|
|
Post by David on Jan 31, 2018 22:43:26 GMT -8
1.31.18 - WOODBURY, IA - Woodbury Country District Judge Patrick Tott has issued a temporary block against two former Champions Indoor Football teams from participating in the 2018 Indoor Football League Season. The teams involved in the legal dispute between the CIF and the IFL are the Bloomington Edge and the West Michigan Ironmen, who switched leagues back in September 2017. The judge's ruling occurs less than three weeks before the start of the IFL's Regular Season. According to the CIF, who is identified to in the lawsuit under its former name of Champions Professional Indoor Football League, the Edge and the Ironmen announced their intentions to join the IFL last fall. The CIF claim this was a violation of the league's affiliation agreement (LAA). According to the league, the Edge and the Ironmen's ownership groups signed the LAA prior to the league's meetings in July, and that they broke the agreement by joining the IFL. A hearing on a permanent injunction is set for a later date, and is contingent of the CIF putting up a $250,000 bond with the court. The Edge and Ironmen have the opportunity to appeal the decision, either in the same court in which the decision was made, or perhaps a higher state court such as a state appellate court in Iowa. Woodbury County is located in Northwestern Iowa and includes Sioux City, the home of the CIF's Bandits. A potential appeal could be heard rapidly given the time frame of the season. It could, conceivably, occur prior to a hearing on a permanent injunction. It is unsure whether an appeal is being considered or planned by both teams. Alternatively, either or both teams could settle with the CIF to enable them to compete in the IFL this season. UPDATE: Per source, the Ironmen and CIF are reportedly working toward a settlement. There no word yet on whether the Edge and CIF are in similar discussions. The Edge and the Ironmen joined the IFL around the same time it was announced that the Sioux Falls Storm and the Wichita Falls Nighthawks would be leaving the IFL for the CIF. However, according to the CIF's State of the League Address, the IFL informed the Storm, Nighthawks, and the CIF that they were disputing the legal withdrawal of both franchises from their signed league agreements and threatened to sue all three parties. The Storm eventually re-joined the IFL, citing that they were seemingly displeased with the way the CIF was run, while the Nighthawks would eventually fold due to the operation costs of the IFL exceeding the planned budget of what it would have spent in the CIF. Should a permanent injunction be granted against the teams, their futures could be up in the air. Depending on the LAA, the teams could be forced to go dormant in 2018, and perhaps 2019 (if the agreements with the CIF are for two years). Including the Edge and Ironmen, the IFL is set at eight teams. Should they be forced to reduce to six teams, a season could be salvaged with an amended schedule, pending the legal action, or actions, plural. The IFL has amended its season in a short time frame at least once before; in 2016, the league quickly re-organized its schedule when the Minnesota Havok's membership was terminated a month before the season was set to begin. It is unsure whether the IFL, being well aware of the potentiality of this decision, has a contingency plan for a six-team league. SCtoC is reaching out the IFL to inquire as to such a plan. However, there is one certainty: the Edge nor the Ironmen will not play in the CIF in 2018. The CIF stated in its State of the League address that it was "in the best interest of all parties to avoid disputes before leagues and to avoid projected litigation which creates uncertainty about which teams are playing where." Despite this proclamation, the league changed course and filed the lawsuit back on January 9th. According to an Indoor Football insider, the CIF's LAA with the Edge and Ironmen will prevent both franchises from starting new teams under new LLCs in the Bloomington, Illinois and Muskegon, Michigan markets. The LAA's also reportedly extend to the Edge and Ironmen's home venues, the Grossinger Motors Arena and L.C. Walker Arena, respectively. The IFL is scheduled to begin their 2018 season the weekend beginning Feb. 23 in a schedule which includes the Edge and Ironmen. - DKH/MKM
To share this post on social media, please go to the right side of the page (the top of the page on the mobile site) to the social media icons and choose which social media site(s) to share the thread. To comment on this thread and others on this forum, please login or register. |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 1, 2018 13:19:07 GMT -8
Is there anyway that Bloomington and Western Michigan play this year? Will the IFL season potentially be delayed by this news?
