In our last article we covered the SIF and EIF. This time we are going to cover Arena Pro Football (APF), Can-Am Indoor Football (CAIF), and Elite Indoor Football Conference (EIFC). Again BEFORE YOU READ: this is a warning about these leagues and teams, while some of these teams are decent most of them are not and should be looked at carefully. To players, coaches, and fans who may get involved please be aware. No we will continue our journey through the underbelly of Indoor Football
To continue we will start with Arena Pro Football, this out of all FIVE of the leagues replacing the AIF is the most legitimate, but don’t let that fool you the APF is nowhere near the level of the CIF, IFL, or NAL in anyway. Arena Pro Football was originally scheduled to be called the National Arena Football League, but did change it before launching. In November the APF announced their first three clubs. The Savannah Coastal Outlaws, Myrtle Beach Sharks, and Birmingham Outlawz.
Let’s break all three of these teams down starting with the Savannah Coastal Outlaws. If Savannah reminds you of something it’s because in our last article we covered the Steam who are also supposed to make their home in that city. To start the Outlaws are scheduled to play just 5 games in APF, all on the road, while also playing two games against EIFC clubs. The rest of their schedule is actually being played in United States Indoor Football. The USIF is a 4 team league entirely based out of the Savannah Civic Center and is the developmental league of the APF. Yes you read that right a quarter decent ultra minor league has a “developmental league”. Up next is the Myrtle Beach Sharks, and if Myrtle Beach sounds familiar it’s because they had the Freedom of the AIF play in town last season. However the difference is that the Sharks have not yet announced their home arena for 2017. And third we have the Birmingham Outlaws, after posting some time last year on their Facebook page that they would be playing out of a decent sized arena in Birmingham they have backtracked on that. They’ll instead be playing out of the Shelby County Exhibition Center in Columbiana, AL, which is some 37 miles away from Birmingham. The fourth team announced was for a club in Virginia, eventually it was announced that the Virginia club would be the new Richmond Roughriders playing out of the Richmond Coliseum, former home of the Speed, Bandits, and Raiders. However the APF made the announcement seem more depressing by saying “Professional indoor football likely will return next spring” as well “The APF is expected to compete in 2017 as an eight-team circuit” and “Teams are expected to play eight-game schedules”. Not very optimistic in an announcement of a new team. Next up as the fifth team to join the APF was the Florida Tarpons, the Tarpons are one of the few stable teams in the Eastern United States being founded in 2012, they’ll now enter their fourth league in 6 years. They concern me, why? You ask. Well it’s because the Tarpons originally announced they would play in the Arena Development League, now the National Arena League. The Tarpons had stated they felt like the ADL/NAL model was unsustainable and the APF model was better, the only difference is the APF is much cheaper and has shadier teams, yes “better”. The sixth and final team for 2017 is the River City Raiders, the Raiders are also a somewhat stable club being based in St. Charles, MO since 2013. They concern me as well because the Raiders were originally admitted to Champions Indoor Football for 2017, they stated the reason they left was due to Chicago folding and their schedule being damaged. However the real reason I have been told was the Raiders didn’t have the finances necessary to play in the CIF. Leaving for another league with massively higher travel costs is never a good thing to do.
Arena Pro Football also announced an expansion team for 2018, the Carolina Wildcats, again not a smart move to announce another expansion team when you haven’t completed the first season. Arena Pro Football also was to have had a partnership with the Elite Indoor Football Conference, and the Savannah Coastal Outlaws are on the EIFC website to play two games but it has been pulled from the APF site. The league will have 2 games against the SIF with Myrtle Beach hosting Cape Fear on April 29th in the Gridiron Classic and Richmond hosting the Triangle Torch in the Capital City Showdown. On top of those the APF will also play the CAIF in the Arena Football Challenge Cup between each leagues champions. The good thing about the APF unlike the EIF they have a schedule released and unlike the SIF the scheduled (outside of Savannah) each team plays between 7 and 9 league games and a total between 7 and 10.
Speaking of the CAIF we move on to them, officially known as Can-Am Indoor Football, this league resembles the mind, body, and soul of everything we came to know about the old AIF. It is an eastern based league (check), it has way to many teams including travel only (check), the games on each schedule vary (check), and not all teams playing home games have arenas (check). It’s a perfect amount of garbage for a dumpster fire to start. I’ll make this short on the CAIF. It was started as a replacement for the AIF so that the Vermont Bucks had a league to play in. There are 10 teams in it’s first season which include 3 travel only teams (Boston, Connecticut, and Glens Falls), 4 teams (per the league’s website) have no home arenas (Lockport, Niagara Falls, NY, Niagara, ON, and Rochester), and only 3 teams (Buffalo who announces theirs on 1/26, New Hampshire, and Vermont) that have a home arena! Out of these 10 teams Boston is scheduled to play only 2 games, while 3 teams (Connecticut, Glens Falls, and Lockport who is set for 2 home games) are scheduled to play 4 games. While the 4 teams (Buffalo, Niagara, Niagara Falls, and New Hampshire who is scheduled to play an SIF club) are set to play 8 games. And Vermont well their set for 11 games! Yes 11 games, 8 games in the CAIF and 3 non-league games!! Then of course as mentioned earlier the Arena Football Challenge Cup which is set to have the CAIF Champion play the APF Champion.
And now last and certainly least is the EIFC or Elite Indoor Football Conference (which yes is different from the EIF), this league was founded by the Central Florida Jags as a league for them to play in. What teams are in the EIFC? Glad you asked we have the league founders the Central Florida Jags, the Florida Generals, the Lake Park Tigers, the Miracle City Great White, the Polk County Venom, the South Florida Barracudas, and yes the damn Palm Beach Phantoms. What does this league have going for it? Well every team is playing 9 or 10 regular season games and that’s it because only (according to the website) literally only the Central Florida Jags have a home arena (the Lakeland Center in Lakeland, FL)
For all of you who have stuck with I do appreciate it, I know it has been a painful and bumpy train ride so far but we’re almost to the last station. As I mentioned before there are a few teams in these leagues and that’s what we’ll talk about now. The only team that I give a Seal of Approval (for players and fans) to is Florida Tarpons. The Tarpons will be entering their Sixth season in 2017 and in their fourth league, besides the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks and Columbus Lions (both of whom play in the NAL) the Tarpons are the third strongest team on the east coast. As for a fan investment I can also say the River City Raiders are ok, the only reason is due to all Raiders tickets being free. Other than those a wait and see attitude should be used for players for the Raiders since they just bailed from the CIF as well a wait and see on the Vermont Bucks and Central Florida Jags. I would stay away from every other club as there are bound to be more than a few dumpster fires of both teams and leagues. And now folks we have arrived at the station and you may exit the train now that this painful tour through the underbelly of indoor football is done.
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