The Richmond Raiders were a professional indoor football team located in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

the

Richmond Coliseum Richmond Coliseum is a defunct arena located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with a capacity of 13,500 that was most often used for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and the region is looking to replace the aging facility with a la ...

as their home arena. The Raiders began play in the 2010 as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

(AIFA). The Raiders moved to the

Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...

(SIFL) when the Eastern Division of the AIFA merged with the SIFL in the winter of 2010, beginning SIFL play in the 2011 season. After just a single season in the SIFL the Raiders, along with four other members of the SIFL, became the charter members of the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foo ...

(PIFL). The team was then a member the PIFL from 2012 to 2015.

History

In July, 2009, the

announced that they would be expanding into

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

. After a month-long name-the-team contest, the Richmond franchise announced that it would be nicknamed the Raiders on August 5, 2009. On October 12, 2009, the Raiders officially unveiled their new logo. The Raiders' first game was the 2010 AIFA Kickoff Classic; on January 23, 2010, where they played an exhibition game against the AIFA All-Stars at the Richmond Coliseum. On May 5, 2010, defensive coordinator Charles Gunnings replaced Mike Siani as the head coach, as Siani resigned. Chris Simpson became the head coach of the Raiders for the 2011 season, coming over from the Baltimore Mariners on September 13, 2010. Even more change came about for the 2011 season, as the AIFA announced an merger with the

(SIFL). In February, 2011, Simpson resigned before opening day, as he "relocated to Texas to pursue family business opportunities". He was replaced by James Fuller, who was the interim head coach for the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

Dallas Vigilantes The Dallas Vigilantes were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Dallas, Texas. Like its AFL predecessor, the Dallas Desperados, the Vigilantes played at the American Airlines Center. The Vigilantes and the Jacksonville Sharks began play ...

in 2010. Former

Richmond Revolution The Richmond Revolution was a professional indoor football team based in Richmond, Virginia that played in the Indoor Football League from 2010 to 2011. For the 2010 season, they played their home games at the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center. Becau ...

head coach Steve Criswell signed with the Raiders as a senior consultant for the 2011 season. Criswell brought several former Revolution players along, including QB

Bryan Randall Bryan Randall (born August 16, 1983) is a professional American football quarterback who is a free agent. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Randall ...

and DL Lawrence Lewis. The 2012 season saw the Raiders move to the just formed

(PIFL). After starting the season with a 2-4 record, the Raiders rallied to win their final six games to clinch the #2 seed in the PIFL playoffs. After a 54-35 victory over the

Nashville Venom The Nashville Venom were a professional indoor football team, one of eight franchises of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL). Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the Venom were members of the American Conference. The team began play in 2014 ...

in the opening round of the PIFL playoffs, the Raiders advanced to PIFL IV against the

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia and are a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance. The were a founding member of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season. The Lions were ...

. The Raiders were defeated 38-64. After the 2015 season, and due to turmoil in the lower levels of indoor football, the Raiders announced that they would take the 2016 season off, as there was no league within reasonable geographic distance that the team's ownership felt comfortable joining. In summer 2016, the ownership announced that Raiders would not be returning and they would continue to focus on their sports performance training business.

Players

Final roster

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Raiders players who won league awards:

Head coaches

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Official website

Raiders' 2011 stats
{{SIFL 2008 establishments in Virginia 2015 disestablishments in Virginia Viking Age in popular culture