Champions Indoor Football (CIF) has announced their regular season schedule for the 2017 campaign. The league has also announced its 16th and final franchise for the 2017 season, the St. Louis-based River City Raiders.
The Raiders, who previously played in the now defunct AIF, join the Kansas City Phantoms, the West Michigan Ironmen, the CenTex Cavalry and a yet to be named team based in Bismarck, North Dakota as new additions to the league for the upcoming season.
Twelve games will be played by each of the sixteen teams for a total of 192 contests being played between late February and early June. With 16 teams in the mix, the league will implement three-rounds of playoffs featuring 8 teams (top 2 teams from each of the 4 divisions).
The four new divisions will be: Northeast (Chicago, Bloomington, River City and West Michigan), Northwest (Bismarck, Kansas City, Omaha and Sioux City), South (Amarillo, CenTex, Dallas and Texas), and Central (Dodge City, Duke City, Salina and Wichita).
“We are so excited for 2017 and proud of the CIF’s growth over the last year, in an environment where leagues in our industry are shrinking we have been able to build a successful model that allows for great competition with a successful business model all in one,” said CIF commissioner Randy Sanders.
The Salina Liberty wil begin the 2017 regular season at home against the defending CIF Champion Wichita Force on Sunday, March 5th. The Liberty’s tentative schedule is as follows and is subject to change:
Sunday, March 5th – VS. Wichita Force
Saturday, March 18th – VS. Dodge City Law
Saturday, March 25th – at Dodge City Law
Saturday, April 1st – VS. Wichita Force
Friday, April 7th – at CenTex Cavalry
Saturday, April 15th – at Duke City Gladiators
Saturday, April 29th – VS. Dodge City Law
Saturday, May 6th – VS. CenTex Cavalry
Friday, May 12th – at Wichita Force
Friday, May 19th – at Texas Revolution
Saturday, May 27th – VS. Dallas Marshals
Saturday, June 3rd – at Amarillo Venom
The full 2017 CIF schedule is below and is subject to change:
