Indoor Football Weekly #8 Offseason Edition: December

Credit: Our Sports Central

Well everyone in the two months since our last post there has been another shit storm thats happened in the world of Indoor Football. So sit back relax, strap in, and enjoy the ride because here we go!

Credit: Indoor Football League

As normal we'll start off with the league that's had the least happen since our last visit and that ironically is the Indoor Football League. Last time we covered the folding Billings and the addition of Arizona. Since then the IFL has released there schedule and in the opening week is a game we've all been hoping for. The Sioux Falls Storm will take on the Arizona Rattlers at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, SD at 7:05PM on Friday, February 17th. We will be doing a game of the week for each league this season and this will be the first IFL Game of the Week! The IFL will still play a 16 game schedule starting Thursday February 16th and ending Saturday June 17th. The playoff format will revert to what is has been most of the past few seasons. The #1 seed will host the #2 seed in the Conference Championship with no 1st round game. I found the United Conference Semi-Final to be a good one last season as both teams were deserving, all this does is set the stage for a guaranteed Sioux Falls hosting. My prediction is Sioux Falls vs ? in the United Conference Championship in Sioux Falls, SD and Arizona vs Spokane. I do believe that there is truly a 3 way race for that second spot in the United Conference but not in the Intense. The Conference Championship will be held June 23rd-25th and the United Bowl July 7-9th.

As we stay in the same area we move on to Champions Indoor Football a somewhat bigger change has happened with the Chicago Eagles suspending operations for the 2017 season. That however is not a huge shock to this girl at all, per the CIF website they didn't report any attendance figures and from the video footage of last season there attendance was almost non existent. The River City Raiders are also having been reported to have left the CIF, the reasoning said was that Chicago folding was to detrimental to keep them in the CIF. Since those changes have happened a new schedule or alignment to the league has not been announced. Once we do receive the information we will update it. As of this afternoon the CIF announced their new schedule and alignment. Rather than the 4 division alignment that was originally announced the league will be split into two 7 team Conferences. The Northern Conference (Bloomington, Bismarck, Kansas City, Omaha, Salina, Sioux City, and West Michigan) and the Southern Conference (Amarillo, CenTex, Dallas, Dodge City, Duke City, Texas, and Wichita) is how the league will align for 2017. The schedule will start out on Saturday February 25th when the Omaha Beef take on the Sioux City Bandits. The season finishes on Saturday June 3rd with 4 games that day. With the new schedule and alignment a playoff announcement was not part of it but when the playoff schedule is announced we will be sure to update it.

A quick update on the Arena Football League is after dropping down to just Four clubs an expansion team (which is still unnamed) for Baltimore, MD was handed to Monumental Sports and Entertainment (owners of the Washington Valor) to add a 5th club to the AFL for 2017.

Credit: National Arena League

To wrap everything up let's finish it with the newest league of them all. That is what was known as the Arena Development League (get to that later) the newest addition at the time of the last post was the Anderson Gladiators, due to apparent lease issues (aka them not having a lease) they left the ADL and joined the SIF. As for new clubs announced since then, the Corpus Christi Rage were announced to play out of the American Bank Center. Also the Florida Tarpons had joined the league on October 20th, and given a nice boost of an older stable team to the league, and bailed then on November 10th for an AIF replacement league Arena Pro Football. The reason why!? Well they didn't want to spend the money the ADL was requiring and had no faith that the league would last multiple seasons, do I blame them? Yes, there just stupid, if they don't have money to play in a real league don't play at all. Finally was the big news on a November Press Conference, the Arena Development League changed it's name (and structure) to the National Arena League while at the same time adding the former AFL club the Jacksonville Sharks. Since coming into the league the Sharks have signed players from last seasons AFL squad and numerous IFL All Stars, I fully expect this to be the team to beat in the (now) NAL. In late November one other club was added, the Mexican team, the Monterrey Steel, where did Northern Kentucky go? Nobody knows but there not here anymore. A few short weeks later the NAL schedule was released, the first game in league history and first NAL Game of the Week is the Columbus Lions vs Jacksonville Sharks. The Sharks will visit "The Jungle" at the Columbus Civic Center to take on last years (yes this doesn't mean much as the league was a joke) AIF Champion Lions. I fully expect this game to set the tone for the league which is playing Arena Style minus the rebound nets. A background on the schedule, Jacksonville will host 8 games, Dayton and Corpus Christi will host 5, the other 5 teams will each host 6 games in a 12 game schedule. After the 12 game, 14 week regular season the NAL will have the top 4 teams qualify for it's playoffs. June 23-25 is Semi-Final Weekend while the NAL Championship Game will be played on the weekend of July 7-9.

The NAL really made some standout moves this month, with changing there name and adding Jacksonville, I can't wait to see how the league gets played out. On the other hand the CIF should already have an updated schedule released or at least say what's happening to the teams. The IFL made a very stupid move, after expanding the Playoffs last season, which made it enjoyable for us at IFW for once contracted it back to 4 teams with 3 seeds practically locked in. Until next time that's the news and all we have time for, we'll be back with one, maybe two more offseason posts before the season starts. So long folks!

Indoor Football Weekly #7 Offseason Edition: October

Well everyone this is A LOT later than I had hoped to be posting this however there has been some MASSIVE fallout in this sport in just the past week and I wanted to wait until everything was finished as to not leave any speculation.  We'll start off with the small shit first and then move on. I'll do my best to keep this as usual league by league but that may not happen.

