The Idaho Horsemen are a professional indoor football team based out of

Nampa, Idaho Nampa () is the largest city in Canyon County, Idaho. Its population was 100,200 at the time of the 2020 Census. It is Idaho's third-most populous city. Nampa is about west of Boise along Interstate 84, and six miles (10 km) west of Meridian. ...

, with home games at the

Ford Idaho Center The Ford Idaho Center is a complex of sports and entertainment venues in Nampa, Idaho, approximately west of Boise. About The Ford Idaho Center Arena is best known for rodeo. It annually hosts the Snake River Stampede, considered one of the nat ...

. They are owned by Chris Reynolds from Platinum Events & Security LLC. In 2019, the team owners founded the

American West Football Conference The American West Football Conference (AWFC) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2018 by Platinum Events & Security, LLC, the owners of the Idaho Horsemen. The league's inaugural season was in 2019. Players are ...

History

The Horsemen were first announced by owner Chris Reynolds in late 2017, with the expressed interest in joining either 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 amon ...

Champions Indoor Football Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from ...

. However, due to instability with both leagues, Reynolds took a "wait-and-see approach" before making a decision with the intent to start play in 2019. On October 15, 2018, the Horsemen announced that they had started their own league, the

, and added three other teams to the league, the Reno Express, the

Tri-Cities Fire The Tri-Cities Fire were a professional indoor football team based out of Kennewick, Washington, with home games at the Toyota Center during the 2019 season. They were owned by Kinshasa Martin of Rampage Sports Entertainment, LLC. They folded in ...

, and Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks. On March 23, 2019, the Idaho Horsemen played their first game at the Ford Idaho Center in front of 2054 spectators against the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks. The Horsemen scored on their first drive in five plays on a run by quarterback Hayden Wright. The Horsemen went on to win 33–22. The Horsemen went undefeated in their first season at 12–0 and earned the right to host the AWFC championship game. They defeated the Reno Express 40–20 to win the league championship. Prior to the planned start of the 2020 AWFC season, the

folded leading to the Horsemen announcing they would play an independent schedule. The league then tried to move forward with three teams — Idaho, Wenatchee, and the expansion Yakima Canines — following the withdrawal of the Reno Express from the league with non-league teams filling for the newly vacant dates. The AWFC then postponed the 2020 season due to the ongoing

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 identif ...

and then cancelled the season entirely due to the unavailability of arenas during the pandemic.

Season-by-season records

References

External links

Official website

American West Football Conference website
{{AWFC American football teams in Idaho American football teams established in 2018 2018 establishments in Idaho Nampa, Idaho