|
|
|
|
Post by Kasey on Feb 2, 2018 20:54:52 GMT -8
Is there anyway that Bloomington and Western Michigan play this year? Will the IFL season potentially be delayed by this news? David and/or Angi could be better sources for this, but my guess is that the IFL will go forward with six to eight teams. Reportedly, West Michigan is working toward a settlement with the CIF. It wouldn't surprise me if the Edge are as well. I promise you, with legal matters, there is much, much more going on behind the scenes than what we see and are privy to. A couple of seasons ago, the IFL had to rework things within the last month of the season as one of the minnesota teams was removed from the league for not meeting financial obligations. Again, David could expound on that. I feel the $250,000 bond the CIF would need to log in order to make the injunction (in Angi's blog, I called it a TRO, but the definition is essentially the same) permanent, is akin to the escape clause financial penalty I mentioned in Angi's blog. The two keys right now could come down to settlements and/or an appeal by either or both teams. I suppose to answer your question, there are a few ways the league can go forward. Six teams, seven teams or eight teams. I should say that after this decision came down, I received a release from the IFL regarding a corporate partnership. The IFL description included the league spanning "from Phoenix, Arizona to Muskegon, Michigan." I'm not sure if that was deliberate, or if they are waiting for something solid prior to change it. spiderfan - I'm not sure if you read Angi's blog from last week. If not, I highly recommend it: CIF suit of Edge, Ironmen, barely muddies IFL waters. |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 5, 2018 17:04:04 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by SurferGirl on Feb 6, 2018 7:19:26 GMT -8
It's a setback for sure. We'll have to see what happens going forward. I expect there to be a 2018 IFL season. The number of teams to play in it remains cloudy right now.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kasey on Feb 6, 2018 7:40:44 GMT -8
It should be noted, for what it's worth, that the Ironmen are tweeting quite a bit about training camp. The Edge are not.
|
|
|
|
Post by David on Feb 6, 2018 11:27:50 GMT -8
It should be noted, for what it's worth, that the Ironmen are tweeting quite a bit about training camp. The Edge are not. The Edge have posted that Training Camp has begun on their Facebook page. There's speculation that somehow Bloomington & W. Michigan have settled with the CIF, but my source pipeline says that's not possible. That's also sparked speculation that the Edge and Ironmen might be going independent. This is just a strange set of circumstances. Either they're playing or they're not. |
|
|
|
Post by David on Feb 6, 2018 13:43:07 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 6, 2018 13:43:15 GMT -8
It should be noted, for what it's worth, that the Ironmen are tweeting quite a bit about training camp. The Edge are not. The Edge have posted that Training Camp has begun on their Facebook page. There's speculation that somehow Bloomington & W. Michigan have settled with the CIF, but my source pipeline says that's not possible. That's also sparked speculation that the Edge and Ironmen might be going independent. This is just a strange set of circumstances. Either they're playing or they're not. Apparently they may play... as independents and then play in the IFL in 2019. At least according to this: www.pantagraph.com/sports/professional/football/indoor/edge/injunction-could-jeopardize-edge-season/article_d7446439-0fc8-5b08-8b81-c731360e481b.html |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 6, 2018 13:52:10 GMT -8
Guess that means the forum has to be redone... again. In all seriousness though, I wish that Bloomington and Western Michigan were playing this year. Hopefully they come back next year. |
|
|
|
Post by SurferGirl on Feb 6, 2018 17:30:35 GMT -8
Guess that means the forum has to be redone... again. In all seriousness though, I wish that Bloomington and Western Michigan were playing this year. Hopefully they come back next year. We will have the adjustments made to the site by this evening. It's a shame that it came down like this. In sticking up for itself, the CIF damaged it's brand, IMO. |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 6, 2018 19:19:54 GMT -8
