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32-525: On October 17, 2016, the Phantoms were announced as an expansion member of Champions Indoor Football . On October 26, 2016, former indoor football quarterback, Chris Coffin was named the head coach of the Phantoms. The Phantoms finished their first season 4–8. On August 10, 2017, the Phantoms announced that Coffin would not return as the head coach. For the 2018 season, the Phantoms hired Meadow Lemon as head coach. The team finished 3–9 and again failed to make

64-598: A Texas Revolution game in nearby Allen the previous season and helped found the Marshals. The Marshals finished their inaugural season with a record of 2–10, finishing in sixth place in the CIF Southern Division. After the team's first season, they were renamed to the Dallas Marshals. In 2017, after their second season, part owner Doug Bland also left the organization to found another team in

96-650: A charter member of the CIF, rebranded as the Illiana Eagles (later the Chicago Eagles ) after a change in ownership and delayed their entry into the league until 2016. On February 21, 2015, the new owners of the New Mexico Stars announced that the team would not enter the league as planned after head coach Dominic Bramante resigned two weeks before the scheduled start of training camp. On March 3,

128-528: A green stripe running parallel to a gold stripe along with a white facemask. The logo of a Marshal with a star on a hat is depicted over the word "MESQUITE" on top of the word "MARSHALS" in Ewert font. Their home uniforms consist of green jerseys and stripe-free green pants, with red outlining the white numbers in Ewert, along with green and gold stripes along the shoulder pads. The team's road uniforms have white jerseys and blank white pants. Green numbers (Ewert) with

160-557: A reactivated Dodge City Law . On April 5, director of operations Todd Walkenhorst was named the new league commissioner, replacing founder Bertz who had been in the position since 2017. In August 2021, Walkenhorst was replaced as commissioner by Tommy Benizio, the former commissioner of the Indoor Football League . The league announced expansion teams in the Billings Outlaws , Rapid City Marshals , and

192-883: The Albuquerque -based Duke City Gladiators announced they were joining the CIF for the 2015 season and would play an abbreviated 11-game schedule as a partial replacement for the New Mexico Stars. At the end of the regular season, the four teams (ordered by seeding) that made the postseason were the Sioux City Bandits , Texas Revolution , Wichita Force , and Amarillo Venom . On Thursday, June 11, Texas defeated Wichita 39–27. Two days later, Sioux City beat Amarillo 83–52 leading to Texas facing Sioux City in Champions Bowl I on June 20 in Iowa. At halftime

224-636: The COVID-19 pandemic without playing a game. For the 2021 season, the league added the Wyoming Mustangs in Gillette, Wyoming , as an expansion team. In August 2020, the CIF announced a schedule, keeping a four-team playoff format but with a 10-game regular season starting March 12, 2021, and that all games in 2021 would be streamed live on YouTube , officially ending the league's four-year relationship with Pluto TV . However, by February 2021,

256-493: The Fair Park Coliseum , but all remaining Marshals games were listed as postponed as of April 21, 2018. The team announced it had ceased operations on April 27. The Mesquite Marshals were announced on June 30, 2015, to play out of Mesquite Arena as part of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). They announced their head coach and released their uniforms the following day. Doug Bland , one of the future owners, attended

288-595: The National Arena League (NAL) to create a new league for the 2020 season under a new identity with two conferences: the CIF and NAL. However, it was announced on October 10 that the deal had been postponed, with both leagues playing their own individual schedules in 2020. The league added the West Texas Warbirds in Odessa, Texas , as an expansion team. The 2020 season was cancelled due to

320-890: The Topeka Tropics . The league also announced a team in Denver, but it did not make the schedule announced on September 30, 2021, along with the Amarillo Venom, Oklahoma Flying Aces, and West Texas Warbirds. On October 1, the Dodge City Law, which had been a temporary replacement for the Oklahoma Flying Aces, was replaced by an expansion team in Dodge City called the Southwest Kansas Storm . Amarillo and West Texas officially left

