American Indoor Football Alliance

American Indoor Football Alliance

Sport	Indoor football
Founded	2021;4 years ago (2021)
First season	2022
Ceased	2023;2 years ago (2023)
No. of teams	7
Country	United States
Last champion(s)	Columbus Lions (2023)
Official website	www.goaifa.com

The American Indoor Football Alliance (AIFA) was a minor-professional American indoor football league in the United States. ^[1]

Teams' typical operating budget was $500,000 with a $90,000 payroll budget per season. Players were paid up to $200 per game, with a $25 bonus for participating in charity events within their local communities. Most teams offered players housing during the season. ^[2]

History

After the 2021 American Arena League season concluded, four members of the East Division (Carolina Predators, Tampa Bay Tornadoes, Pennsylvania Union and Mississippi Raiders) announced that they would leave the AAL to form a new league, after league president and commissioner Tony Zefiretto had sold the league to the ownership. ^[3]

The league played its first season in 2022, while the Mississippi Raiders defeat the Las Vegas Kings 55–12 to claim the Inaugural AIFA Championship. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

For the 2023 season, AIFA had an inter-league scheduling agreement with the American West Football Conference. ^{[7] [8]} The Columbus Lions won the league championship after completing an undefeated season and beating Mississippi Raiders 55 to 10 in AIFA Championship. ^{[9] [10] [11]}

In late 2023 most of the teams left to join different leagues and the AIFA website was shut down.

Teams

Teams that participated or were listed as members in the 2023 season.

Team	Home city	Home venue	Capacity	Founded	Joined	Head coach	Fate
Carolina Predators [12]	Fayetteville, North Carolina	traveling team	TBD	2018	2021		AAL2
Columbus Lions [13]	Columbus, Georgia	Columbus Civic Center	7,573	2007	2022	Chris McKinney	AIF
Capital City Cyclones	Tallahassee, Florida	Traveling team	TBD	2019	2021	Stevie Thomas	IFA
Las Vegas Kings	Bullhead City, Arizona	Anderson Auto Group Fieldhouse		2021	2021	Chris Wallace	IFA
Mississippi Raiders [14]	Batesville, Mississippi	Paul Battle Arena & Exposition Center	6,500	2019	2021	Montra Edwards	AIF
South Florida Thunder	Palm Beach, Florida	Margate Sports Complex	TBD	2019 [15]	2022		TBD
Dallas Falcons	San Antonio, Texas	M.Vidrio Soccer Complex [16]		2022	2023	Bryan Kensky	AAL2

Former teams

• Pennsylvania Union (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) — Was part of the original teams joined from the AAL, but then was not included in 2022 alignment. Now a member of American Indoor Football as of 2026.
• St. Charles Bandits (St. Charles, Missouri) — Joined from the AAL for the 2022 season, but never played a game. ^[17]
• Texas Pride (Garland, Texas) – Was part of the announced teams of the crossover games with the American West Football Conference (AWFC) for the 2023 season, but then was not included in the league standings. ^[18]
• Columbus Lions – Joined from the National Arena League for the 2023 season, ^[19] but left for the American Indoor Football after winning the league championship. ^[20]
• Carolina Predators–(Fayetteville, North Carolina)

Joined from the AAL for the 2022 season, ^[21] but left after the 2023 season for the American Arena League 2. ^[22]

• Mississippi Raiders (Jackson, Mississippi) – Won the Inaugural AIFA Championship in 2022 ^[23] and played in the 2023 finals before leaving for the American Indoor Football league for the 2024 season.
• Dallas Falcons (Dallas, Texas) – Joined for the 2023 season as a traveling team, ^[24] but would leave for the American Arena League 2 for the 2024 season. ^[25]
• Las Vegas Kings (Las Vegas, Nevada) – Played in the inaugural AIFA Championship in 2022, but the owner decided to move the team after the conclusion of the 2023 season to the International Football Alliance. ^[26] The team again jumped from the IFA prior to that league's launch and claimed to join Arena Football One, which the league rebuked for misrepresenting their pitch as league admission. ^{[27] [28]}
• Capital City Cyclones (Tallahassee, Florida)– Joined from the AAL as the Tampa Bay Tornadoes, ^[29] and later was rebranded as the Cyclones prior to the 2022 season. ^{[30] [31]} Left after the 2023 season to join the International Football Alliance. ^[32]

References

1. "Home – American Indoor Football Alliance". www.goaifa.com. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
2. "AIFA Expansion Packet" (PDF).
3. "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". oursportscentral.com. July 12, 2021.
4. "Mississippi Raiders are now AIFA National Champions". Vicksburg Daily News. July 10, 2022.
5. Bowker, Ernest (July 8, 2022). "Vicksburg coach Muhammad chasing a championship with Mississippi Raiders". Vicksburg Post.
6. "AIFA Championship". YouTube .
7. "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". December 26, 2022.
8. "AWFC/AIFA Partnership".
9. "Lions defeat Raiders 55 to 10 in AIFA Championship". American Indoor Football Alliance.
10. "AIFA Champioinship Part1". youtube.com.
11. "AIFA Champioinship Part 2". youtube.com.
12. "Fayetteville set to welcome arena football back to the Crown with the Carolina Predators".
13. "LIONS JOIN REGIONAL ARENA LEAGUE". National Arena League. December 23, 2022.
14. "Mississippi Raiders bringing arena football back to Jackson". November 4, 2021.
15. "South Florida has a new arena football league coming soon — and you could be a part of it". November 29, 2019.
16. "Dallas Falcons set to join the AIFA for the 2023 Season".
17. "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". October 3, 2022.
18. "AWFC Schedule & AIFA Partnership".
19. "Lions Join Regional Arena League - Columbus Lions". Columbus Lions. December 23, 2022.
20. "COLUMBUS LIONS JOIN AMERICAN INDOOR FOOTBALL (AIF) FOR THE 2024 INDOOR SEASON". aif-proindoorfootball.com. American Indoor Football. August 4, 2023. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2023.
21. "Fayetteville set to welcome arena football back to the Crown with the Carolina Predators".
22. "Carolina Predators Arena Football Team". Facebook .
23. "Mississippi Raiders bringing arena football back to Jackson". November 4, 2021.
24. "Dallas Falcons set to join the AIFA for the 2023 Season".
25. "Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report". OurSports Central. September 4, 2023.
26. "Las Vegas Kings Football Team Joins the International Football Alliance". PRLog.
27. Arena Football One Statement on Expansion. Press release. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
28. offthewallfbpod (October 22, 2024). "So how about this Las Vegas Kings situation, huh?". OffTheWallFB. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
29. "TAMPA BAY TORNADOES JOINS THE AIFA!". goaifa.com. July 5, 2021. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021.
30. "TAMPA BAY CYCLONES JOINS THE AIFA!". AIFA. July 5, 2021. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
31. "AIFA teams". AIFA. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
32. "Meet The Teams". International Football Alliance.