Final Status of UIFL Teams for 2012 Season

[Banana Cat]

Removed Texas teams and Dayton from possible expansion.

[gatek99]

they said they have 4 more teams to announce. Do you think they mean 4 teams total, or 2 plus the 2 travel teams

[gatek99]

Eastridge, Tenn will be a team owned by Mr. VanDyke

VanDyke, 61, owns five of the UIFL's teams: the Huntington (W.Va.) Hammer, the Johnstown (Pa.) Generals, the Eastern Kentucky Drillers, the Rome (Ga.) Rampage and a team to be announced in Eastridge, Tenn.

www.news-press.com/article/20110815/SPORTS/108150343/UIFL-owners-working-long-before-opener

[exit322]

From talking with some people, I believe the travel teams have been tabled at this time.

[exit322]

UIFL to East Ridge (Chattanooga), TN

theuifl.com/archives/1591

ATHENS, GA – The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) is thrilled to announce it seventh expansion team will call East Ridge, Tennessee home.

The East Ridge team is the fourth team in the league’s new South Division. The UIFL is tentatively planning on having two eight-team divisions in the 2012 season. They join Rome, Florida and Tupelo in the southern division.

“The addition of East Ridge allows the UIFL to take residence in the state of Tennessee,” said League President Andrew Haines. “We are also a step closer to the completion of the league’s southern division.”

With seating for approximately 4,000 fans, the Camp Jordan Arena will serve as the home of the East Ridge team. East Ridge is a suburb of Chattanooga.

More information, including team name and ticket sales, will be announced at a later date.

[exit322]

Haines on the UIFL fan site has teased expansion announcements, including "existing teams."

[sonofanump]

“The UIFL is tentatively planning on having two eight-team divisions in the 2012 season. They join Rome, Florida and Tupelo in the southern division.”

So will all of the next four “expansion” teams be in the south or will they pull Pikeville and Huntington into the south?

Huntsville would be a great locale if the SIFL is done.

Has Erie, Pa decided where they are going yet? I also think Toledo will be a good get for a league.

[gatek99]

they said some existing teams and at least 2 more expansion teams (if you watch the owners meeting video you meet two of them)

[Banana Cat]

Updated to include the possible remaining (true) expansion of three more teams to be placed in the Southern Division. One of the Northern Division teams may also move down to the Southern Division to create two divisions of eight teams since Haines has said 16 will probably be the final tally of teams to compete in 2012.

[Banana Cat]

Added Raleigh, North Carolina expansion and Erie Explosion defection from SIFL, bringing total number of league teams to 15 now.

[malepig]

Add Lakeland to the roster. It will be a total of 16 teams.

[exit322]

Mike Mink will be the Lakeland owner, too.

[Banana Cat]

Aug 30, 2011 22:10:37 GMT -5 malepig said:

Add Lakeland to the roster. It will be a total of 16 teams.

Added, thanks.

[tim2gehr]

theuifl.com/presidents-blog

UIFL President Andrew Haines Blog 9/4/2011
Posted on September 4, 2011

Hello Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) fans! As UIFL President, I would like to keep you up to date with the progress of the league on a regular basis.

Our off season has been busy! We held our league owners meetings in Fort Myers, FL in mid-August. It was a great few days with the owners. At the time of our meetings, we also cut off expansion teams or adding any additional teams for the 2012 season. I’m proud to say for the 2012 season we be played with 16 teams. This offseason we have been contacted by over a dozen established teams looking to join the UIFL. It’s important that I point out that the UIFL isn’t right for everyone. We are looking for good quality ownership groups that share a similar vision. We need to have a common goal that we all can work together on in the front office and behind the scenes.

The league will be split into two conferences, and four divisions (two divisions in each conference). Here is a breakdown of the conferences:

Northern

Erie Explosion
Johnstown Generals
Canton Cougars
Saginaw Sting
Marion Blue Racers
Cincinnati Commandos
Northern Kentucky (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
Danville Dragons

Southern

Huntington Hammer
Eastern KY Drillers
Raleigh (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
Rome Rampage
East Ridge (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
Tupelo (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
Lakeland (Team name announcement coming September 15th)
Florida Tarpons

I have been working on the league schedule for the last few days; not fun! Doing a schedule with this many teams, and some teams have limited available dates, can make scheduling difficult. Since the two conferences will not play each other in the regular season we are working on the Southern schedule first. I expect to have a rough draft to the owners this week to review. Once the Southern schedule is completed we will start on the Northern.

Before you know it, training camp will be starting on February 15th. The regular season will start the first weekend in March, and conclude in mid-June. Four teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs.

The winner of each conference will meet in Ultimate Bowl II, sponsored by Trophy Awards. The team with the highest seed out of the two teams will host the game.

Once the schedule is completed we will begin to follow up with 2013 expansion inquires.

I’ll be updating you all on a regular basis. Feel free to email questions that you would like me to address on my blog, and I will try to do my best to answer as many as possible. Email questions/comments to [e-mail].

Andrew Haines
UIFL President

[Banana Cat]

Updated, thanks!