Starting off with the newest league that I've been the most critical of, the Arena Development League, as of last post the league only had 4 clubs and only 3 a home arena (YIKES!). That has changed as they announced the Georgia Firebirds would join from the folded AIF, the Firebirds will play out of the 8,000 seat Albany Civic Center as they did last season, in the AIF (which I know doesn't mean much) they finished with a record of 3-5 (including one forfeit but not including 2 non league wins). The other 2 teams that have been announced are the Anderson (SC) Gladiators who will be playing their first season out of the 5,100 seat Anderson Civic Center and a yet unnamed franchise in Northern Kentucky to play out of the 9,400 seat BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, KY on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. If anyone remembers that arena it's because it was formerly the home of the Northern Kentucky River Monsters in 2011 and 2014. The Dayton Wolfpack still haven't announced a home arena which isn't looking good heading into the fall, but changes may be on the way with an 8th expansion club that we'll get to shortly.

Onto somewhat bigger news out of Champions Indoor Football, the last time we spoke about the league they had the same 12 clubs with CenTex replacing San Angelo and Mesquite changed their name to Dallas, since them that has changed BIG TIME. We have had 4 teams announced as expansion since then. The first 2 are existing clubs, who yes unfortunately moved from the AIF, the River City Raiders (playing out of the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO) and the West Michigan Ironmen (playing out of the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon, MI). I was throughly impressed by the Ironmen (except in their last game) by being able to make it to the AIF title game by way of beating Lehigh Valley, lets see how they do in the CIF. The other expansion clubs have been the Kansas City Phantoms, who just recently announced they'll actually play out of the Silverstein Eye Care Centers Arena in Independence, MO, and Bismarck (the northern most team in the league) who will play out of thank god the Bismarck Event Center and not the V.F.W. Sports Center (home of the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats). The league also announced they'll have 4 divisions of 4 teams with an 8 team playoffs and continue to play a 12 game season. The Divisions look as such Northeast (Bloomington, Chicago, River City, and West Michigan), Northwest (Bismarck, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux City), Central (Dodge City, Duke City, Salina, Wichita), and South (Amarillo, CenTex, Dallas, Texas Revs). I really do like this setup though personally I find the league playing 12 games to be way to short and I'd like to see them expand the schedule to 14 but I'll take it.

Now onto the biggest news, we usually don't cover things involving the Arena Football League but here we go. I will start out with this, unless the league gets it's act together and starts cost cutting it's fucked, there I said it. As of the time we are writing this the Arena Football League has 4 thats right just 4 clubs, the existing Cleveland Gladiators, Philadelphia Soul, Tampa Bay Storm, and expansion Washington (D.C.) Valor. Thats right folks since the league came back with 17 clubs in 2010 and had a high of 18 in 2011 the league has lost teams each and every season. Now your asking what happened to the other 4 teams, well hold on I'm getting there! The Portland Steel (whose market was stolen away from the bills paying Portland Thunder owner) and the LA Kiss have effectively folded. Neither team made an official statement but were dispersed in an expansion draft, so now we're down from the original 9 for next year to 7. The last week Orlando announced "due to the reduced number of teams operating" they would suspend operations, ya more like fold. The same day not even 2 hours later Jacksonville announced it would leave the AFL for a "rival league", and now we're down to 5. Then as of yesterday the most successful AFL club of all time, the Arizona Rattlers, announced they would move to the IFL. Now rumors have floated that LA, Jacksonville, and Orlando will join the IFL, and I'm not gonna be nice about this. THAT"S JUST FUCKING STUPID. In LA you now have the Rams who have come back so a whopping ZERO people will care to go to an IFL game in Anaheim, plus the workers comp is outrageous so this makes no sense at all, As for Jacksonville and Orlando, well Orlando is dead so count them out, but the closest IFL team to Jacksonville is a 17 hour bus trip to Wichita Falls, TX. Yes Jacksonville would leave the AFL, which is now entirely based on the east coast for a Mid-West based league to jack there travel costs back up coupled with the expected 50% attendance drop would make it totally worth the move. No Jacksonville should look at the ADL which would play in it's own area, and from their last release it looks as if they will be the 8th ADL club.

So now onto the Indoor Football League just real quickly, the Colorado Crush have been bought by the Salt Lake owners and Billings has folded. This coupled with Arizona joining will keep the league at 10 clubs for 2017. The conferences should be realigned now, it makes no sense to have Wichita Falls in a conference with the northern teams and Nebraska in with the Western clubs. In reality the league should look like this: Intense (Arizona, Colorado, Salt Lake, Spokane, Wichita Falls), United (Cedar Rapids, Green Bay, Iowa Barnstormers, Nebraska, Sioux Falls). With everything that's gone on it does look like the IFL is now set up for success and as long as someone not named Sioux Falls wins the title I think that will continue.

Roast me if you want but this is the reality of our sport. I think it's a great move for Jacksonville and Arizona to ditch the dying AFL as this sport needs to be based on a regional and not national level. There's also a bunch of garbage league going on (I'm looking at you EIF) that I won't cover right now. We'll be back in November or even late October with another edition of Indoor Football Weekly. Until then I thank everyone and Indoor Football Forum and the crazyness that is this sport, so long folks!

