Post by fwp on Mar 18, 2010 9:01:03 GMT -5
www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20100318/GPG0211/3180660/1225/GPG02
About 10 years ago, Green Bay Blizzard head coach Rik Richards quit his college coaching job, rented out his house and packed his bags in North Dakota to go live in North Carolina.
He was told by a prospective owner that there would be an indoor football team playing in the city of Asheville in 2001 and he would be hired as the defensive coordinator.
But plans for a team went south just as Richards arrived in the city, showing him firsthand how teams in the sport can be there one day and gone the next — something that almost became the fate of the Blizzard last October.
The 8-year-old franchise was on the verge of being added to the long list of arena and indoor football teams that have folded over the past decade. But the Blizzard was bought by local ownership group Titletown Football Group.
"Our goal is to be here for a long, long time," Blizzard president and co-owner Jeff Royle said.
The six-person ownership group felt it had a better chance of achieving that goal by joining the Indoor Football League. The IFL has a lower operating cost than the Blizzard's previous league, arenafootball2, which dissolved following the 2009 season.
The other option was joining a group of Arena Football League and af2 owners that were forming a new arena league. The group has since purchased the AFL and af2 assets from bankruptcy court last December and rebranded its 15-team league the AFL.
"We would have been in a league with the Orlandos, the Chicagos of the world at that level. The dollars involved just don't make sense in a town of a 100,000 people," Royle said. "You couldn't come up with any reasonable estimation that you could be a sustainable franchise."
The main difference between the arena and indoor styles of play is the rebound nets hanging behind the end zones, which were patented by the original AFL. But both brands of football have seen a number of franchises come and go through the years.
The original AFL, which played from 1987 to 2008 before folding last August, saw 45 different squads play over the course of its existence. A modest number when compared to af2, which had 61 teams play at least one season during its 10-year run
There have been more than 10 indoor leagues that have played since 1998 with over a 100 different teams. The defunct Green Bay Bombers played in the Brown County Arena from 1998 to 2000 with two different leagues, one being the original Indoor Football League that lasted two years.
Richards first coaching job in the sport was in the original IFL with the Bismarck Blaze in 2000. Following that, he found a coaching job after his move with the Charleston Swamp Foxes of af2 and has coached for five different indoor and arena league teams since.
"If there was one big thing that has changed since 2000, it's the talent level," said Richards, who has a 61-29 record as a head coach. "It was hard to recruit back then. Kids weren't really taking a whole lot of chances on playing at this level for this kind of money. Now, it's a pretty good level of football."
The current IFL is in its second season and with 25 teams is the biggest indoor/arena league in the country. It began when two indoor leagues, consisting of teams in smaller markets, merged together.
In addition to the IFL and AFL, there are other smaller indoor leagues competing in 2010.
"This industry is challenging," IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio said. "Even at its very best there are going to be challenges. I respect any league that is doing their best and moving forward because it's not an easy."
Royle said he likes that the league is a non-profit entity, meaning franchise owners vote on issues about league spending instead of having added expenditures pushed upon teams with no say.
"The old ownership group here in Green Bay was working very hard, not only to keep themselves sustainable, but to keep a league office with a multi-million-dollar-operating budget profitable," Royle said.
"Regardless of how many fans were here, regardless of how many corporate sponsors they had, regardless of how many season-ticket holders they had, it wasn't a viable business model and put them in the situation where they either needed to find a new ownership group or the operation was going to shut down."
About 10 years ago, Green Bay Blizzard head coach Rik Richards quit his college coaching job, rented out his house and packed his bags in North Dakota to go live in North Carolina.
He was told by a prospective owner that there would be an indoor football team playing in the city of Asheville in 2001 and he would be hired as the defensive coordinator.
But plans for a team went south just as Richards arrived in the city, showing him firsthand how teams in the sport can be there one day and gone the next — something that almost became the fate of the Blizzard last October.
The 8-year-old franchise was on the verge of being added to the long list of arena and indoor football teams that have folded over the past decade. But the Blizzard was bought by local ownership group Titletown Football Group.
"Our goal is to be here for a long, long time," Blizzard president and co-owner Jeff Royle said.
The six-person ownership group felt it had a better chance of achieving that goal by joining the Indoor Football League. The IFL has a lower operating cost than the Blizzard's previous league, arenafootball2, which dissolved following the 2009 season.
The other option was joining a group of Arena Football League and af2 owners that were forming a new arena league. The group has since purchased the AFL and af2 assets from bankruptcy court last December and rebranded its 15-team league the AFL.
"We would have been in a league with the Orlandos, the Chicagos of the world at that level. The dollars involved just don't make sense in a town of a 100,000 people," Royle said. "You couldn't come up with any reasonable estimation that you could be a sustainable franchise."
The main difference between the arena and indoor styles of play is the rebound nets hanging behind the end zones, which were patented by the original AFL. But both brands of football have seen a number of franchises come and go through the years.
The original AFL, which played from 1987 to 2008 before folding last August, saw 45 different squads play over the course of its existence. A modest number when compared to af2, which had 61 teams play at least one season during its 10-year run
There have been more than 10 indoor leagues that have played since 1998 with over a 100 different teams. The defunct Green Bay Bombers played in the Brown County Arena from 1998 to 2000 with two different leagues, one being the original Indoor Football League that lasted two years.
Richards first coaching job in the sport was in the original IFL with the Bismarck Blaze in 2000. Following that, he found a coaching job after his move with the Charleston Swamp Foxes of af2 and has coached for five different indoor and arena league teams since.
"If there was one big thing that has changed since 2000, it's the talent level," said Richards, who has a 61-29 record as a head coach. "It was hard to recruit back then. Kids weren't really taking a whole lot of chances on playing at this level for this kind of money. Now, it's a pretty good level of football."
The current IFL is in its second season and with 25 teams is the biggest indoor/arena league in the country. It began when two indoor leagues, consisting of teams in smaller markets, merged together.
In addition to the IFL and AFL, there are other smaller indoor leagues competing in 2010.
"This industry is challenging," IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio said. "Even at its very best there are going to be challenges. I respect any league that is doing their best and moving forward because it's not an easy."
Royle said he likes that the league is a non-profit entity, meaning franchise owners vote on issues about league spending instead of having added expenditures pushed upon teams with no say.
"The old ownership group here in Green Bay was working very hard, not only to keep themselves sustainable, but to keep a league office with a multi-million-dollar-operating budget profitable," Royle said.
"Regardless of how many fans were here, regardless of how many corporate sponsors they had, regardless of how many season-ticket holders they had, it wasn't a viable business model and put them in the situation where they either needed to find a new ownership group or the operation was going to shut down."