Indoor Football League (IFL) Commissioner Tommy Benezio recently met with potential team owners about setting up a Southwest Division for the 2011 IFL season.
Potential teams/owners from Fresno (CA), Las Vegas (NV), Albuquerque (NM), Tuscan (AZ), Prescott Valley (AZ), and El Paso (TX) were in attendance. “The meeting was very informative and our attendance was important since we had minimal knowledge of the business structure of the IFL,” stated Central Valley Coyotes Head Coach/General Manager Fred Biletnikoff, Jr.
The IFL was founded in 2008 and was created from a merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. The IFL’s inaugural season fielded 19 teams, all competing for the first ever United Bowl Championship. Since the 2009 United Bowl, nine expansion franchises have been added to the IFL. Currently the league is operating with 25 teams including four teams from the arenafootball2 league (af2).
“Obviously a lot has changed in the arena/indoor football community in the past six months. The af2 ceasing operations after the 2009 season was something totally out of our control,” Biletnikoff Jr. added. “What is in our control is finding the right league to potentially bring professional football back to the Valley in 2011 and that is what we are in the process of doing.”
