It’s been busy the last few weeks in the UIFL!  Last week, I traveled to Tupelo, MS to announce the team name, head coach, and other information.  We held that press conference Monday afternoon.  50+ people attended the Mississippi press conference.

Once that was over we headed to Chattanooga, TN to announce the team name, and ownership of the Tennessee Rail Runners.  Then back to Florida!  There was a great turnout at the TN press conference, with about 100 people in attendance.  The people who were there, were very excited about the team coming to East Ridge.

One thing that we want to make sure we do as a league is provide the tools needed for teams to be successful.  When I’m out talking with fans or the media, the number 1 question is, “when are the games.”  I think it is important that teams have proper time to promote their teams…with a schedule.  We released the regular season schedule over the weekend.  With the release of the schedule it gives each team approximately 5 months before their first games.  With some of the arenas submitting limited dates to me for scheduling, it made doing the schedule tough.  We started out wanting to have each team play home and away each opponent in their conference.  After going through all the dates, we found that it was mathematically impossible to complete the schedule how we initially wanted to.

Then we started looking at creating two divisions in each conference, and having teams play more games against their division opponents.  This also helped cut travel cost down for teams.  Watch out for some of the “rival” games.

If more dates were provided, and available with all the teams, the schedule would have a different look.  Based on the dates we received, I think the schedule is good.

I’ll be updating you all on a regular basis. Feel free to email questions that you would like me to address on my blog, and I will try to do my best to answer as many as possible.

Andrew Haines
UIFL President