Post by 50yardfan on Aug 15, 2011 11:04:13 GMT -5
www.news-press.com/article/20110815/SPORTS/108150343/UIFL-owners-working-long-before-opener?odyssey=tab|topnews|img|Sports
Securing more sponsorships, signing players and deciding upon a schedule will be the next steps taken by the Florida Tarpons of the United Indoor Football League.
The UIFL held meetings for the team owners over the weekend at the Gateway Golf and Country Club in Fort Myers.
Present were owners and/or general managers from 12 teams of what could be a 16-team league once the first ball gets kicked off in early March, 2012, at Germain Arena, the Tarpons' home.
"We're always thinking of ways to be creative," said Andrew Haines, whose marketing company Conquest Creative has served as the means to the end of being involved with professional football. "It's exciting. It's a challenge, and I love the challenge of it."
One of the biggest challenges has been overcoming the fate of the Florida Firecats, the defunct arenafootball2 league team. Haines has to convince potential sponsors that his team and league will stand the test of time.
"I wouldn't have signed a three-year deal, and I wouldn't have moved my family here if I weren't in this for the long haul," said Haines, who relocated his family to Fort Myers in June from Canton, Ohio. He has a son in second grade and a daughter in eighth grade.
Haines sold most of the UIFL to Assured Equities IV Corporation, which is owned by Cecil VanDyke.
VanDyke, 61, owns five of the UIFL's teams: the Huntington (W.Va.) Hammer, the Johnstown (Pa.) Generals, the Eastern Kentucky Drillers, the Rome (Ga.) Rampage and a team to be announced in Eastridge, Tenn.
"Why did I buy them out?" VanDyke said. "To be able to grow the league faster. I think the economy is going to turn around - not last week - but there's aspects of it that are getting better."
VanDyke envisions a league in which players will be able to work part-time jobs for other companies that he owns. His company recently invested in a construction supply company and a pest control company so that players in the league would have an easier time finding employment.
VanDyke, a Talmo, Ga., resident, serves as the chief financial officer for a company that distributes lawn mower replacement parts and small engines. VanDyke said he also planned to purchase an NFL player agency. That would help UIFL teams in acquiring players with NFL experience after they get cut from NFL teams.
Dennis Whitman, owner of the Cincinnati Commandos, bought the franchise after it had poached most of its players from the outdoor semi-professional team he had owned.
"I like the structure of this league, what they do, what they demand and the ability to make sure every game is played," said Whitman, who is a police sergeant in Blue Ash, Ohio, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati. He also owns a boat repair shop.
"It's not 'Please come to my league,'" Whitman said. "It's 'Apply to come to our league.'"
The Commandos went 23-1 the previous two years while playing in the Continental Indoor Football League.
"We really don't have anything to prove in the CIFL," Whitman said. "Even great football fans don't want to see blowouts. They want to see competitive games."
Whitman hopes his Commandos can start winning those games in 2012.
VanDyke hopes the same for his teams, and so on. Adding VanDyke to the mix as owner of five teams and the league has freed Haines to focus on developing the Florida Tarpons brand. Michael Taylor will coach the team.
"The problem is football takes so much time, you have to be careful not to let that consume everything else," Haines said of building the brand and securing sponsorships. "It's helpful to have someone else there from a financial standpoint and also from a mental standpoint. So far, it's been very, very positive."
The United Indoor Football League teams that have been announced:
- Cincinnati Commandos; Eastern Kentucky Drillers; Danville Dragons; Canton (Ohio) Cougars; Huntington (W.Va.) Hammer; Rome (Ga.) Rampage; Marion (Ohio) Blue Racers; Florida Tarpons; Johnstown (Pa.) Generals; Saginaw (Mich.) Sting; Northern Kentucky River Monsters
- More info: theuifl.com and floridatarpons.com
Off and running
The Florida Tarpons have signed nine players for the 2012 season:
- DB Stephen Howard, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Charleston
- WR Preston Higdon, 6-1, 195, Charleston
- DB/WR Meenyus Miller, 6-0, 200, Indiana
- WR Christopher Fields, 5-10, 180, Bethune Cookman
- OL/DL Benjamin Walker, 6-3, 350, College of Sequioas
- WR Terrence Simmons, 6-0, 182, Marshall
- LB/DE Yoshi Smith, 6-2, 240, Ellsworth C.C
- WR Anthony Tumbarello, 5-8, 185, Iona College
- K Reynaldo Hernandez, 5-9, 180
Securing more sponsorships, signing players and deciding upon a schedule will be the next steps taken by the Florida Tarpons of the United Indoor Football League.
