By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON – Muskegon’s new professional indoor football team is starting to make preparations for its inaugural season in the American Indoor Football League.
Terrence “TJ” Williams, the franchise owner, is in the process of selecting a head coach and talking to pro player agents in attempt to bring quality talent to Muskegon for the spring season.
A head coach is expected to be named near the end of October.
Team owner TJ Williams
At the same time the AIFL has announced that it’s expanding even further.
The League has announced it has added four new expansion teams – the New Mexico Stars, Mile High Menace, Corpus Christi Fury and Pineywood Bucks.
The Fury will operate in Corpus Christi, Texas, while the Stars will play in Albuquerque, the Menace in Denver, and Pineywood in Tyler, Texas.
The four other new teams will make up the Western Division of the AIF.
“It is exciting to see the league grow and expand,” said Williams, an Oakridge High School graduate who lives in Los Angeles. “This expansion makes this league the largest indoor football league, which is great for Muskegon.
“The expansion will also give local players an opportunity to make the team and play with and against NFL quality players.”
The roster will start to take shape around January and is expected to have 30 players, including 21 who are active at any given time. Players will be selected in a league draft.
The AIF plays an eight-on-eight format, which is the same as the Arena Football League.
The yet to be named Muskegon team will play its home games at the L.C. Walker Arena starting in March. Its schedule is expected to be announced in the middle of November.
It will play a 10-game schedule with six homes games, and will compete in the Midwestern Division with franchises in Marion (Ohio), Chicago (Illinois) and Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Pennsylvania).
Ticket prices are expected to range from $5 to $25, according to Williams.
The Muskegon franchise is expected to launch a team website and announce a a-name-the-team contest in the next couple of weeks, Williams said..
The league also has a Northern Division with franchises in Buffalo, Maryland, Philadelphia, York and Reading, Pennsylvania; and a Southern Division with teams competing in Atlanta, Savannah and Columbus, Georgia; Lakeland, Florida; and Winston-Salem and Raleigh. North Carolina.
The American Indoor Football League has been operating since 2012. It was formerly known as the American Indoor Football Association, which operated between 2006 through 2011.
