Post by David on Aug 30, 2017 19:15:35 GMT -8
8.30.17 -
Sioux Falls is ready to cause a storm in a new indoor football league.
In a press announcement on Wednesday, Sioux Falls Storm owner Todd Tyron and Head Coach Kurtis Riggs announced that the team would move from the Indoor Football League to Champions Indoor Football (CIF) for the 2018 Season.
The Storm, a staple of the Indoor Football League since its formation in 2009, leave the IFL after nine seasons and six United Bowl titles. The addition of Sioux Falls makes them the 14th franchise in the CIF, and the latest to join since the announcement of the addition of the Quad City Steamwheelers earlier this month. According to ESPN 99.1 in Sioux Falls, the Wichita Falls Nighthawks are expected to join the CIF within the next week.
The addition of the Storm and the Nighthawks are major additions to the CIF, which is entering its fourth season of play. The league was founded in 2014 from a merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL). SCtoC reported in July that the Nighthawks, and perhaps the Storm, could be looking to move to the CIF.
“Sometimes you need to take a big step back and remove yourself from all the noise to get a clear look at what’s going on," Tryon stated in a press release from the CIF. "Once we were able to do this, it was a pretty easy choice what direction to go. It’s tough leaving a league we’ve been a part of for so many years but, on the other hand, the responsible thing for me to do as the leader of our franchise was to move us to a league that offers a little more security, some historic built-in rivalries and even more important a league with a vision and a focus to be financially responsible.”
According to the Argus Leader, the decision to switch from the IFL to the CIF was made to stabilize the future of the Storm, as the Indoor Football League in a state of flux after losing half of the teams it fielded in the 2017 Season. With an uncertain future for the IFL, the Storm's move provides stability to the franchise by guaranteeing a league for the team to play in.
Per the Argus Leader, Tyron stated that it wasn't his intention to change leagues. In fact, he stated there was talk of a CIF-IFL merger, but the CIF was unable to get the IFL's remaining franchises to agree to the CIF's schedule length and salary structure. The CIF plays a 12-game regular season schedule, while the IFL plays a 16-game schedule. In addition to the schedule, the player's pay scale is different - in the IFL, all players earn $250 per game (before taxes), while the CIF allows teams to decide decide how to divide its salary structure to the players, ranging from a minimum of $75 to a maximum of $300 per game.
With the switch to the CIF, the Storm can save money in operating costs; in addition to lower salaries, the team's travel costs will be less expensive.
"This is the best move for us because it ensures we’ll still have a program,” said Tyron. "Our fans aren’t going to notice a difference in the quality of play. And they’re going to get back some of those regional rivalries we had with Sioux City (Bandits) and Omaha (Beef)."
Tyron also pointed out the benefit of teams closer to the Storm, let alone the larger number of teams in the CIF as opposed to the IFL.
"I think the IFL was kind of getting stale with the same teams, and those were teams that were far away," he said. "Now our fans can go on the road to Sioux City, to Bismarck.”
Storm Head Coach Kurtiss Riggs said that as much as he wanted to get another shot at the Arizona Rattlers, who dethroned the Storm after six consecutive championship seasons, the state of the IFL was of bigger concern. "There’s five teams committed to the IFL, and Cedar Rapids is barely hanging on," Riggs said. "It just didn’t make sense to pass up on this opportunity to get into a league with Sioux City and Omaha and other regional teams."
In his comment, Riggs speaks of the Cedar Rapids Titans. The Titans, Rattlers, Nebraska Danger, Iowa Barnstormers and Green Bay Blizzard have committed to return to the IFL for 2018.
In addition to re-establishing rivalries with Sioux City and Omaha, the Storm will compete in the CIF's Northern Division, which contains Sioux City and Omaha, as well as the Bismarck Bucks, Bloomington Edge, West Michigan Ironmen, Kansas City Phantoms, and the Quad City Steamwheelers.
The Storm's move to the CIF also comes with a new restriction on the team, which dominated the IFL for the last eight seasons. In addition to agreeing to the new salary rules, the CIF will allow the Storm to maintain 8 IFL players that were on a final 2017 roster.
The loss of the Storm and the Nighthawks are the latest blows in a tumultuous off-season for the IFL, which currently sits at 5 teams after finishing the 2017 Season with 10 teams. The league has already lost the Spokane Empire, who announced they were ceasing operations for 2018, and likely lost the Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and the Colorado Crush, whose ownership, Project FANchise, left the league to start their own "Interactive Football League."
SCtoC had previously learned of potential arrangement for a new owner to take over the Crush, and keep Marvin Jones as head coach. However a source has informed SCtoC that arrangement did not come to fruition and the Crush's assets have been sold off.
- DKH
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