A LOOK AT THE IFL 3 YEAR VETERAN RULE

[jgary48]

For the fans who have followed the Indoor Football League since its inception and don't know , the league has a rule that limits the number of years a player can be with a team to three. This is done too help maintain competitive balane. The rule has been heavily criticized simply because it destroys good teams attempting to build chemistry after a number of poor campaigns. The Cedar Rapids Titans are examples of this. Last season they were a playoff team and this year they are being feasted on by new and teams that haven't felt the effects of the rule yet. The rule is a good one because of the competitive balance factor which is what a league needs to build interest however if it causes the destruction of a team which could happen as is the case of CEDAR rapids it must be altered, perhaps allowing a team to reacquire the losing players after a one year hiatus. INDOOR FOOTball as a whole has struggled attendancewise a rule like this only helps to fan mediocre performance make it close to the NFL rule allowing teams to franchise tag players and keep them to ensure the teams success. 

This week the Screaming Eagles, after a win on Monday Night try to make it two in a row against the Iowa Barnstormers, the moementum should continue with the Eagles getting their biggest win of 2017 in overtime on a field goal 60-57. Next week we will look at who figures to be hoisting the IFL United Bowl Trophy come June.

[afrats]

I don't think that is how the rule works. The rule sets the number of Veteran players (players with 3 years of experience or more) that are allowed on the roster. The rule does not limit the amount of years with a certain team. There are many examples of players in the league that have been with a team for 6+ years, Kyle Kaiser for example of the Colorado Crush, has been with the team for 8 years.

You site Cedar Rapids as an example, and that is not really the reason that they are doing poorly. In their case, as is often the case in the IFL and any other indoor football league, the ownership starts to lose interest as they lose money and they just don't go after players. Cedar Rapids example is even more further shown as that as they played with practice jerseys for the first part of the season as the owner didn't want to go out and spend money.

The attendance is often low in "smaller" markets due to the lack of marketing and the fact that there are often more things to do for the fans than spending their money on a game that they see as inferior to others.