Post by David on Apr 21, 2016 14:40:01 GMT -8
(image credit: Kelsey Nover / twitter.com/kelsnov)
4.21.16 -
Today, the Indoor Football League issued a press conference announcing the addition a new expansion team in Salt Lake City, Utah. The yet-to-be-named team will begin play in 2017 and play its games at the Maverik Center, located in West Valley City, a suburban area of Salt Lake City.
As we reported yesterday, the Salt Lake City ownership is a group called Project FANchise, a startup company based out of Santa Monica, CA. Its investors include veteran tech entrepreneurs as well as former NFL executives and players.
Project FANchise is a unique organization that will attempt to bridge the gap between fantasy sports, video games, and live sports. It'll be the first fan-run organization in all of professional sports. Its mobile app will encourage fans to become involved in team decisions, from interviewing and hiring the team's General Manager, Head Coach, coaching staff, and influencing which players to sign and cut on the final roster. The fans will also have a say in the design of the team's logo, their name, their uniforms, the mascot, and the merchandise. The group will also allow fans to analyze game film and offer input to the coaching staff. Fans will even have the power as to call actual plays during the course of a game.
According to Virtual-Strategy Magazine, which had exclusive coverage of Project FANchise leading up to the IFL's press conference, the fans have influence in the following:
Building Game-Changing Technology
Bridging the gap between fantasy sports, video games and live sports, Project FANchise is creating a mobile app which allows fans to manage a real world sports team including:
Unprecedented FAN-power
Project FANchise is ending the era of the 'frustrated faithful,' evolving the way we consume and engage with our teams via:
Bridging the gap between fantasy sports, video games and live sports, Project FANchise is creating a mobile app which allows fans to manage a real world sports team including:
- Interviewing, hiring, evaluating (and potentially firing) the GM and coaching staff.
- Designing the logo, mascot, jersey and apparel.
- Sitting in on practices and film sessions, providing input/feedback to the coaching staff to decide which players make the team and create the team's depth chart.
- Making real-time decisions on game day including all play-calling and second half strategy.
- Analyzing game film and offering input on strategy and scouting reports.
Unprecedented FAN-power
Project FANchise is ending the era of the 'frustrated faithful,' evolving the way we consume and engage with our teams via:
- Live-stream cameras and mics throughout the arena and in players' helmets, providing a FPV (First Person View) of practices and games.
- The new "Coach of the Fans" coaching position, equipping the game-day sidelines with a voice for the fans.
- Off-field access to players, coaches and front office personnel via streaming video from practice, film sessions, meeting rooms, weekly featured episodes and social media.
- Open forums giving fans direct communication with players and coaches.
Sohrob Farudi, Project FANchise's Founder & CEO couldn't be more excited about the new team. "Today is an incredibly exciting day for the millions of sports fans who have always dreamed of running their beloved team," he said in the expansion press release. "We are empowering fans to make real decisions; to be part of the team. This is the start of a new era of fandom, designed to give fans true, legitimate power."
Farudi is familiar with the sport of indoor/arena football; he was one of the investors in the Las Vegas Outlaws franchise that played one season in the Arena Football League last year.
Former Pro Bowl and Green Bay Packers running back Ahman Green was also announced as the team's director of eSports. In a statement, Green said, "Fans drive their teams every day, in-season and off-season. As a former NFL player with IFL ownership experience, I saw this as an opportunity to revolutionize fans’ participation by blending the physical with the digital. With exponential growth in recent years, we see eSports as an invaluable avenue to provide more access to fans.”
Green's IFL ownership experience was as a co-owner of the Green Bay Blizzard.
IFL Commissioner Mike Allshouse couldn't help but rave about the new expansion team. "The addition of Project FANchise to the IFL is not only a perfect fit for our geographic map, it also provides the ability to be on the cutting edge of a completely new and hands-on approach to team operation that will bring fans closer to the action than ever before," he said in the league's press release. "Project FANchise Founder & CEO Sohrob Farudi has dedicated his organization to bringing a truly unique and revolutionary product to the Salt Lake City community."
The Salt Lake City IFL team marks the second go-round for an arena based football team in Utah. The first team, the Utah Blaze, played in the Arena Football league from 2006-2008 before the league folded in 2009. The Blaze subsequently re-branded itself as the Utah Valley Thunder and played one season in the American Indoor Football Association. In 2010, the Blaze brand was revived along with the revival of the AFL. The Blaze would play four seasons before folding after the 2013 season.
The Blaze played their home games at Energy Solutions Arena (now named Vivint Smart Home Arena), the home of the NBA's Utah Jazz. In 2010, the Blaze played one season at the Maverik Center, so the facility is familiar with hosting indoor football games.
According to KSL.com, Salt Lake City beat out the cities of Oklahoma City (Oklahoma), Boise (Idaho), Independence (Missouri) and Austin (Texas) for the rights to an expansion franchise. The addition of Salt Lake City also puts the IFL at 11 teams heading into the 2017 season.
Fans interested in participating in Project FANchise and would like to reserve 2017 season tickets are encouraged to visit the official Project FANchise website.
- DKH
Information from Virtual-Strategy Magazine, KSL-TV News, and the Indoor Football League was used in this report. If you would like to read about the full articles, click here, here, and here.
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