Post by Gene on Aug 19, 2010 7:50:58 GMT -5
By Brian Rippey
Reading Eagle
More stability and increased competition were two of the factors that pushed the Reading Express from the American Indoor Football Association into the Indoor Football League.
Express owners Ted and Lisa Lavender and IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio announced the move Thursday at the Crowne Plaza, Reading, Wyomissing.
"It's a bigger, more stable and a solid foundation of a football league," Ted Lavender said. "We're excited to be a part of the IFL. The nice thing about the IFL is it is team owned."
The change of leagues, which was first reported in the Reading Eagle Wednesday morning, was just one of the announcements made at the press conference. The Lavenders also announced a new three-year lease agreement with the Sovereign Center, a partnership with the YMCA of Reading & Berks County that will have the team practicing at the YMCA facility in Sinking Spring, and the formation of a Junior Junction dance team for girls 6-16.
In addition, recently hired head coach Chris Thompson and general manager Tim Glase were formally introduced.
The Express had been a member of the AIFA since it was formed in 2007. Reading advanced to the league championship game in 2007 and won the AIFA title in 2009.
Last year, the Express went 8-6 in the 14-team AIFA and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in its five-year history. In five seasons, the first in the American Indoor Football League, the Express has a 64-20 record.
That record and stability of the franchise under the Lavenders' ownership is one reason the Express was unanimously approved by the IFL Board of Directors last week to join the league.
Benizio will lead the IFL into its third season in 2011. His job as commissioner, like in major league sports, is done by a vote of team owners.
Benizio said another similarity between the IFL and major league sports is stability.
"The teams are here, they're here to stay," Benizio said. "The average team in this league has been in competition for about six years."
Last year 25 teams competed in the IFL with the Billings (Mont.) Outlaws winning the championship.
The Express will play in the Atlantic East Division, which last year consisted of teams from College Park, Md., Richmond, Va., Rochester, N.Y., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Joining the Express in the IFL will be an expansion team from the Lehigh Valley that will play its home games in Stabler Arena. Representatives from the Lehigh Valley team that is expected to unveil its nickname soon also attended the press conference.
The rumored move of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers likely will not happen before 2012, Benizio said. The exact number of teams that will play in the IFL in 2011 is not yet known. The league will release its schedule in November and begin play in February or March.
"We're not a league without problems," Benizio said. "We have a lot of things we can do better, we recognize that. But when it's all said and done we have a large league that's made up of pretty high-caliber ownership groups, teams that have a proven track record of stability."
Contact Brian Rippey: 610-371-5070 or brippey@readingeagle.com.
Source: iflfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=readingexpress&thread=45
Reading Eagle
More stability and increased competition were two of the factors that pushed the Reading Express from the American Indoor Football Association into the Indoor Football League.
Express owners Ted and Lisa Lavender and IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio announced the move Thursday at the Crowne Plaza, Reading, Wyomissing.
"It's a bigger, more stable and a solid foundation of a football league," Ted Lavender said. "We're excited to be a part of the IFL. The nice thing about the IFL is it is team owned."
The change of leagues, which was first reported in the Reading Eagle Wednesday morning, was just one of the announcements made at the press conference. The Lavenders also announced a new three-year lease agreement with the Sovereign Center, a partnership with the YMCA of Reading & Berks County that will have the team practicing at the YMCA facility in Sinking Spring, and the formation of a Junior Junction dance team for girls 6-16.
In addition, recently hired head coach Chris Thompson and general manager Tim Glase were formally introduced.
The Express had been a member of the AIFA since it was formed in 2007. Reading advanced to the league championship game in 2007 and won the AIFA title in 2009.
Last year, the Express went 8-6 in the 14-team AIFA and failed to make the playoffs for the first time in its five-year history. In five seasons, the first in the American Indoor Football League, the Express has a 64-20 record.
That record and stability of the franchise under the Lavenders' ownership is one reason the Express was unanimously approved by the IFL Board of Directors last week to join the league.
Benizio will lead the IFL into its third season in 2011. His job as commissioner, like in major league sports, is done by a vote of team owners.
Benizio said another similarity between the IFL and major league sports is stability.
"The teams are here, they're here to stay," Benizio said. "The average team in this league has been in competition for about six years."
Last year 25 teams competed in the IFL with the Billings (Mont.) Outlaws winning the championship.
The Express will play in the Atlantic East Division, which last year consisted of teams from College Park, Md., Richmond, Va., Rochester, N.Y., and Grand Rapids, Mich.
Joining the Express in the IFL will be an expansion team from the Lehigh Valley that will play its home games in Stabler Arena. Representatives from the Lehigh Valley team that is expected to unveil its nickname soon also attended the press conference.
The rumored move of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers likely will not happen before 2012, Benizio said. The exact number of teams that will play in the IFL in 2011 is not yet known. The league will release its schedule in November and begin play in February or March.
"We're not a league without problems," Benizio said. "We have a lot of things we can do better, we recognize that. But when it's all said and done we have a large league that's made up of pretty high-caliber ownership groups, teams that have a proven track record of stability."
Contact Brian Rippey: 610-371-5070 or brippey@readingeagle.com.
Source: iflfans.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=readingexpress&thread=45
Attachments:
