The Indoor Football League terminated the membership of Louisville Xtreme Monday. The IFL is America’s longest continuously-running indoor football league and is a merger between two previously existing indoor leagues. Indoor football is played in a smaller arena than the original game and has fast-paced offense.
The IFL board of directors voted unanimously to make the change. The board cited a failure to “meet and maintain league obligations,” in its reasoning.
Louisville will be removed from the remaining league schedule, starting with a game on Saturday – originally between the Xtreme and the Frisco Fighters in Frisco, Texas. It is now a game between the Massachusetts Pirates and the Tucson Sugar Skulls in Tucson, Arizona. The games remaining on Louisville Xtreme’s schedule are cancelled.
IFL Commissioner Todd Tyron said in a news release this is a necessary action in order to maintain the positive momentum of the league.
Louisville Xtreme signed a rental lease with the KFC Yum! Center in February to play games there for the next three years.
The team released a statement online saying it "has no intentions of folding," and that it "looks forward to an exciting 2022 season." The statement also said they are notifying sponsors and season ticket holders of what's next, but declined to go into further detail.
The team, which is headquartered in Louisville’s Russell neighborhood, includes former players from the University of Louisville. When the contract was announced, Louisville Xtreme general manager Victor Cole noted his excitement in seeing an African American-owned professional sports franchise in the league.
Officials with the Yum Center said they could not comment on the contract with the team.
