The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

History

During its first season, the El Paso Rumble folded and the league oversaw operations of the team until the end of the season. In 2005, the

Amarillo Dusters The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas. They played their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the Intense Football Leagu ...

left for the

AF2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

, while the other teams joined the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...

and the league suspended operations. In 2006, the Intense Football League restarted. Three of the original teams (Odessa, San Angelo and Corpus Christi) returned to the IFL, joined by new teams from Belton, Lake Charles, and Laredo. Following the 2006 season, the

Laredo Lobos The Laredo Lobos were a professional arena football team based out of Laredo, Texas. They were a member of the af2 league. They played their home games at the Laredo Entertainment Center. The team was originally a 2006 expansion member of the ...

left for AF2, but the league expanded with three new teams for 2007 in the

Frisco Thunder The Frisco Thunder was an indoor football team in Frisco, Texas. They were members of the Intense Football League and played their home games at the Dr Pepper Arena. The Thunder began play in the Intense Football League. As an expansion team, th ...

Katy Ruff Riders The Abilene Bombers were a professional indoor football team. The Bombers played their home games at the Taylor County Expo Center, in Abilene, Texas. Team history The Bombers began play as the Katy Ruff Riders, a 2007 expansion team of the Inte ...

, and

Alaska Wild The Alaska Wild were a professional indoor football team based in Anchorage, Alaska. The team was a member of the Pacific North Division of the Intense Conference of the Indoor Football League (IFL), after originally being an expansion member ...

(notable for being the first ever professional football team in the state of

). For 2008 another Alaskan team was added with the

Fairbanks Grizzlies The Fairbanks Grizzlies were a professional indoor football team based in Fairbanks, Alaska. The team was a member of the Pacific Division of the Intense Conference in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Grizzlies began play in 2008 as a member ...

. The league planned to add a team in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

for 2009. On July 22, 2008, it was announced that the IFL would be merging with

United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a game in UIF ...

for the upcoming 2009 season, following the National Indoor Bowl Championship between both leagues' champions on August 2. On August 1 it was announced the new league would be called

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 ...

.National Championship Game Leads to Merger Between UIF and IFL - Oursportscentral.com, July 22, 2008
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Seasons

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

All-time IFL teams

(2007–2008) *

(2004) *

CenTex Barracudas PulteGroup, Inc. is an American residential home construction company based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company is the 3rd largest home construction company in the United States based on the number of homes closed. In total, the compa ...

(2006–2008) *

Corpus Christi Hammerheads Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

(2004, 2006–2008) * El Paso Rumble (2004) *

(2008) *

(2007–2008) *

(2006) *

Louisiana Swashbucklers The Louisiana Swashbucklers were a professional indoor football team based in Lake Charles, Louisiana. They were formed in 2005 as an expansion member of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) and were originally known as the Southwest Louis ...

(2006–2008) *

Lubbock Lone Stars Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

(2004) *

Odessa Roughnecks Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...

(2004, 2006–2008) *

San Angelo Stampede Express The San Angelo Stampede Express was a professional indoor football team from San Angelo, Texas owned by Darlene Jones. They were announced as a charter member of the Lone Star Football League but folded before play began in 2012. They played t ...

(2004, 2006–2008)

References

External links

* {{Profootball Defunct indoor American football leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2003 2003 establishments in the United States Sports leagues disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in the United States

History

Seasons

All-time IFL teams

See also

References

External links