Guess that means the forum has to be redone... again. In all seriousness though, I wish that Bloomington and Western Michigan were playing this year. Hopefully they come back next year. We will have the adjustments made to the site by this evening. It's a shame that it came down like this. In sticking up for itself, the CIF damaged it's brand, IMO. CIF wanted to make sure NO ONE ever leaves again for either the IFL or NAL. That is my take on it. |
|
|
|
Post by Nevadanut on Feb 6, 2018 19:53:14 GMT -8
We will have the adjustments made to the site by this evening. It's a shame that it came down like this. In sticking up for itself, the CIF damaged it's brand, IMO. CIF wanted to make sure NO ONE ever leaves again for either the IFL or NAL. That is my take on it. Couldn't that backfire, though? I would think after seeing this, the CIF teams could let their potential agreements linger while they look to join other leagues. From what I've read, if there is no signed agreement, then there is no action for the CIF to take. Kasey could probably elaborate on that. |
|
|
|
Post by Kasey on Feb 7, 2018 7:18:22 GMT -8
CIF wanted to make sure NO ONE ever leaves again for either the IFL or NAL. That is my take on it. Couldn't that backfire, though? I would think after seeing this, the CIF teams could let their potential agreements linger while they look to join other leagues. From what I've read, if there is no signed agreement, then there is no action for the CIF to take. Kasey could probably elaborate on that. That's very possible, Heidi. Any team.possibly looking at leaving the CIF could learn from this situation and hold off on signing the league agreement while considering other leagues. I don't know whether there are teams already agreed for the CIF for 2019 nor do I know the CIF's deadline in the calendar year for teams to sign those. However, a team wanting to leave should be able to avoid what happened here by simply not re-signing up. As a note to that, I wouldn't be surprised to see a current team or two from the CIF end up with a bad taste in their mouth from all this and leave that league following this season. No prediction or anything, but I could see it happening for that reason. |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Feb 22, 2018 15:28:28 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by DiamondThief on Feb 22, 2018 20:09:40 GMT -8
I see this as very positive. If the Edge play a six-game during the summer, that means they are staying alive in an effort to officially join the IFL for 2019. This is very good news if they can make it happen. |
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Mar 6, 2018 13:11:28 GMT -8
Apparently Western Michigan won't join the IFL in 2019. The report from Jim Roberts of Indoor Football Forum:
The ownership group of the West Michigan Ironmen led by Terrence Williams was evicted by the city arena. The owners of the soccer and hockey team there are going to take over and incorporate the football team into their business. They have filed a new team application with the CIF that will be approved by the league (pending a few additional requirements that they have to meet, but will be completed in the next few days). They have signed a letter of intent to play in the CIF for the 2019 season. In order to satisfy the sponsors who paid for packages and season ticket holders this new group is going to honor those agreements, even though the old ownership group took all the money, so that way more people are not burned. This will be accomplished by them playing in the MPIF for the 2018 season, which the CIF approved since they are putting up a huge financial deposit that can be taken in the event that they don't play in the CIF for 2019.
|
|
|
|
Post by DiamondThief on Mar 6, 2018 16:45:01 GMT -8
That's not good news at all. Apparently, it's only going to be the Edge joining in 2019.
|
|
|
|
Post by spiderfan on Mar 7, 2018 16:40:21 GMT -8
That's not good news at all. Apparently, it's only going to be the Edge joining in 2019. Any other expansion rumors? |
|
|
|
Post by David on Mar 7, 2018 16:57:37 GMT -8
That's not good news at all. Apparently, it's only going to be the Edge joining in 2019. Any other expansion rumors? I've heard nothing on expansion. Only the following rumors: - Cedar Rapids is for sale and needs an owner. Could be the final season if they don't. - Arizona rumored to be interested in starting a West Coast Indoor league. - Speculation on boards is that Sioux Falls financially isn't doing well, which is surprising. I can't verify this though. |
|