Venue Trek - Richfield Ice Arena/Minnesota Magicians

Richfield Ice Arena exterior

Arena - Richfield Ice Arena

Address - 636 E 66th St, Richfield, MN 55423

Capacity - 1,800 (Rink 1)

Home of - Minnesota Magicians (NAHL - Tier II Junior)

Game Info - 9/30/16 vs Coulee Region Chill, Attendance 324, Score Magicians Win 6-3

A Nice Affordable Family Outing

While some buildings in this league have frills at or near Professional Hockey quality, this is not one of them. The Richfield Ice Arena was opened in 1971 tucked away in the Twin Cities suburb of Richfield, sandwiched between Minneapolis and Bloomington. The Richfield Ice Arena has been the home of many great hockey players from both the Academy of Holy Angels (including Erik Johnson and Mike Reilly) and Richfield High School (including former Minnesota Wild player Darby Hendrickson). Richfield High School has since folded their hockey program but has combined with Southwest Christian (from Chaska, MN) and will play half their games in Chaska and half in Richfield. The Academy of Holy Angels also plays all their games inside the Ice Arena but the main tenant is the Minnesota Magicians.

Richfield Ice Arena entrance

From the time you walk into the building it's made known that it's the Magicians home. The sign atop the entrance reads "Home of the Magicians". In the lobby as you enter there is a jersey with the players through (the relatively short) history of the club who've played D1 Hockey. They also have their schedule printed over a door to the old Hat Trick Hockey entrance and another set of windows that feature their D1, D3, and International Pro Alumni. The lobby isn't that fancy as it's just a table set up to sell tickets. As you go past the ticket booth you can enter Rink 1 to your left or the concessions are down the hall on the right. The concessions are at a good price with single items ranging from $1.50-$3.50, and meals running at $5 or $6. Even though there is a large area in the concessions (filled with Trophies from the various high school and youth programs) there is only one register which can become a problem in between periods as lines become long. Restrooms are immediately to the right and left of the entrance to Rink 1. Once you enter the Rink you walk directly into the merchandise table, which is a nice touch, but can be very understocked early on and late into the season.

Center Ice from Section 17

 Once inside Rink 1 going up the stairs to the right will take you to Section 17 the left will take you to Section 1. The Magicians shoot twice along the left (as you enter) side of the rink, but do pregame warmups along the right side. A few nice touches to this arena are the seats being elevated 3 feet from ice level, the 5 rows of seats rise steeply which give rows 3-5 plus the barstool seats a nice view. While on the other hand the lower 2 rows don't have the greatest view. They are 2-2.5 feet from the ice and near the corners can get as far away as 4 feet. If you show up early (or at all on Friday nights in the Fall) there is a large amount of seating to choose from. The Magicians will rarely draw over 800 so seating is abundant and this year is all General Admission. Tickets are an affordable $10 for adults, $8 for Child/Senior, with multi-ticket packages including 2 tickets and 2 tap beers for $25, 4 tickets and 4 tap beers for $40, and a $40 Family Pack for $40 with 4 tickets and 4 bags of Chuck A Pucks. Even with the low ticket prices the attendance (as mentioned before) is not the best in the league, especially on Fall Friday nights. This can create a serious lack of atmosphere from the fans in attendance, but the club does as much as possible with lights and music to help, which it does to an extent.

Final Thoughts

Pros

Seating surrounds the Rink

Seats elevated 3 feet above ice level provides good viewing angles from higher rows

Good amount of parking, all of which is free

Team presentation is very good, with lights and music

Magicians make it known they are THE main tenant

Cons

Lower seats are 2-2.5 feet from the boards, corners as far as 4 feet

Small amount of items to choose from in team shop during the early and late season

Lack of crowds at many games creates a lack of atmosphere

Only one register at concession stand can make for long lines

Neutral

Hard to get too when there is construction along Portland Ave, otherwise relatively easy

Small to average crowds in an 1,800 seat building provides plenty of seating options

At the end of the day it's still a high school rink

Overall it's a nice experience, the hockey action is great as always provided by the Minnesota Magicians and the North American Hockey League. I would highly recommend getting out to Richfield and the Ice Arena to watch the club play.

Final Rating 2.5/5

Indoor Football Weekly #6 Offseason Edition: September

Well everyone I know it’s been a while but we’re finally back with IFW. Since the United Bowl in July a lot of things have happened in the world of Indoor Football. First as usual the Sioux Falls Storm won the IFL Championship (again and I’m getting f*****g sick of it) but even more happened, and we’re gonna cover that now!

First on the IFL front a few things have happened. The league will be expanding to West Valley City, UT next year when the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles take the field at the Maverik Center. The last time an indoor or arena football team played there was the Utah Blaze of the AFL in 2010. The Blaze finished 2-14 and averaged 5,018 fans per game. So far Project FANchise is coming along nicely (I mean if your into a fan run club and I am not but whatever), but another bigger thing happened in the IFL. The other big news was that the Tri-Cities Fever, a club that was around since 2005, has (at least for now) folded. Officially the team has declared dormancy until either a new owner is found or the franchise rights are bought and moved to another city, which we all know how likely that is. So (as of now) all in all 10/11 clubs will be back in 2017 with 1 expansion to keep the league at a sable 11.

Heading south to Champions Indoor Football is a similar story. While all the clubs in the North will be returning one team in the South will not. The San Angelo Bandits had a fire sale of all things, office supplies, memorabilia, etc was as sold of at a steep discount. Shortly after the folded a club was awarded to Belton, TX to play in the Bell County Expo Center. Originally known as the CenTex Fightin’ Calvary it was quickly and shortly changed to the CenTex Cavalry. The Bell County Expo Center was previously home to the Texas Bullets of the original PIFL in 1998 and the CenTex Barracudas who played 3 season in the Intense Football League from 2006-2008.

