Champions Indoor Football
- Bernard, Liberty ground Beef
- Liberty ready for Omaha rematch
- Partnership to honor Central High junior who battled cancer
- Amarillo - Dallas postphone - Details to follow
- Revs add Championship’s Mann back as Head Coach
- Liberty arrest Marshals
- Bandits rally past Kansas City
- Venom edge Gladiators in last second, 50-49
2018 CIF Schedule
The Champions Indoor Football league is proud to announce their regular season schedule for the 2018 campaign. Twelve games will be played by each of the eleven teams for a total of 132 contests being played between March and early June.
With 11 teams on board for the upcoming season, there have been two conferences established.
The Northern Conference will consist of Sioux City, Omaha, Salina, Bismarck, Kansas City & Quad Cities. The Southern Conference will consist of Texas, Wichita, Amarillo, Duke City & Dallas.
based on last years results, games in bold should be the best games of the week
Week 1 Weekend March 3rd
Wichita at Salina
Texas at Dallas
Week 2 Weekend March 10th
Salina at Omaha
Kansas City at Bismarck
Wichita at Dallas
Week 3 Weekend March 17th
Quad Cities at Sioux City
Bismarck at Salina
Omaha at Kansas City
Duke City at Texas
Dallas at Amarillo
Week 4 Weekend March 24th
Sioux City at Omaha
Bismarck at Quad Cities
Texas at Amarillo
Wichita at Duke City
Salina at Dallas
Week 5 Weekend March 31st
Sioux City at Bismarck
Kansas City at Quad Cities
Amarillo at Wichita
Dallas at Duke City
Week 6 Weekend April 7th
Kansas City at Sioux City
Dallas at Salina
Omaha at Bismarck
Wichita at Texas
Amarillo at Duke City
Week 7 Weekend April 14th
Omaha at Salina
Quad Cities at Kansas City
Sioux City at Wichita
Texas at Duke City
Amarillo at Dallas
Week 8 Weekend April 21st
Kansas City at Omaha
Salina at Bismarck
Sioux City at Quad Cities
Dallas at Texas
Duke City at Amarillo
Week 9 Weekend April 28th
Salina at Sioux City
Quad Cities at Omaha
Bismarck at Kansas City
Wichita at Amarillo
Duke City at Dallas
Week 10 Weekend May 5th
Omaha at Sioux City
Kansas City at Salina
Quad Cities at Bismarck
Duke City at Wichita
Texas at Dallas
Week 11 Weekend May 12th
Kansas City at Sioux City
Omaha at Bismarck
Wichita at Quad Cities
Amarillo at Texas
Week 12 Weekend May 19th
Omaha at Quad Cities
Duke City at Texas
Bismarck at Wichita
Dallas at Amarillo
Week 13 Weekend May 26th
Sioux City at Omaha
Quad Cities at Salina
Texas at Kansas City
Amarillo at Duke City
Week 14 Weekend June 2nd
Sioux City at Omaha
Salina at Wichita
Quad Cities at Amarillo
Texas at Duke City
Week 15 Weekend June 9th
Bismarck at Sioux City
Salina at Kansas City
Dallas at Quad Cities
Amarillo at Texas
Duke City at Wichita
CIF Wins lawsuit vs. bloomington & w. Michigan
The Edge & Ironmen are likely to go dark for 2018, or fold
“This ruling is a landmark for the sport and industry in that it validates the legality and importance of League Affiliation Agreements to professional sports leagues,”
CIF Commissioner Ricky Bertz
A district court in Woodbury County, Iowa, ruled in favor of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (the "CIF") in a lawsuit against two franchises, the Bloomington Edge and the West Michigan Ironmen. The Court ruled that the teams breached their League Affiliation Agreements with the CIF by announcing their intent to play in a rival league, the Indoor Football League ("IFL"), during the 2018 season.
District Court Judge Patrick Tott agreed in a decision handed down on January 30, 2018, that the West Michigan Ironmen and the Bloomington Edge cannot compete in the 2018 IFL season.
Both Bloomington and West Michigan signed contracts in July 2017 agreeing to play in the CIF, and no other league, for the 2018 season. Two months later, on September 12, 2017, both owners of the Bloomington Edge and West Michigan Ironmen informed the CIF that they would not be fielding teams in the CIF for the upcoming season. The following day, the IFL announced it had signed both teams as new league members.
