Season Instability
Despite ambitious plans, numerous operational failures began to surface even before the regular season. on April 14, 2025 both the Alabama Beavers and the IFA issued separate statements mutually announcing the Beavers were out of the IFA. The sides differed on who initiated, with the IFA issuing a cease and desist order alleging felony fraud and unpaid bills in the tens of thousands of dollars that had caused the IFA to be permanently banned from Embassy Suites hotels; the Beavers responded that it had left the league April 10 after unsuccessfully attempting to negotiate a better deal and would play in another league in 2025. [5] The next day, in an interview with X Fan Show, IFA representative Mark Lozano indicated that only three teams were still committed to the 2025 season: Ohio Valley, Tampa and Chihuahua; the Pioneros had suspended operations until 2026 and San Antonio had not decided whether or not to continue (it ultimately would not). Ohio Valley's revised schedule consisted mostly of midwestern teams in Michigan and Cincinnati along with the Erie Express, with San Antonio the only other IFA team on the Ironmen's schedule; [6] a statement on the IFA Facebook page described the Ironmen as being "affiliated" with the IFA. Chihuahua's schedule was released April 30, a six-game, mostly home-based schedule against teams in the southern United States with the only IFA opponent (and only road game) being a home-and-home series with Tampa.
Three weeks before the start of the season, the IFA announced that an Alabama franchise would indeed play that season, as Anthony Richardson agreed to take over the Beavers' franchise, coaches and player contracts and dubbed his team the Huntsville Astros. [7] Richardson's attempted purchase of the Beavers from its owner formed the basis of the IFA's expulsion of the Beavers. [8]
Three days before the start of the season it was reported that the San Antonio Caballeros would cease operations, [9] while head coach and owner Hal Mumme would later be announced as the new offensive coordinator of the Centenary College. [10]
Six days after their first game, the Chihuahua Rebelión announced via the team's Instagram account that the primary investors of the team were "disassociating" themselves from head coach Mauricio Balderrama and general manager Diógenes Guzmán due to claims of "misconduct and abuses by these individuals." [11] Coach Balderrama responded to this on the team's secondary Facebook page and claimed that the Instagram account had been hacked. The IFA did not release a statement verifying either account.
On June 5, 2025, CJ Drinkard, owner of the Alabama Beavers, posted on his Facebook page that "in September of 2024, I conducted an investigation and found some rather disturbing evidence. I contacted the league (IFA) and let them know there are players, coaches, and league officials who have direct ties to child porn. After I reported my findings to Jason Adams, I also let him know that there are several players within the league that are registered sex offenders and we need to be sure all of the teams are conducting background checks." Drinkard further alleged that "after doing a thorough check on Jason Adams' background, I see he has over 15 arrests that are rather disturbing. He has been arrested for multiple counts of forgery, impersonating a police officer, theft, among many other things that now make sense to me. He forged documents regarding members within the league to manipulate everyone along the way." Drinkard also published multiple screenshots depicting Jason Adams’ prior arrest mugshots [12] and a copy of his criminal background report.
On June 13, 2025, one day before their first game of the season, the Tampa Bay Tornadoes announced that they were leaving the IFA to be an independent team, but would still play the IFA teams on their season schedule, after a key investor had withdrawn his funding. [13] Following this announcement, their game on June 14 was cancelled.
On June 13, 2025, the IFA released a statement on Instagram announcing that they had suspended the Chihuahua Rebelión's planned games due to an unspecified issue and that the team would resume games on July 5. [14] [15] This was later updated to a return on July 19. The league's official statement was that head coach Mauricio Baldarrama had taken undisclosed actions against the team's investor group, which "caused significant financial and moral harm." Along with temprarily suspending games the IFA fired Baldarrama & hired Les Koenning as the new head coach. [16] Later that day, the Rebelión announced on their secondary Facebook page that they were leaving the IFA to go independent. In their official statement they claimed that their decision was due to "...multiple administrative, financial and ethical irregularities within the organization of said league, as well as to the direct relationship of its high command with individuals currently under international investigation by the FBI, which generates an environment of uncertainty for our team and its members.". [17] [18]
On June 22, 2025, eight hours before their game against the Huntsville Astros, the Tornadoes announced on Facebook that they would be suspending operations for the rest of the 2025 season.