In other news something that we all have been praying for finally happened the burning heap of garbage known as American Indoor Football has finally folded. The official release said it had to do with the creation of the Arena Development League “continuing the AIF’s mission” however the ADL only has 4 clubs as of now. With the AIF folding a plethora of new leagues have been created. One of those is the ADL which currently has only 4 teams, the Columbus Lions (2014 PIFL and 2015 AIF Champions) Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, Dayton Wolfpack, and the High Country Grizzlies (the last 2 are expansion teams). The Wolfpack have not announced a home venue but since the Hara Arena closed the only viable venue is the Nutter Center, while High Country announced they’ll play at the George M. Holmes Convocation Center in Boone, NC on the campus of Appalachian State University. Trusted sources have told us that the ADL will play a 10 game season their first year with playoffs and an All Star Game in Biloxi, MS. We’ll keep you up to date on the happenings of the new Arena Development League as we’re sure more clubs will be added.

And then we have 3 leagues looking to replace the AIF, first is Supreme Indoor Football. A little background on that league is the SIF was attempted to be started last year Barbara Spigner, owner of the Cape Fear Heroes. Now here’s a shocker for ya folks other than Cape Fear it has 3 expansion teams, One of which (the Coastal Outlaws in Savannah, GA) claim to not even be part of the league! The other leagues that have started up are the Can-Am Indoor Football League which is based in the Northeast. The CAIFL has a whopping 11 clubs and yet again they’re all expansion teams so we’ll get to see how long this nightmare will last. And last and certainly least is Elite Indoor Football. The EIF has at last count 4 clubs which include some real winners. Those teams include the Palm Beach Phantoms who have tried so many times to start and been a road team so much it makes me wanna puke. And on top of that if it’s not bad enough already we’ve got the Savannah Steam coming back! The Steam’s burning ship may still be afloat but the city has already said they will NOT be playing in the Savannah Civic Center until they're completely paid up on back rent. So we’ve got some real winners of leagues starting up next year.

We’ll keep updated on these leagues and developments over the next month to see exactly what ends up happening. For everyone who's read this we really do appreciate it and we’ll be back in October for another edition of Indoor Football Weekly. I’ve got to thank everyone over at Indoor Football Forum for a lot of this info and especially the stupid owners who make these articles possible. We’ll see you next week!

Champion of Champions (Indoor Football): Indoor Football Weekly #5

Well everyone we have yet another championship game down and just one to go. The playoff race in the Indoor Football League has been determined for sure (finally!). We also have some big news coming out of the AIF that for once is not a team folding (shocker right!). So now let's get started with your newest indoor football weekly!

The biggest news coming out of the AIF is that the defending champion Columbus Lions have announced that they will NOT be returning to American Indoor Football. Widely speculated from early on in the season they made the announcement official (http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/sports/other-sports/article86343167.html) saying they will not return to the AIF, at the same time saying they are contractually bound to the league until Mid-July. I would expect not just the Columbus Lions but also the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks and Florida Tarpons to leave the league. We will keep you updated as the situation progresses.

In Champions Indoor Football news the league successfully capped off their second season with CIF Champions Bowl II. The contest was played at Wichita, KS Intrust Bank Arena. The crowd on hand of 4,772 would witness a battle and a classic contest. The only score in the first quarter was a 16 yard pass from Olson to Kelley to make it 7-0 Force. Amarillo would get on the board in the second but Wichita wasn't going to give and went into half time with a lead of 20-10. The low scoring would continue in the 3rd quarter as each team would only manage one touchdown. With the score 27-17 after 3 the scoring finally ramped up as Amarillo knew they needed to push as much as possible to win the title. Amarillo did put 28 points on the board compared to Wichita's 21, the 5 yard touchdown pass from Davis to Brandley wouldn't be enough and the Force walked out with a tight 48-45 victory to win CIF Champions Bowl II. The title is the first for the Force and 3rd in 4 seasons for the city (the Wichita Wild won the CPIFL in 2013 and 2014). As of right now all 12 clubs will be returning to the CIF next season with no expansion announced yet, we will keep you updated throughout the offseason.

The premier league of the sport, the Indoor Football League, is one week away from their playoffs. Last week in the final week of the regular season everything was determined as to the playoff races still going on. Both Cedar Rapids and Wichita Falls won their final games last weekend, which the Nighthawks needed the Titans to lose it. Cedar Rapids will host Wichita Falls at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids on Saturday July 9th at 7:05PM in the United Conference semi-final. The winner of that game will travel to the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center to take on the Storm on Saturday July 16th for the United Conference Championship. In the Intense Conference it's a different story as the second year Billings Wolves are hosting the Nebraska Danger in the semi-final. Nebraska has lost the United Bowl championship every year since 2013 to the Sioux Falls Storm but this season barely scraped themselves in to the playoffs at 6-10. The winner of the the semi-final will travel to the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena to take on the expansion Spokane Empire to play for the Intense Conference Championship.

Well everyone that's it for Indoor Football Weekly again I thank everyone from the Indoor Football Forum for some of this information. We will be off next week due to the holiday and lack of games this weekend, so we will see you in 2 weeks!

One Down, Two to Go: Indoor Football Weekly #4

Well one championship has gone by and there is just two more to go in this crazy sport we all love. The AIF Championship game was played in Columbus as well as the CIF Division Championships, the Indoor Football League is down to just one week left as well. So everyone let's get started!

