Indoor Football Weekly #9 Preseason 2017, Part 1: Indoor Football League

Credit: Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Ohhhhhhh yes it's that time again, the preseason is upon us! That's right it's football time once again and the 2017 season is looking like it could be the best in years! We have 3 good leagues this season in the IFL, CIF, and NAL. Without American Indoor Football it looks like 2017 will be clean but who knows in this sport.

Credit: http://www.markthompson.us/gameballs/IPFL/

To start off 2017 is a special year in the sport as it marks the 20th anniversary of the Indoor (not Arena) game being played. That first league was the original Professional Indoor Football League founded and playing only the 1998 Season. 1998 was not a year without it's difficulties as the Minnesota Monsters (coached by Ron Simmons) would fold after just 5 league games, the Texas Bullets would fold after 10 games, and the Utah Catzz forfeited their final game to the Madison Mad Dogs. In the championship game the Louisiana Bayou Beast defeated the Madison Mad Dogs 42-41 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, LA. After 1998 the PIFL folded and splintered into 2 leagues, the IPFL and original IFL but that is a story for another time. There are no clubs remaining from the original PIFL in the 1998 season and only 3 markets still have clubs. Green Bay (the Bombers) now have the Green Bay Blizzard who have played in the Resch Center (not the old Brown County Veterans Memorial Coliseum) since 2003. Belton, TX (Texas Bullets) will have the CenTex Cavalry playing out of their old stomping grounds, the Bell County Expo Center. And finally the Greater Salt Lake area (Utah Catzz in Orem, UT) will also have an expansion team the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles playing at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, UT. This history section will be a recurring feature this year in Indoor Football Weekly.

Now onto the real stuff! Let's start with the first league kicking off the Indoor Football League! The IFL players reported for training camp already and started on January 30th. Now let's start off with some previews.

Intense Conference

The Intense Conference has some familiar clubs returning such as the Nebraska Danger and Colorado Crush along with last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane Empire. They'll be joined by two new clubs the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and perennial AFL stalwart the Arizona Rattlers. Salt Lake and "Project Fanchise" do NOT look impressive right now and there slotted at #5 in the Intense. On the other hand Colorado finished 2016 in 4th place at 4-12. While they don't look impressive they do look like they will give Nebraska, who is defiantly in a rebuilding phase, a run for their money for third place. And that is where the problem lies, last season with 6 clubs (3 in each conference) making the playoffs the end of the season was exciting! Colorado and the now folded Tri-Cities Fever weren't out until later and Nebraska and the now folded Billings Wolves fought to the end for the First Round home game! This will not be the case as the IFL has gone back to just 4 teams (2 from each conference) making the playoffs.  And THAT fact brings us to our last 2 clubs the Spokane Empire and Arizona Rattlers. Last years Intense Conference Champion Spokane led by longtime Indoor coach Adam Shackleford will be a force to be reckoned with. On the other side Kevin Guy and the Arizona Rattlers will also be a force even as a de facto expansion club. Picks for the IFL Intense Conference has Arizona facing Spokane in the Conference Championship, winner to close to pick at this moment.

United Conference

Unlike the changes in the Intense Conference the United Conference brings back all 5 clubs from 2016. While last season Green Bay and Iowa were in the cellar, Wichita Falls and Cedar Rapids fought until the end for the home playoff game.. That will not happen this season, Cedar Rapids was truly unimpressive this offseason and they look to be in 5th Place. Green Bay has been a young team in development for a while and they don't look to be playoff material don't count them out as they could surprise us. Wichita Falls continues to look well (which is the opposite of their attendance) and Iowa really is looking to have built a playoff capable team after finishing with a franchise worst finish in 2016. But that doesn't matter in the United Conference unless someone knocks out the King, the Sioux Falls Storm. Sioux Falls is looking to dominate again in 2017 and just added 3 years to Kurtiss Riggs so expect some more championships. Pick for IFL United Conference Sioux Falls beats who cares at this point.

Games to Watch

Well there are a few of these this year, and thank god the IFL will now be free on YouTube for the 2017 season. The first game to watch has a good shot at Game of the Year as the Kings of Indoor Football, the 10 time Indoor Champion Sioux Falls Storm, face off against the Kings of Arena Football, the 5 time ArenaBowl Champion and IFL newcomer, the Arizona Rattlers. The game is set for Week 1 on Friday February 17th inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls, SD.

The next is the series between Arizona and Spokane, both clubs left the AFL for the IFL in the last two seasons and will be fighting for the Intense Conference Championship. Arizona plays host to Spokane on Saturday April 22nd, while Spokane hosts the games on Friday May 12th and Saturday June 3rd. The final game to watch (at this point) is when a rematch of the 2016 United Bowl when Spokane visits the Sioux Falls Storm on Saturday May 6th in Sioux Falls, SD.

As we wrap things up the Indoor Football League has just two preseason games. One of those is this weekend with the traditional "Home Opener" for the Cedar Rapids Titans as they face the Iowa Barnstormers at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids. The other preseason game will be played on Saturday February 11th when the SIF's travel only Cap City Bulls head to the Kay Yeager Coliseum to take on the Wichita Falls Nighthawks. This is just part one of three as we'll cover both the CIF and NAL closer to their seasons start dates.