The 2021 Indoor Football League season was the thirteenth (and twelfth complete) season of the
Indoor Football League
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...
(IFL). The league played the season with twelve teams, down from thirteen the previous season, by adding one expansion team, one team from the
National Arena League
The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States.
Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...
, one team from the
American Arena League
The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL on ...
, and four teams going on hiatus. In addition, three existing teams made their IFL on-field debut after the
2020 season was cancelled because of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
As there were still many pandemic-related restrictions still in place during early 2021, the start of the season was delayed from February to April with the postseason to begin in August. The top eight teams qualified for the postseason with the
Massachusetts Pirates
The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...
, playing their first season in the IFL, defeating the
Arizona Rattlers in the
United Bowl on September 12.
Offseason
On June 26, 2020, the Columbus Wild Dogs announced that they would not begin play until 2022. On August 19, 2020, the
Massachusetts Pirates
The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...
, formerly of the
National Arena League
The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States.
Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...
, were added to the IFL for the 2021 season as the league's first East Coast-based team.
On August 25, the league added the
Northern Arizona Wranglers in
Prescott Valley, Arizona
Prescott Valley is a town located in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, approximately east of Prescott. According to the 2020 United States Census, Prescott Valley has a population of 46,785 residents.
History
Prescott Valley's Fitzmau ...
, for the 2021 season, joining the
Arizona Rattlers and
Tucson Sugar Skulls as the third IFL team to be based in Arizona for 2021.
On November 6, the
Louisville Xtreme of
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, was added. The 2020 expansion
Oakland Panthers
The Bay Area Panthers are a professional indoor football team based in San Jose, California. They are a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL) and were to begin play in 2020 at Oakland Arena as the Oakland Panthers. Due the onset of the COV ...
, as well as the
Cedar Rapids River Kings
The Cedar Rapids River Kings were a professional indoor football team based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The River Kings joined the Indoor Football League (IFL) as an expansion team in 2011 as the Cedar Rapids Titans and first took the field for the 20 ...
,
Quad City Steamwheelers
The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois.
The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was ...
, and the
San Diego Strike Force
The San Diego Strike Force is a professional indoor football team based in San Diego, California. It is a member of the Indoor Football League and began play in 2019 at Pechanga Arena in the city's Midway district. It is the second professional ...
withdrew from the season due to the effects of the pandemic.
The initial schedule for the twelve teams was announced on November 17, 2020, with all teams playing 16 games between March 28 and July 24, 2021, before the playoffs.
On February 17, the league pushed back its start date to April 23 for four teams, with the rest of the teams to start on May 14. The four teams that started on April 23 were to still have 16 games, but the others teams were to play a reduced 14-game schedule.
Teams
Regular season
Standings
Schedule
The season began on the weekend of April 23–24 with two games: the
Bismarck Bucks
The Bismarck Bucks are an indoor American football team based in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Bucks joined Champions Indoor Football (CIF) as an expansion team in 2016, and began play for the 2017 season. The team moved to the Indoor Football Lea ...
at the
Green Bay Blizzard
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
and the
Massachusetts Pirates
The Massachusetts Pirates are a professional indoor football team of the Indoor Football League based in Worcester, Massachusetts, with home games at the DCU Center. The Pirates began play in the 2018 season as a member of the National Arena Lea ...
at the
Louisville Xtreme. The four teams were the only teams playing until May 15 when the other teams joined. After initially postponing the Xtreme's June 12 home game, the IFL subsequently terminated the Xtreme's membership due to failing to maintain the league's minimum obligations and the team did not finish the season. All of the Xtreme's games were removed from the schedule.
Playoffs
The top eight teams made the IFL playoffs, where teams were ranked by winning percentage due to the imbalanced schedule. After Louisville was terminated midseason, the schedule was further imbalanced leading to several tiebreaker parameters needing to be used resulting in the fourth place Duke City Gladiators and fifth place Iowa Barnstormers switching seeding for the playoffs.
The quarterfinals consisted of the top seed hosting the eighth seed, the second seed hosting the seventh seed, the third seed hosting the sixth seed, and the fourth hosting the fifth seed. In the semifinals, the highest remaining seed hosts the lower remaining seed and the next-highest hosts the next-lowest from the quarterfinals. The semifinal winners then meet in the 2021 United Bowl.
References
{{IFL
Indoor Football League seasons
Indoor Football League
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...
IFL IFL may refer to:
;American football
*Intense Football League, (2004–2008) in the United States, merged into the Indoor Football League
*Indoor Football League, (2008–present) in the United States
*Intercontinental Football League, a European l ...