352-614: The 2017 season by adding the River City Raiders and West Michigan Ironmen from the recently defunct American Indoor Football and two expansion teams in Kansas City Phantoms and Bismarck Bucks . The CIF announced the league would realign from two to four divisions, with two teams each division making the playoffs. In November 2016, the Chicago Eagles announced that they had suspended operations for

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384-598: The 2017 season. Following the Eagles' departure, the River City Raiders left the league, citing the adverse effects on their schedule due to losing a regional opponent, although there had been claims that the Raiders were actually asked to leave due to non-payment of league fees. With the departure of the two teams, the league realigned back into two conferences of seven teams, with four teams per conference making

416-633: The CIF, the Quad City Steamwheelers , selling the entire team to Bruce Badgett. Bland also sold Mesquite Arena to another party. Prior to their third season, on December 21, 2017, the team announced their move to Dallas and the Fair Park Coliseum due to arena lease issues in negotiations with the new arena owners. Before the 2018 season, the Marshals canceled their first home exhibition game for February 17. The played their next two regular season home games on March 3 and 10, however, they canceled their next two for March 24 and April 14 on

448-646: The IFL also joined on September 12. On the same day the Nighthawks joined, the Bloomington Edge and West Michigan Ironmen left the CIF for the IFL. The CIF apparently then attempted to sue the IFL, Edge, and Ironmen for leaving the CIF after the two teams had already signed league affiliation agreements with the CIF for 2018. The IFL then threatened to sue the CIF, Storm, and Nighthawks in return despite neither former IFL team signing an affiliation agreement with

480-513: The IFL for 2018. To avoid disputes, the CIF stated they would not schedule either team. The Storm immediately announced that they would return to the IFL and the Nighthawks had to suspend operations. While the CIF did drop the lawsuit against the IFL, it filed for an injunction against the Edge and Ironmen teams from participating in the IFL for breaking the terms of their signed affiliation agreements. A temporary injunction from participation against

512-611: The IFL. When the 2019 schedule was released, both the West Michigan Ironmen and the Kansas City Phantoms had been removed as members. On May 9, the Texas Revolution folded during the season. At the end of the season, the Duke City Gladiators won their second consecutive championship and then withdrew from the league, eventually joining the IFL. The league announced it had partnered with

544-641: The Outlaws hinting at seeking to oust Hutton from the commissioner's post. Hutton was successfully ousted May 14, with Jeff Fisher named his successor. When the CPIFL started in 2013, the championship game was known as the "Champions Bowl", so the CIF used the same name for their title game. Dallas Marshals The Dallas Marshals were a member of Champions Indoor Football and based in Dallas , Texas . The Marshals were scheduled to play their home games at

576-619: The additional rebound nets necessary to compete in that league, nor would the league allow any franchise owner to control multiple teams. The three remaining CIF teams held a press conference on October 5, in which they confirmed they would be joining the AFL. McCoy was named the AFL Deputy Commissioner on October 26. Several of the former CIF teams who joined the AFL indicated that commissioner Lee Hutton had made promises to cover increased travel and salary expenses for playing in

608-503: The championship after beating Salina Liberty 50–30 in the Champions Bowl. After the season ended, founding CIF members Beef and Sioux City Bandits , as well as the Topeka Tropics (who ultimately folded instead after ownership abandoned the team ), all announced they were leaving the CIF for a new league, later revealed to be the National Arena League . The CIF then named Mike McCoy as league commissioner. On August 28, 2023,

640-636: The day of the games. After the April 14 postponed game, the CIF issued a statement that a decision concerning the team is pending. The Marshals played an away game at the Texas Revolution on April 21, and the Fair Park Coliseum listed all remaining Marshals' games as postponed. On April 27, the team suspended operations for the rest of the season. The Mesquite Marshals unveiled their uniforms on July 1, 2015. The helmets are white with

672-466: The effects of the pandemic caused the Amarillo Venom and West Texas Warbirds to back out of the season due to a conflicting schedule at their home arena and play an independent regional schedule instead. On April 1, one week prior to their first game of the season, the Oklahoma Flying Aces withdrew from the season citing drastically increased workers' compensation insurance and were replaced by