As usual we'll start out with the train wreck known as American Indoor Football, the good news is that it was the AIF Championship Game between the 2 most deserving teams. The Columbus Lions (2015 PIFL Champions) would play host to the expansion (but yet good) West Michigan Ironmen. It should have been a mostly uneventful football game, but that's just not how the AIF rolls. The Lions started out with a huge 23-6 lead after the first quarter, it wouldn't get any better as they took at 45-26 lead into half time. The 3rd quarter would again see Columbus dominate putting the lead up to 61-32. The 4th quarter is where it would get interesting, with Columbus now up 74-32 a scuffle in the late 4th would see West Michigan walk off the field with about 4 minutes to play. Accounts vary from source to source so I'll let you determine it, the game is available for viewing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS8xWbirsWk. Columbus would win their first (and for god sakes hopefully only) AIF Championship, and an unbeaten season. We'll have more (hopefully very little) coverage as the AIF (sadly) expands (even though it needs to fold).



In the CIF (a much better more legit league) the North and South Division Championships were held this past weekend. As 4 clubs came in 2 would continue on their ways to CIF Champions Bowl II. The North Division final would be held at the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, KS with the hosting Wichita Force taking on the Bloomington Edge. The Force had gained the bye after a 10-2 season while the Edge had finished 7-5 on the season and beat Sioux City at home the previous week. A crowd of 3,144 would see the Force take out the Edge with a razor thin win of 52-51. It would be all up to the Southern teams now with the Texas Revolution (10-2) hosting the Amarillo Venom. The Venom finished the season at 8-4 and beat Dodge City at home the previous week to move on to Allen. In yet another nail biter of a football game the Venom brought down the Revolution 57-53. CIF Champions Bowl II will take place on Monday (yes Monday for some reason) June 27th at 7PM inside the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, KS. The game will also be viewable live on eversport.tv/indoor-football/cif and on archive (if they ever get one up).

And last but certainly not least is the IFL. With one week left in the regular season (the longest in Indoor Football) have all been decided and this week will finish the season for 4 (Green Bay, Iowa, Colorado, and Tri-Cities) of the leagues 10 clubs. The playoff setup is set up as so. In the Intense Conference the Billings Wolves (7-8) will host the Nebraska Danger (5-10) in the first round with the winner going on to play at the Spokane Empire (12-3) the following week in Spokane, WA. In the United Conference the Sioux Falls Storm (yet again) have secured the hosting rights to the United Conference Championship and if they win it the 2016 IFL United Bowl. In the United Conference Semi-Finals it will be the Cedar Rapids Titans against the Wichita Falls Nighthawks at a TBD location, which brings us to our only games that matter this weekend. Cedar Rapids (11-4) play on the road in Des Moines against the Iowa Barnstormers (4-11), the Titans have already beat them twice and won the Iowa Bowl while the Barnstormers are looking to avoid their worst finish in franchise history, Wichita Falls (10-5) will be playing on the road against the Green Bay Blizzard (5-10). Wichita Falls does hold the tiebreaker over Cedar Rapids, for the Titans to host the first round game they will either have to beat Iowa OR have the Nighthawks lose to Green Bay, while in order for the Nighthawks to win they have to beat Green Bay AND have Iowa beat the Titans.

Well everyone that's it for now, we'll be back next week recapping the CIF Champions Bowl II, as well as the IFL's final week and a preview of the IFL United Bowl playoffs. Again thanks to everyone over at Indoor Football Forum, and we'll see you next week.

It's Time for the Hunt: Indoor Football Weekly #3

Well everyone it's time for the hunt in indoor football and it's playoffs. The AIF is in its Championship Game weekend, the CIF is playing the division finals and the IFL has 2 weeks left in the season.

First let's start off in American Indoor Football (AIF), where they are in Championship weekend this week and will end the season. Last week in the division championships we had the best 4 (legitimately unlike the previous week) play. The South Division Championship consisted of the Columbus Lions (2015 PIFL Champions, 9-0 in 2015) hosting the Florida Tarpons (2015 X-League Champion/8-1). This game would not end pretty in another meeting between these teams. The Lions who had to fight the Stars hard the previous week would tear apart the Tarpons with a final score of 79-66 to send the Lions to host the championship game. The North Division Championship would be a battle of steel and iron as the West Michigan Ironmen (8-1) hosted the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (7-2) in Muskegon. Coming into the game the Steelhawks were the clear favorite to win the game and play Columbus but in a stunning upset fashion the Ironmen took the Steelhawks out of flight and won 42-35. West Michigan will travel to Columbus to take on the Lions in the AIF Championship on Saturday June 18th. This will be the final game in yet another nightmare of an AIF season

Out west in Champions Indoor Football the road to CIF Champions Bowl II will continue this week. The two game in the Division Semi-Finals were not pretty by any means. In the North Division Semi-Final the Bloomington Edge hosted the defending champion Sioux City Bandits, the Bandits however did not look like the championship caliber team they were the year before. The Edge cut the Bandits by a final score of 65-45. Down in the South Division Semi-Final Amarillo would play Dodge City for the second consecutive week on the season. The Venom had some sharp play as they aimed for 100 points which they fell just short of. The Law fell dead in their tracks as the Venom took a massive 98-56 route over Dodge City. The division finals are now set as it will be the Wichita Force hosting the Bloomington Edge to play for the North Division title and a berth to CIF Champions Bowl II. In the South the Allen Event Center in Allen, TX will host an all Lone Star State affair for the division title. The Texas Revolution (10-2) will host the Amarillo Venom (9-4) in what is sure to be an all out Texas Style Slobberknocker. Both games will take place on Saturday June 18th at 7PM CT.

