Post by alecs on Nov 8, 2023 9:53:18 GMT -8
Happy Wednesday, IFL Fans!
After weeks of built-up anticipation, the IFL released the schedule for the upcoming 2024 season yesterday. For those seeking to keep score at home, an Excel version of the schedule is available at the end of this post. The file includes game dates and times, as well as other team-by-team detailed schedule information. (bye weeks, longest home/road stand, etc.)
Here’s a few notable facts about what’s in store for this spring and summer:
• The league has returned to the 16-game format after curiously going with an odd 15-game slate in 2023. This means that all teams will play eight games apiece at home and on the road. The one technical exception is the Sioux Falls Storm, who will play a Week 7 neutral site “home game” against the Massachusetts Pirates in Fargo, North Dakota. The game should serve as an appetizer for Bucks fans, who are targeting a return to play in 2025.
• While the home/road count gets balanced out, the number of conference games for each team remains a mixed bag. Once again, the Frisco Fighters will play the most out-of-conference games, with seven Western Conference opponents awaiting them. Meanwhile, both the Green Bay Blizzard and Quad City Steamwheelers will play the entirety of their schedules inside the Eastern Conference. As such, in-conference record, used as the primary tiebreaker in previous seasons, will continue to have the likely “apples to oranges” scenario for teams playing a different number of in-conference games.
• Two teams will endure a four-game road stretch throughout the season. For the Duke City Gladiators, that stretch will take from Weeks 10-13 and is followed by a league-high four-game home stand in Weeks 14-17. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be, I suppose. The other team tasked with four straight games on the road is the Green Bay Blizzard, with their final four games of 2024 all taking place away from Resch Center, which interestingly was also the case last year.
• Eight of the 19 weeks will see all 16 teams in action on those respective weekends. Those are Weeks 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 19.
• Fans of the Iowa Barnstormers will have the longest wait of any team to get their home opener, which will take place in Week 6 when they host the Arizona Rattlers. Two bye weeks and three away games precede that home opener date. Two other teams, the Tucson Sugar Skulls and Sioux Falls Storm, will not play their home opener until Week 5.
• Of the 128 Regular Season games, 11 will feature re-matches of playoff games from 2023. Sadly, there is no Bay Area Panthers versus Sioux Falls Storm grudge match scheduled during the Regular Season after both teams battled in Henderson for the title last August.
• We will have two in-state home-and-home series in the early part of the season. The Bay Area Panthers and San Diego Strike Force, who will face-off a league-high four times against each other, will play each other in consecutive weeks – first at Bay Area in Week 6, then the reverse fixture at San Diego in Week 7. In the Lone Star State, the Frisco Fighters welcome the newest members of the league, the San Antonio Gunslingers, for a pair of contests in Week 7 (at Frisco) and Week 8 (at San Antonio).
• Rattlers fans will have Week 17 boldly circled on their calendars, when they host the Tucson Sugar Skulls in what projects to be a high-impact late-season showdown. It is also on pace to be Drew Powell’s first game back in Arizona since this week’s blockbuster trade that sent him to Tucson.
• Week 4 offers a matchup of bragging rights between a pair of 2023 Champions, when the reigning IFL Champion Bay Area Panthers make the cross-country trip to take on the 2023 National Arena League Champions, the Jacksonville Sharks. It will be the only Regular Season meeting between the two squads.
• In order for the Tulsa Oilers to continue the league's running two-year trend of rags to riches, they will have to overcome the league's toughest schedule, as determined by 2023 Opponent Win Percentage (58.75%) This factors in Jacksonville's and San Antonio's records from the 2023 NAL Season. Conversely, the Frisco Fighters and Quad City Steamwheelers tie for the softest schedule in the league (48.96%)
The stage is fully set for kickoff in about four months time. Which matchups are you most excited about? Comment with some of your favorites!
IFL Schedule 2024.xlsx (21.79 KB)
After weeks of built-up anticipation, the IFL released the schedule for the upcoming 2024 season yesterday. For those seeking to keep score at home, an Excel version of the schedule is available at the end of this post. The file includes game dates and times, as well as other team-by-team detailed schedule information. (bye weeks, longest home/road stand, etc.)
Here’s a few notable facts about what’s in store for this spring and summer:
• The league has returned to the 16-game format after curiously going with an odd 15-game slate in 2023. This means that all teams will play eight games apiece at home and on the road. The one technical exception is the Sioux Falls Storm, who will play a Week 7 neutral site “home game” against the Massachusetts Pirates in Fargo, North Dakota. The game should serve as an appetizer for Bucks fans, who are targeting a return to play in 2025.
• While the home/road count gets balanced out, the number of conference games for each team remains a mixed bag. Once again, the Frisco Fighters will play the most out-of-conference games, with seven Western Conference opponents awaiting them. Meanwhile, both the Green Bay Blizzard and Quad City Steamwheelers will play the entirety of their schedules inside the Eastern Conference. As such, in-conference record, used as the primary tiebreaker in previous seasons, will continue to have the likely “apples to oranges” scenario for teams playing a different number of in-conference games.
• Two teams will endure a four-game road stretch throughout the season. For the Duke City Gladiators, that stretch will take from Weeks 10-13 and is followed by a league-high four-game home stand in Weeks 14-17. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be, I suppose. The other team tasked with four straight games on the road is the Green Bay Blizzard, with their final four games of 2024 all taking place away from Resch Center, which interestingly was also the case last year.
• Eight of the 19 weeks will see all 16 teams in action on those respective weekends. Those are Weeks 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, and 19.
• Fans of the Iowa Barnstormers will have the longest wait of any team to get their home opener, which will take place in Week 6 when they host the Arizona Rattlers. Two bye weeks and three away games precede that home opener date. Two other teams, the Tucson Sugar Skulls and Sioux Falls Storm, will not play their home opener until Week 5.
• Of the 128 Regular Season games, 11 will feature re-matches of playoff games from 2023. Sadly, there is no Bay Area Panthers versus Sioux Falls Storm grudge match scheduled during the Regular Season after both teams battled in Henderson for the title last August.
• We will have two in-state home-and-home series in the early part of the season. The Bay Area Panthers and San Diego Strike Force, who will face-off a league-high four times against each other, will play each other in consecutive weeks – first at Bay Area in Week 6, then the reverse fixture at San Diego in Week 7. In the Lone Star State, the Frisco Fighters welcome the newest members of the league, the San Antonio Gunslingers, for a pair of contests in Week 7 (at Frisco) and Week 8 (at San Antonio).
• Rattlers fans will have Week 17 boldly circled on their calendars, when they host the Tucson Sugar Skulls in what projects to be a high-impact late-season showdown. It is also on pace to be Drew Powell’s first game back in Arizona since this week’s blockbuster trade that sent him to Tucson.
• Week 4 offers a matchup of bragging rights between a pair of 2023 Champions, when the reigning IFL Champion Bay Area Panthers make the cross-country trip to take on the 2023 National Arena League Champions, the Jacksonville Sharks. It will be the only Regular Season meeting between the two squads.
• In order for the Tulsa Oilers to continue the league's running two-year trend of rags to riches, they will have to overcome the league's toughest schedule, as determined by 2023 Opponent Win Percentage (58.75%) This factors in Jacksonville's and San Antonio's records from the 2023 NAL Season. Conversely, the Frisco Fighters and Quad City Steamwheelers tie for the softest schedule in the league (48.96%)
The stage is fully set for kickoff in about four months time. Which matchups are you most excited about? Comment with some of your favorites!
IFL Schedule 2024.xlsx (21.79 KB)