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704-614: The league added the ICT Regulators based out of Park City, Kansas , in the Wichita area. On August 29, 2023, the Billings Outlaws left the league and was announced as the first official member of the relaunched Arena Football League . On September 25, 2023, the Gillette Mustangs suspended operations, stating that the remaining CIF members were being absorbed into the AFL and that their arena could not accommodate

736-739: The league and turned their Lone Star Series from the previous season into the Arena Football Association (AFA) in November 2021. By the end of 2021, J. R. Bond, the new owner of the Sioux City Bandits and Topeka Tropics, had been named the commissioner of the league. The Wichita Force were removed from the league in January 2022. The same eight teams returned for the 2023 season, with the Omaha Beef winning

768-530: The league used salary cap system which was divided amongst team players, with a minimum per game salary of $ 75 and a maximum of $ 300 with no other benefits. The CIF merged with the Arena Football League on October 5, 2023. The merger which formed the CIF was announced on August 22, 2014, after it had been rumored that the CPIFL and LSFL had been in discussions of a possible merger since July 31, 2014. The Gary Dawgs, originally announced as

800-530: The new league, but failed to deliver on them. The Iowa Rampage , a team that had originally planned to join CIF before it merged into the AFL for the 2024 season, folded after one game when the promised compensation never arrived; the Rapid City Marshals , Salina Liberty and Billings Outlaws confirmed that the Rampage's complaints were legitimate but were committed to playing out the season, with

832-718: The playoffs and the team with the best record in each division received a bye in the first round. The division leader would then play the winners of the 2 vs. 3 seeds playoff game. At the end of the 2016 season, the Mesquite Marshals changed their name to the Dallas Marshals . Later, the San Angelo Bandits folded but were immediately replaced by an expansion team called the CenTex Cavalry out of Belton, Texas . The CIF continued to expand for

864-536: The playoffs. During the league winter meetings, Bertz returned to his former position of interim league commissioner. Sonny Clark of the Texas Revolution was named as director of operations. On August 16, 2017, the CIF announced the Quad City Steamwheelers as an expansion team for 2018. On August 30, the league announced the addition of the Sioux Falls Storm from the IFL . The Wichita Falls Nighthawks of

896-443: The playoffs. The team was not listed as a member of the CIF when the 2019 schedule was released. Running backs Wide receivers Defensive linemen Defensive backs Special teams Rookies in italics Roster updated March 29,2018 0 Active, 0 Inactive → More rosters As of the 2018 season: As of the 2018 CIF season: Champions Indoor Football Champions Indoor Football ( CIF )

928-566: The score was tied 35–35, but a rushing touchdown for eventual Champions Bowl MVP Andrew Prohaska of the Sioux City Bandits led to a final score of 76–61. The Mesquite Marshals , Salina Liberty , and Bloomington Edge announced their entrance into the league, bringing the total number of teams to 12. The league meetings were on August 19 in Dodge City, Kansas . Many league changes were announced, including Darlene Jones resigning as commissioner, citing personal health-related reasons. Ricky Bertz

960-701: The two teams was granted on January 31, 2018. During the 2018 season, it was announced that after a change in ownership, the West Michigan Ironmen would return to the CIF after playing a season in the semi-professional Midwest Professional Indoor Football. The league also added an expansion team called the Oklahoma Flying Aces in Enid, Oklahoma . During the offseason, the CIF lost the Bismarck Bucks and Quad City Steamwheelers to

992-507: Was a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from the Indoor Football League and two expansion teams. The league maximum player salary as of 2022 was $ 200 per game, along with housing, medical and meal expenses. In the past

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1024-552: Was then appointed interim commissioner, with the help of Indoor Football League Hall-of-Famer, Tommy Benizio (who was the IFL's commissioner). Stephanie Tucker also joined Bertz and Benizio. Also announced at that time was the Northern/Southern divisional alignment. Later, on January 11, 2016, Bertz stepped down to focus on his team's sales, and Randy Sanders was named the interim commissioner. The updated alignment had each division with six teams. The top three teams reaching

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