In the Indoor Football League we have just 2 weeks to go in the regular season now. The playoffs have been for the most part decided, in the United Conference Sioux Falls has guaranteed home field advantage throughout the playoffs and it will be Cedar Rapids playing Wichita Falls in the United Semi-Final. The Intense conference is not quite as clear cut, Spokane does have the bye and will host the Intense Conference Championship and Billings has gained the 2nd of 3 playoff berths, Nebraska (5-9) and Tri Cities (3-11) are both still alive for that final spot. Important games in the IFL Playoff race this week are Wichita Falls at Iowa, if Iowa wins Cedar Rapids will host the Nighthawks if Wichita Falls wins then the home team in the first round will be determined next week in the final game of the season. The other playoff implicating games are Nebraska at Colorado and Tri-Cities at Billings, if Nebraska wins or Tri-Cities loses there in the playoffs, Tri-Cities has to win twice and have Nebraska lose twice to make. Billings on the other hand can clinch the home semi-final game with a win (which will knock out Tri-Cities) and a Nebraska loss.

That's all we have for you here at Indoor Football Weekly, next week we will have a more detailed recap of the AIF Championship. Again thanks to everyone over at Indoor Football Forum and we will see you next week.

Howlin' at the Moon: Week 1

Well everyone the first week of action is done in the 2016 edition of the Northwoods League and that means the first 6 games have been played. Let's go over some highlights from this weeks Mankato MoonDogs action.

Opening Day of the 2016 schedule was set for Tuesday May 31st at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay against the Border Cats, rain however would postpone the opener until the following day. Wednesday came and north of the border the Dogs would fight the Cats in back to back games. Game One would be a high scoring 15-6 affair with no runs scoring in the just the 1st, 6th, and 9th innings, starter Nate Jones would go 3 innings and earn his first ever NWL win. Game Two would be scheduled for just 7 innings and would be the exact opposite of game 1 with the MoonDogs winning it 4-0 with starting pitcher Jordan Harms go 5 innings for the MoonDogs striking out 5.

The next series would bring them to Mayo Field in Rochester on Thursday to take on the Honkers. Mankato would start super hot against there Southern Minnesota and North Division rivals by scoring 7 runs on them in the first 2 innings. Those runs were highlighted by a 2 runs shot in the first by Jake Shepski, but those weren't the only runs Mankato would score. The MoonDogs would tack on 5 more while only allowing 2 runs to win it in another blowout game 12-2 with Ricky Digrugilliers going 6 innings striking out 5 and walking none taking the win. Home Opening night was scheduled for Friday against Rochester to cap off the series at Frank Rogers Park but after moving the start times 3 times the game was postponed until June 8th when the Honkers come back to town.

Duluth's historic Wade Stadium was the final stop this week for the MoonDogs as they would take on the Duluth Huskies. Saturday night the series opened with a tight matchup between the ball clubs as they went back and forth like a couple of gladiators. After Mankato went down 1-0 in the first they would tie it in the 5th and go up 2-1 in the 6th, the Huskies would lead 3-1 in the 7th but Mankato would prevail with 2 runs in the 8th inning. Sunday again would see a much different game as Mankato came roaring out to a 4-0 lead in the first 2 innings and scoring another 2 runs in the 6th to pull it 6-0, it would be in the bottom of the 9th when Duluth would score a single run on a sac fly to finish it 6-1 Mankato.

After the first week of the season the MoonDogs are sitting on top of the North Division and are the only undefeated team in the Northwoods League at 5-0. Mankato is 1.5 Games ahead of Waterloo, Duluth, and Eau Claire who are all tied for 2nd at 4-2 after one week. Don't be worried it's only the start of the season in the next week Mankato will have there home opener on Monday at 7:05 against the Willmar Stingers at Frank Rogers Park before traveling to Bill Taunton Stadium in Willmar on Tuesday. Wednesday will see back to back 7 inning games at 6:05 and 8:05 in a doubleheader against the Rochester Honkers and then head back to Mayo Field in Rochester on Thursday. Friday and Saturday will see the Eau Claire Express visit The Frank for the first time this season at 7:05 on Friday and 6:05 on Saturday. To cap off the next 7 days it'll be a home game on Sunday at 6:05 against the Stingers before heading to Willmar to play them on Monday night. We'll be back next week for another recap of MoonDogs Baseball and remember to cheer on your hometown Mankato MoonDogs!

Road to Champions Bowl II (IV Maybe): Indoor Football Weekly #2

Well everyone we've had another eventful week in the world of Indoor Football. The train wreck of the AIF is um "chugging" along with yet another season (God willing the pain will end someday) while the CIF played it's final week of the regular season and will start it's playoffs this week while the IFL has only a few weeks left before there playoffs start.

Again let's start off with the AIF as they opening weekend of the playoffs provided us with two tight matchups and two blowouts (where as I was expecting all four to be blowouts. It started on Thursday when the burning ship of the Savannah Steam traveled to Estero, FL to take on the Tarpons, the game would end with a blowout 71-20 victory for the Tarpons and hopefully that burning ship in Savannah has sunk. The round would continue on Saturday when the New Mexico Stars traveled to Georgia to take on the Columbus Lions. New Mexico who only played 1 real game all season did put up a very good fight against the Lions but the final would be 49-37 in favor of the 8-0 Lions. Also on Saturday we say the Myrtle Beach Freedom travel all the way from South Carolina to Muskegon, MI to take on the expansion West Michigan Ironmen, it would be a long 2 way trip and game as the Ironmen struck hot metal against the Freedom winning 78-37. The final game would be played at the Family Arena in St. Charles, MO between the host River City Raiders and visiting Lehigh Valley Steelhawks, in another tight ballgame the Steelhawks would come out and win it late 54-52. The South Division final is set for this Saturday with the Columbus Lions hosting the Florida Tarpons, in the North Division the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks will travel to Muskegon to take on the West Michigan Ironmen, hopefully none of these teams fold before the games have been played.

