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

 

UIFL President Andrew Haines (left), UIFL Commissioner Jared Lorenzen (center), and UIFL CEO Cecil VanDyke (right)

It has been a busy week in the UIFL offices!  Last Thursday I began my trip to Athens, GA for our UIFL press conference to showcase our new league office.  On Friday I had the opportunity to explore Athens, and the surrounding areas.  Friday afternoon we held the press conference at the league office in down town Athens.   League CEO Cecil VanDyke, Commissioner Jared Lorenzen, and the rest of the UIFL staff were in attendance.  I’ll post some of the videos from my trip in the next day or two.

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. 

Our off season has been busy! We held our league owners meetings in Fort Myers, FL in mid-August. It was a great few days with the owners. At the time of our meetings, we also cut off expansion teams or adding any additional teams for the 2012 season. I’m proud to say for the 2012 season we be played with 16 teams. This offseason we have been contacted by over a dozen established teams looking to join the UIFL. It’s important that I point out that the UIFL isn’t right for everyone. We are looking for good quality ownership groups that share a similar vision. We need to have a common goal that we all can work together on in the front office and behind the scenes.

The league will be split into two conferences, and four divisions (two divisions in each conference). Here is a breakdown of the conferences:

Northern

• Erie Explosion
• Johnstown Generals
• Canton Cougars
• Saginaw Sting
• Marion Blue Racers
• Cincinnati Commandos
• Northern Kentucky (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
• Danville Dragons

Southern

• Huntington Hammer
• Eastern KY Drillers
• Raleigh (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
• Rome Rampage
• East Ridge (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
• Tupelo (Team name announcement coming very soon!)
• Lakeland (Team name announcement coming September 15th)
• Florida Tarpons

I have been working on the league schedule for the last few days; not fun! Doing a schedule with this many teams, and some teams have limited available dates, can make scheduling difficult. Since the two conferences will not play each other in the regular season we are working on the Southern schedule first. I expect to have a rough draft to the owners this week to review. Once the Southern schedule is completed we will start on the Northern.

Before you know it, training camp will be starting on February 15th. The regular season will start the first weekend in March, and conclude in mid-June. Four teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs.

The winner of each conference will meet in Ultimate Bowl II, sponsored by Trophy Awards. The team with the highest seed out of the two teams will host the game.

Once the schedule is completed we will begin to follow up with 2013 expansion inquires.

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

UIFL CEO Cecil Van Dyke (left), Marion Blue Racers Owner LaMonte Coleman (center), and UIFL President Andrew Haines (right), at the August 2011 Owners Meetings in Fort Myers, FL