Post by David on Oct 24, 2016 20:49:05 GMT -8
10.24.16-
After rumors and various reports of their demise, the Billings Wolves announced on Monday that the team would suspend operations for the 2017 season.
The Wolves have folded after two seasons in the Indoor Football League. Owner Marc Burr made the official announcement on the team's Facebook page shortly after the IFL announced its 2017 schedule.
Burr cited "disagreements over regulations" as a key reason for the team's demise. In an interview with the Billings Gazette, he stated that the state of Montana's workers' compensation laws hurt the team's profitability. He went on to explain several factors that affected the way the Wolves did business, including coach and player housing, utility bills, gym useage, donated meals, donated entertainment & activities during games, and nutrition supplements for players.
“For the Wolves, if I go to a partner company and get them to sponsor me by getting them to donate food for my guys to eat, they say it is a payment,” Burr told the Billings Gazette. “Then, I have to pay workman’s comp on the food donated to my players. That’s for every deal I make."
Burr went on to add that the Wolves had one of the lowest budgets in the IFL.
"When you have something draining on your budget it makes it extremely hard to go forward," he said.
Speculation about the Wolves' demise have quietly floated around the Internet since the end of the regular season. When the IFL's free agency period opened up, several Wolves players began to sign with other teams. The IFL's Wikipedia page stated stated that Billings had folded, an uncited source claimed "several staff members claimed that the team had folded after the completion of the season." Last week, in The Spokesman-Reivew's coverage of the Arizona Rattlers joining the IFL, Jim Meehan stated they and Salt Lake "offset the loss of Tri-Cities and Billings," but did not go into detail. A few days later, the IFL removed the Wolves' logo from their official website and replaced it with the Rattlers' logo.
Wolves Head Coach Chris Dixon told the Billings Gazette that he "had a feeling" the Wolves wouldn't return back in late September.
“I just found out today that it was announced that we were done. It’s been lingering for weeks that we were done. Today was the final announcement, I guess," Dixon said.
One of the Wolves players, Brandon Clarke, told SWX Montana that there was locker room talk during the season regarding budgets and and that funds weren't there due to lack of attendance at the Rimrock Auto Arena.
According to the Billings Gazette, MetraPark officials, where the Rimrock Auto Arena is located, reportedly worked with the Wolves management about finding a solution to keep the Wolves alive for 2017. According to Burr, a potential new ownership group’s bid fell through and the necessary paperwork did not meat the deadline for next season.
The Wolves are the second IFL franchise in Billings to meet a bittersweet demise.
Founded in 2014, the Wolves played two seasons in the IFL under Head Coach and ex-Billings Outlaws QB Chris Dixon. In their inaugural season, the Wolves started the season 1-8 but finished 5-9, missing the playoffs. Last season the Wolves improved to 8-8, earning a the #2 seed in the Intense Conference Playoffs and the right to host the Intense Conference Wild Card game. The Wolves would go on to lose 64-52 to the Nebraska Danger.
The first Billings franchise, the Outlaws, played from 2000-2010. Originally conceived as the Billings Thunderbolts in the original Indoor Football League, the team changed its name to the Outlaws, the Mavericks, and then back to the Outlaws. The team sustained a consistent levels of success, winning the NIFL Championship in 2006 and back-to-back United Bowl titles in 2009 and 2010.
The Outlaws met its demise due to a disagreement with county commissioners regarding repairs to the Rimrock Auto Arena. The arena, which was severely damaged by an F2 tornado in June 2010, resulted in ownership choosing to fold the franchise. The Outlaws' Ownership cited that the county commissioners "failed to provide the minimum considerations necessary for [the Outlaws] to continue operations and to recover from the property losses."
The Wolves are the second IFL team to suspend operations after the 2016 season. At the conclusion of the regular season, the Tri-Cities Fever announced they would go dormant for 2017. Their voids in the Intense Conference were replaced with the expansion Salt Lake Screaming Eagles and the defection of the Arizona Rattlers from the AFL.
- DKH
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