Now in the CIF the playoffs have been set with the Texas Revolution getting the bye in the South Division and the Wichita Force getting the bye in the North. First round games will see the Amarillo Venom host the Dodge City Law on Saturday June 11th with the winner heading to Allen to play the Revs while the Bloomington Edge will host the defending champion Sioux City Bandits with the winner heading to Wichita to play the Force. With the CIF games this week I still have to pick Dodge City and Sioux City over the host clubs.

In the IFL with a few weeks left to go the playoff scenario in the United Conference has been determined with Sioux Falls securing the bye a few weeks ago and Cedar Rapids playing Wichita Falls with only the location of that game TBD. In the Intense Conference it looks a lot different as the Spokane Empire securing the bye but no oth places being determined yet it's still an Intense fight going on out West for those other spots. Games with playoff implications this week are all of them except for the Iowa @ Sioux Falls game because Iowa has been eliminated and Sioux Falls already has the bye guaranteed.

We'll be back next week with another recap of the week in this crazy sport we all love. Again I thank everyone over at Indoor Football Forum for a lot of this information!

It's Your Nighmare: Indoor Football Weekly #1

It's a nightmare alright and that isn't a joke, what's also not a joke is that it's playoff season. Yes it's that time a year again when the best teams that indoor football has to offer (or in the case of the AIF stumble through the year or the thousand other ways a team can make the playoffs while still being terrible). First lets get the AIF out of the way.

In the "league" (a term I use very loosely here) known as American Indoor Football the um "playoffs" are starting. So many teams folded, played travel only, or were non league I'm not even going to get into it. So we start out with an 8 team playoff system that was originally announced as 6. First up in the Quarter-Finals is the South #1 Columbus Lions (8-0) taking on the South/West#4 New Mexico Stars (6-1 according to the AIF site 4-1 really). Columbus was one of very few teams to actually play all there scheduled games and all against league opponents New Mexico on the other hand hobbled it's way through the season playing anyone they could because the entire AIF West would end up folding, expect Columbus to destroy New Mexico. Next up is South #2 Florida (7-1 w/ forfeit wins) against South #3 Myrtle Beach oh wait nope the AIF changed the game last minute now Florida will play the Savannah Steam (why!!???) whose owners are in bankruptcy court and being sued, expect the Tarpons to attack this burning ship and make it ugly. In the North we have #2 River City (7-1 AIF/ 5-2 Reality) playing #3 Lehigh Valley (6-2) this game could be a tough one but expect Lehigh Valley to win. In our final game it's #1 West Michigan (6-1 AIF/7-1 Reality) playing #4 Central Penn, wait nope back up the train I'm being told that CP has folded and that Myrtle Beach FROM THE SOUTH is replacing them, this game could be a challenge but I'm taking West Michigan.

Now that we're done with the joke of the sport lets move west to the CIF (Champions Indoor Football), where we have just a week left in the season. Texas, Dodge City, and Amarillo have all secured spots in the South Division playoffs with Texas already clinching the division title and the other 2 fighting for the home seed in the CIF South. With one week left the North is still a free for all with Wichita securing the division title and a playoff spot at 9-2 so far. Bloomington (6-5) is currently on the outside looking in but can still get in depending on how Sioux City and Omaha (both 7-4) do. Games this week with playoff implications are, Omaha @ Wichita, Dodge City @ Amarillo, and Sioux City @ Bloomington.

Next up is the IFL (Indoor Football League) where Sioux Falls (12-1) has clinched the United Conference (yet again, it's starting to get old now) and Cedar Rapids the 2nd of 3 playoff spots. The somewhat surging Green Bay Blizzard are out with a record of 4-9 and THE Iowa Barnstormers are sitting at 4-8 about to be eliminated (sadly) from playoff contention as Wichita Falls (who was moved from the Intense conference after the 2 MN teams folded before the season) is at 8-4 about to get in. The Intense Conference is a wholenother BEAST as the Spokane Empire (10-2) have clinched it and no one is out! How is that possible well because the rest of the division is a bit crap Billings is 6-6 in 2nd, Nebraska 5-8 in 3rd, Tri-Cities at 3-10 in 4th and in 5th is Colorado at 2-11. Games with playoff implications in the IFL is well all of them at least this week.

I know this one was short but it'll be longer, bigger, better, and badder next week. I thank Jim Roberts and everyone over at Indoor Football Forum for a lot of this info. See ya next week folks!

Howlin' at the Moon Pre-Season

Hi everyone, as you know I am the Kato Sports Girl and this is my first post on the Northwoods League specifically this is Howlin' at Moon which will be about the Mankato MoonDogs. Unlike my SaintsBall blog which is done on a series by series basis this will be a weekly post recapping the past week in the Northwoods League and the Mankato MoonDogs. So Howl with me, welcome, and let's dive right in!!!

First up is a change in the dugout for 2016 as Ryan Kragh (Head Baseball Coach for Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, MN) has been named the skipper for the club after former manager Ryan Day stepped down after the 2015 season. Kragh has been the head coach at Bethany for the last 12 seasons and has been a coach with the MoonDogs in 2013 and 2015 as pitching coach, at Bethany Kragh has a 225-191 record in which he has qualified the school for the UMAC Conference tournament every season. Also on the coaching staff note Matt Wollenzin will return for his 3rd summer with the club (player in 2013 coach in 2015) along with newcomers Robert Vavaro (Iowa Lakes Community College) and Nick Weinmeister (Northland College in Ashland, WI).