On June 27, 2025, the Ohio Valley Ironmen cancelled the remainder of their season due to "multiple scheduled opponents" pulling out of games. [19] The Ironmen finnished the season with no known financial issues and drew between 750-1,200 fans on average to their games. [20] The team stated they planned to return in 2026. [21]
On July 11, 2025, the Chihuahua Rebelión revealed to its players that the team was out of money after its first home game only drew 200 paying spectators and that it would not be able to resume play or further compensate its players, effectively stranding the 19 American players and one British player (Germain Brown) in Mexico. [22] As reported in El Pueblo, "the [Chihuahua] team couldn't cover the expenses of everything behind a professional sports team, from the physical trainers and medical staff to treat injuries to paying for medical insurance in the event of sports injuries, in a game of full contact," and "when the players arrived in Chihuahua, they were accommodated in a renowned hotel in the capital with all expenses and food paid. But suddenly, the players declared, [coach] Mauricio Balderrama told them that they had to vacate the hotel and for the time being pay for their own lodging while they obtained new sponsors." [22]
On July 15, 2025, scout Frederick Elliott announced on his Facebook page that the Huntsville Astros notified the IFA of their intent to withdraw from the league and complete the 2025 season independently. Elliott is quoted as stating "this move comes after the team faced numerous operational and administrative challenges from the league throughout the 2025 season." [23] On July 23, head coach Shane Anderson confirmed Huntsville had left the league and that the Astros would join a new league in the coming year.
On July 17, 2025, the IFA announced that the Chihuahua Rebelion were rebranding and moving to Ciudad Juárez. The league website claimed they would return to play on August 23. The league also indicated that it would rush the Arkansas Storm, a team it had originally planned to hold out of the league until 2026 to allow it time to properly build, into playing shape to play a showcase game in August, [24] just one month after tryouts. [25] The showcase was eventually held on September 13, with the semi-pro Dallas Prime hosting the Storm at the Ford Center at The Star; after an initially competitive first half, the Prime dominated and shut out the makeshift Storm roster—an organization so haphazardly assembled that several players relied on bringing their own equipment rather than the years-old and moldy pads Adams had furnished, and resorted to fashioning the numbers on their plain red jerseys with medical tape—to finish the game with a 47–7 victory. [26] Several Storm players indicated that the team ownership and front office were displeased with Adams's handling of the event and were considering other options. [26] On October 2nd, 2025, Coy Flynn, owner of the Arkansas Storm, stated on Facebook that the team would not be competing in the 2026 season, alluded to a future lawsuit, and stated "retribution is coming." [27]
On September 9th, 2025, it was announced that the Ohio Valley Ironmen were officially leaving the league to join the new iteration of the Continental Football League. [28]
The IFA had represented it secured non-exclusive broadcast agreements with multiple outlets prior to its 2025 launch.
In September 2024, they announced that league games will be available in the US through Roku and Tubi (the Tubi deal never materialized). [72] On October 11, 2024 the league announced streaming partnership with Shawne Merriman's Lights Out Sports. [73]
On March 3 2025 the league announced that it has secured a landmark global broadcasting agreement with sports content providers Inverleigh and Unbeaten Sports. [74] Later that month, the IFA announced additional agreements with Unbeaten Sports, a free ad-supported streaming television channel, and Inverleigh, an Australian production company, with the league stating that it would also be streaming games on its YouTube channel.
Notwithstanding the foregoing representations, there have been no broadcasts of any IFA games to date on either Roku or Tubi. Furthermore, there is no evidence of any formal partnership or affiliation between the IFA and Shawne Merriman’s Lights Out Sports, Unbeaten Sports, and/or Inverleigh, as no IFA content has ever been broadcast on said media outlets.
The Ohio Valley Ironmen had its games telecast on WTRF, [75] which drew approximately 140,000 views. [20]
