Post by David on Nov 30, 2015 2:53:58 GMT -8
11.30.15-
The Minnesota Axemen have been axed from the Indoor Football League.
Last Wednesday, the IFL announced that they have terminated the membership of the Minnesota Axemen effective immediately. The Axemen will no longer participate in the upcoming 2016 season.
IFL Commissioner Michael Allhouse issued a statement regarding the decision:
The League has taken this proactive measure as a result of the Axemen organization failing to achieve operational standards and league commitments that are required of IFL member teams. This is an unfortunate, but necessary action that needed to be made to ensure the health and well being of the IFL moving forward into the 2016 season and beyond.
Earlier in the week, a report surfaced in the Bemidji Pioneer that the Axemen’s future at the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota was unanswered during an advisory board meeting. According to the article, Sanford Center Executive Director Curtis Webb informed the board that the team’s management paid off the bill for the team’s field turf, but failed to make the arena’s license payment, which was due on November 13th.
Webb said during the meeting that he had heard “rumors” but had no idea as to what the team’s management was up to. Webb stated he called the Axemen’s front office, but the Axemen had not returned his calls. “I’m not sure where they stand. I'm planning on it not happening, but you never know,” he said. “They may come back and say we want to stay for at least one more year and they can come back to the board and state their case.”
Webb also stated that the pads that cover the dasher walls were going to the Bemidji City Council to be deemed as surplus equipment, allowing the materials to be sold off.
Two days after the article was published, the IFL made the decision to terminate the Axemen’s membership in the league. The Axemen technically have not folded and are rumored to find another league to play in, but it’s most likely the franchise is finished.
Originally founded in 2013 as the Bemidji Axemen, the team played the past two seasons at Sanford Center. The Axemen had their issues on and off the field from a poor record on the gridiron (7-21 overall record) to a revolving door of head coaches, general managers and ownership partners. At the conclusion of the 2015 season, the team re-branded its name to the Minnesota Axemen and saw drastic changes in the front office.
The termination of the Axemen’s membership leaves the IFL with 11 teams. The league had to revise its 2016 schedule. As a result, the schedule will begin a week earlier than originally announced back in October. You can find the revised schedule here.
Now that the IFL has dropped from 12 teams to 11, the league appears to have to forgone its re-established divisional alignments and reverted back to a two-conference format with no divisions. The IFL has used this format since the 2012 regular season.
The conference alignments will appear as follows:
United Conference:
Cedar Rapids Titans
Green Bay Blizzard
Iowa Barnstormers
Minnesota Havok
Sioux Falls Storm
Intense Conference:
Billings Wolves
Colorado Crush
Nebraska Danger
Spokane
Tri-Cities Fever
Wichita Falls Nighthawks
The playoff format appears to be unchanged, with the winners of both the United and Intense Conferences clinching the #1 playoff seed and the #2 and #3 finishers in each conference earning playoff bids.
-DKH
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