On a players note 4 will return to the 'Dogs from their 2015 roster which include, Reese Eddins a Sophomore RHP out of Nebraska, Sam Myers a Junior RHP out of Cal-State Northridge, Cody O'Brien a Junior RHP out of Austin Peay, and David Metzger a Junior 2B out of Cal-State Bakersfield. The MoonDogs have added a slew of new players to put another competitive team on the field in 2016. Mankato has also added a few local products this year including RHP Josh Matheson of the MSU-Mankato Mavericks, Matheson pitched for the Willmar Stingers last summer. Another local man in University of Minnesota IF/OF Jordan Kozicky a native of Minneapolis playing his first year in the Northwoods League.

Mankato will open up the 2016 Northwoods League campaign on Tuesday May 31st at 6:05 PM with a series on the road against the Thunder Bay Border Cats, the home opener for 2016 will be on Friday June 3rd in the 2nd game of a home and home series against the Rochester Honkers. It's gonna be a fun year at the Frank so get out there and cheer for the MoonDogs!

Welcome/Minnesota United FC Stadium in 2017

Welcome everyone my name is Ashle this is not my first blog as I also run the SAINTSball blog. this blog will focus on overall world of sports. A lot of minor league, some national, some local, but just overall sports updates and random funt things going on in it.

Starting off in the world of soccer, Minnesota United FC is rumored to be moving from the NASL to MLS staring in 2017. A newspaper in St. Louis reported in it's article about the MLS coming there since the Rams have left that the Loons will indeed be moving up as of next year. The question remains where they will play as the new soccer stadium will not open until 2018. there are 5 usable building in the metro area but only 2 maybe 3 are realistic options. Let's go over them one by one.

#1 National Sports Center Stadium - Blaine, MN

The NSC Stadium in Blaine is currently the gome of Minnesota United FC, its has a few things going for it but alot of negatives. The Positives, it is currently home to Minnesota United FC, is a soccer specific stadium with a grass pitch, and will continue to be their training facility for the foreseeable future. The Negatives, it is very small and undersized and would require a massive upgrade in seating, lighting, locker rooms, and well everything else to be used even for a single year in the MLS.

#2 Target Field - Minneapolis, MN

Target Field is an interesting option for a number of reasons. The Positives, It is at the end of both the Blue and green Light Rail Line, near many bars and puds in downtown Minneapolis. Another positive it has is that it would contain a grass pitch however that more neutral because of it being shared with a baseball field. It would however have good sized press boxes, seating and great lighting for any night matches. The Negatives, like Yankee Stadium in New York it is not designed for soccer and would more than likely have very very poor sight lines, having to schedule around Twins games, and amateur baseball is another mess in itself. The biggest issue may or may not be with it's grass field though, as with 81+ Twins games, amateur games, potential college and high school games along with 17 soccer matches and concerts it could take a heavy beating.

#3 TCF Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, MN

TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota may be the single most obvious option but it isn't so black and white. The Positives, yes it did host the Manchester City v Olympiacos and Loons v Fury double header a few years back so we know it can host soccer. It's also in the shape needed for good sight lines with a great press box and lighting as well as a light rail station right next to it. The Negatives, the aforementioned soccer double header had low attendance in such a huge stadiums and issues with the implanted natural surface, the fact that it's main surface is turf also poses an issue. However the biggest problem may actually be with parking as there is very little near the stadium itself and THAT can be very expensive if there is any available on match day. Another problem is that if it ever gets close to capacity there is only one concourse and it can and would be very very cramped.

#4 U.S. Bank Stadium - Minneapolis, MN

This is probably less likely than anything else on this list save for the nest one but I thought I'd add it anyway. The positives, in the design for the stadium it was made to be capable for soccer, appx 20,000 seat capacity supposedly intimate etc. The Negatives, well parking is one thing as it can be a nightmare to park near Downtown East and there is very little of after match entertainment within walking distance, as well as it's indoors and has turf enough said.

#5 CHS Field - St. Paul, MN

CHS Field is about as likely to land the Loons as U.S. Bank Stadium but I wanted to put it in here anyway, why you ask? Well because the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting KC) played in CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, KS while waiting for there new stadium. CAB happens to be the home of the Kansas City T-Bones of the American Association ..... the same league as the Saints who play in CHS Field. The Positive, CHS Field is in vibrant Lowertown St. Paul with great transit and walking options to get to the park, a beautifully designed ballpark shows itself off with great views all around. With a good sized press box, club seats and suites it would be a great option for the Loons. The Negative,  it is not designed for soccer just like Target Field and would have the same issues with sight lines and the pitch, it only seats about 7,500 fans and would need expanded seating for matches just like NSC. Also like most places on this list parking is not easy. The Loons would also have to schedule around 50 Saints games running from May-Sept, plus concerts, amateur baseball and other things going on. Overall this is the least possible option.

I'm not going to pretend I know where they will go or where they should. Bill McGuire will do the best for the club, but in this girl's and season ticket holder's opinion they should either go to TCF or stay at NSC.

Well that's my take on Minnesota United FC's stadium options. Leave me comments on here or at @katosportsgirl on Twitter! I'll be back later this week/next with with a take on the wack world of minor league hockey, but for now so long and see you soon!