The UIFL held meetings for the team owners over the weekend at the Gateway Golf and Country Club in Fort Myers.
Present were owners and/or general managers from 12 teams of what could be a 16-team league once the first ball gets kicked off in early March, 2012, at Germain Arena, the Tarpons' home.
"We're always thinking of ways to be creative," said Andrew Haines, whose marketing company Conquest Creative has served as the means to the end of being involved with professional football. "It's exciting. It's a challenge, and I love the challenge of it."
One of the biggest challenges has been overcoming the fate of the Florida Firecats, the defunct arenafootball2 league team. Haines has to convince potential sponsors that his team and league will stand the test of time.
"I wouldn't have signed a three-year deal, and I wouldn't have moved my family here if I weren't in this for the long haul," said Haines, who relocated his family to Fort Myers in June from Canton, Ohio. He has a son in second grade and a daughter in eighth grade.
Haines sold most of the UIFL to Assured Equities IV Corporation, which is owned by Cecil VanDyke.
VanDyke, 61, owns five of the UIFL's teams: the Huntington (W.Va.) Hammer, the Johnstown (Pa.) Generals, the Eastern Kentucky Drillers, the Rome (Ga.) Rampage and a team to be announced in Eastridge, Tenn.
"Why did I buy them out?" VanDyke said. "To be able to grow the league faster. I think the economy is going to turn around - not last week - but there's aspects of it that are getting better."
VanDyke envisions a league in which players will be able to work part-time jobs for other companies that he owns. His company recently invested in a construction supply company and a pest control company so that players in the league would have an easier time finding employment.
VanDyke, a Talmo, Ga., resident, serves as the chief financial officer for a company that distributes lawn mower replacement parts and small engines. VanDyke said he also planned to purchase an NFL player agency. That would help UIFL teams in acquiring players with NFL experience after they get cut from NFL teams.
Dennis Whitman, owner of the Cincinnati Commandos, bought the franchise after it had poached most of its players from the outdoor semi-professional team he had owned.
"I like the structure of this league, what they do, what they demand and the ability to make sure every game is played," said Whitman, who is a police sergeant in Blue Ash, Ohio, about 20 miles north of Cincinnati. He also owns a boat repair shop.
"It's not 'Please come to my league,'" Whitman said. "It's 'Apply to come to our league.'"
The Commandos went 23-1 the previous two years while playing in the Continental Indoor Football League.
"We really don't have anything to prove in the CIFL," Whitman said. "Even great football fans don't want to see blowouts. They want to see competitive games."
Whitman hopes his Commandos can start winning those games in 2012.
VanDyke hopes the same for his teams, and so on. Adding VanDyke to the mix as owner of five teams and the league has freed Haines to focus on developing the Florida Tarpons brand. Michael Taylor will coach the team.
"The problem is football takes so much time, you have to be careful not to let that consume everything else," Haines said of building the brand and securing sponsorships. "It's helpful to have someone else there from a financial standpoint and also from a mental standpoint. So far, it's been very, very positive."
The United Indoor Football League teams that have been announced:
- Cincinnati Commandos; Eastern Kentucky Drillers; Danville Dragons; Canton (Ohio) Cougars; Huntington (W.Va.) Hammer; Rome (Ga.) Rampage; Marion (Ohio) Blue Racers; Florida Tarpons; Johnstown (Pa.) Generals; Saginaw (Mich.) Sting; Northern Kentucky River Monsters
- More info: theuifl.com and floridatarpons.com
Off and running
The Florida Tarpons have signed nine players for the 2012 season:
- DB Stephen Howard, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, Charleston
- WR Preston Higdon, 6-1, 195, Charleston
- DB/WR Meenyus Miller, 6-0, 200, Indiana
- WR Christopher Fields, 5-10, 180, Bethune Cookman
- OL/DL Benjamin Walker, 6-3, 350, College of Sequioas
- WR Terrence Simmons, 6-0, 182, Marshall
- LB/DE Yoshi Smith, 6-2, 240, Ellsworth C.C
- WR Anthony Tumbarello, 5-8, 185, Iona College
- K Reynaldo Hernandez, 5-9, 180