On September 15, 2017, the CIF notified the teams, that they were in violation of their League Affiliation Agreements and issued cease and desist letters reminding them that they are not allowed to play in any other indoor football league in the 2018 season. The CIF cautioned the teams that they should not sell tickets, advertisements, or sponsorships for the 2018 IFL season or may face claims by people who may receive no value for their payments. The CIF notified Bloomington and West Michigan that if they continued their course of action, the CIF would enforce its right to prevent them from playing in 2018.
The IFL, the Bloomington Edge, and West Michigan Ironmen ignored the CIF’s warnings. On November 13, 2017, the IFL released its 2018 league schedule with both teams listed on the schedule. As a result, the CIF filed a lawsuit to enjoin Bloomington's and West Michigan's clear violations of their League Affiliation Agreements. The resulting actions culminated in a contested, day-long evidentiary hearing on January 16, 2018, when both sides presented their case to Judge Tott.
After hearing arguments and reviewing the evidence, Judge Tott prepared a detailed thirty-nine-page opinion ruling in favor of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League. Judge Tott found:
- "…the evidence is clear that both of the Defendants have breached Paragraph 2.3’s noncompetition provisions."
- "The evidence clearly shows that the owner of the Arizona Rattlers of the IFL has basically offered significant bribes to members of the CIF to switch leagues despite the existence of the non-competition provisions."
- "Likewise, the IFL could have avoided any havoc to their schedule and fans by not bribing the Defendants to breach their non-compete agreements with the CIF and enter the IFL in 2018 and risk being prevented from playing in either league."
- "A sports league cannot survive without a commitment from its member teams that they will honor their obligations to the league."
- "[I]f the CIF loses the ability to enforce the non-competition provision there will be nothing to stop any team in the future from leaving the league at any time, whether they have signed an LAA or not, which without a doubt puts the viability of the entire league at jeopardy going forward."
“This ruling is a landmark for the sport and industry in that it validates the legality and importance of League Affiliation Agreements to professional sports leagues,” CIF Commissioner Ricky Bertz said. This was a milestone for not only the CIF but all teams and leagues. I have received phone calls from other league commissioners offering their support and assistance as this was a potential situation that could have easily been duplicated for them. It is reassuring knowing that we were doing the right thing despite the difficult circumstances."
“Sadly, in the end, it is the fans, players, coaches, and communities that pay the ultimate price as they go without a team to call their own. It was a difficult decision for us to pursue given that potential outcome if we were victorious, however, team owners invest and risk hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly in this business venture. The CIF felt that to protect those investments, in addition to protecting the long-term interests of fans, players, coaches, etc. in their own communities, we had no choice but to pursue legal action. In the end, because of actions of others, the CIF has lost four teams for the 2018 season with several of those markets no longer having teams. We simply had to do what was right. As we look ahead, we are planning to move forward with our 2018 season, which we are extremely excited about, and hopefully will be announcing our first expansion team within two months.”
TEXAS REVOLUTION WIN CHAMPIONSHIP
23 June 2017
Texas defeats Omaha to take home the 2017 CIF Championship Trophy
The Texas Revolution, scored on every possession to defeat the Amarillo Venom qualifying them for the CIF Championship game. The Revolution were heavily favored coming into the big game against the North Conference Champion, Omaha Beef. The Beef defeated their conference top seed, The Sioux City Bandits, on the road to gain their berth in the title game. The Nebraska team came into the game with a better defense than the Venom, Texas's last opponent, but their offense would need to score in bunches to keep up with the league’s top offense.
As expected the Revolution, led by IFL Hall of Fame QB Chris Dixon came out of the tunnel on fire. They jumped out to an early 13-0 lead on a Dixon to Clinton Solomon touchdown pass and a QB keeper. Before the end of the first quarter, The Beef would get on the board with a Travis Ribbing TD run to narrow the lead to 6. That was the closest they’d come all night. The Revs, playing at home on their familiar red carpet, continued to build their lead and finished the first half up by 18 points. By the end of the third quarter, Texas had extended their lead to 24 points and by the middle of the fourth their lead was 30. The Omaha offense finally got on track during the fourth quarter, coming back to within 10 points, but it wasn’t enough. Omaha quarterback Anthony Iannotti finished his night with 3 TDs, 2 on the ground and one passing. Unfortunately, he also threw two interceptions as well as losing the ball on a fumble on the Texas 2-yard line. Omaha Running Back Travis Ribbing contributed 3 TDs to the losing cause. On the Texas side of the ledger, Chris Dixon finished his night with 8 TDs 6 through the air and 2 rushing. WR Kurt Solomon was on the receiving end of 3 of them with Reece, Dyer, and Fudge hauling in one apiece. The final score was the Texas Revolution 59 and the Omaha Beef 49.