If I was the kind of person to give up on this, I would have done it months ago. We've come too far to just fold up shop and quit. The Rumble will play all twelve scheduled games in 2007."

Last week the Continental Indoor Football League announced a Showdown Doubleheader in Steubenville for Saturday March 24th, the date of the Rumble's home opener. While the scheduled game between the Stampede and the NY/NJ Revolution will kickoff as planned at 7 p.m., the Rumble will "host" the Muskegon Thunder at 3 p.m. at St. John Arena. It will be the first game of the 2007 season for all four teams.

"We've wanted to do this doubleheader night for awhile now," said league co-founder Jeff Spitaleri. "Having one owner in control of two teams (Davenport owns both the Stampede and the Rumble) that had home games scheduled on the same day was what made it finally happen."

The remainder of the team's home schedule will be played at The Arena Complex in Summit County. Located just outside of Tallmadge, the seating capacity for Rumble games will be 2,800. The team has also been rechristened the Summit County Rumble.



Continental Indoor Football League Stories from February 28, 2007


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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