The Billings Outlaws were a professional indoor football team based in

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

. They were a member of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(IFL), of which they were the 2-time defending champions. They played their home games at

Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark First Interstate Arena (colloquially known as The Metra) is a multi-purpose arena located at MetraPark, the fairgrounds of Billings, Montana. The arena has a capacity of 8,700 for ice hockey and Indoor American football, indoor football games, ...

. Their games were broadcast live locally on News Talk 910 KBLG AM and online through Teamline.

Seasons

2000–2001 seasons

The team originally began play as a 2000 expansion member of the original

as the Billings Thunderbolts. Despite a winning record of 8–6, it was not enough to make the playoffs. When the league folded, they became a charter member of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

in 2001 and became the ''Billings Outlaws'' until the 2005 season when they were the Billings Mavericks and the start of the 2006 season, when a naming dispute with the '' Osceola Outlaws'' led to the NIFL stripping both teams of the ''Outlaws'' name. However, as of June 11, 2006, the NIFL recognized Billings as the ''Outlaws'' again.

2002 season

The Outlaws first year in the playoffs. Many people thought it would be unexpected of Billings to make it all the way to the championship especially after coming second in their division but they did so and proved many wrong. It was not easy, as Bismarck was in for a fight. Both games were decided in the final minute, in which Outlaws prevailed. The championship game was the same other than the difference that the Ohio Valley Greyhounds took home the win and proved to be the best team winning 55–52 and pulling out an overall record that year of 15–1 while the Outlaws finished the season with an overall record of 12–5.

2003–2005 season

The Outlaws played hard but fell short of a .500 plus record and missed out on the playoffs in 2003. In 2004, the Billings squad dominated their way to a record of 11–3. But, the Outlaws would be triumphed in Sioux Falls in the Conference Semi-Finals. After a great year, the Billings Outlaws became the Billings Mavericks. This fell into place when the Osceola Outlaws joined the NIFL. The two teams disputed over who should be named the Outlaws. The league commissioner decided to strip both teams of the name and make each team pick a new one for the 2005 season. The Mavericks became the new team to cheer for, but they came to the end of their worst season in this franchises ten-year history. They fell to 5–9 on the season but managed to make the playoffs. They played the

Everett Hawks The Everett Hawks were a professional minor league arena football team based in Everett, Washington. The team was in existence for five years (2002–07) in three leagues, the Northwest Football League (NWFL), the National Indoor Football League ...

in Washington. As the underdog, some players saw a miracle on the horizon. But, the happy ending was cut short. The Mavericks held strong in the end but lost by a disheartening three points and Everett moved on to the next round of the playoffs.

2006 season

The 2006 season was a success as the Outlaws were handed only one loss in Week 2 to Tri-Cities Fever but then redeemed themselves by beating Tri-Cities three times that same year including a win in the playoffs. After defeating Tri-Cities in the first round, the Outlaws took down their league rival the Rapid City Flying Aces in a high intensity game that came down to the end. The Outlaws then hosted the NIFL Indoor Bowl VI on July 28, 2006, in front of a sold out MetraPark and beat the

Fayetteville Guard The Fayetteville Guard was a professional indoor football team in the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) and American Indoor Football Association (AIFA). They played home games at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum from 2005 to 2010. The ...

59–44 in an offensive showcase.

2007 season

After the 2006 season, the Outlaws announced they were joining

United Indoor Football United Indoor Football (UIF) was an indoor American football league in the United States that operated from 2005 to 2008. Ten owners from the National Indoor Football League, including one expansion (the Dayton Warbirds, which never played a ...

for the 2007 season

The first season for the Outlaws in the UIF started out terrible as they fell to 0–4. Soon after, they became a team to fear as the Outlaws finished off the final ten games going 8–2. Even with all the confidence and momentum they could not hold up against the Sioux Falls Storm in the second round of the playoffs.

2008 season

The 2008 season was a more exciting and successful year but yet again the Outlaws would lose to Sioux Falls in the Western Conference Finals but this game was more heart pounding as the Billings Outlaws held a lead of 44–43 but with less tham 5 seconds left in the game Sioux Falls kicker Adam Hicks booted a 45-yard field goal through the uprights as the clock expired to claim a 46–44 win. The Outlaws were very frustrated after the game and had reasons. The Outlaws kicker went 1 of 4 on field goals in the Billings loss. Billings had lost two games earlier that season because of their horrid kicking game. After the end of the 2008 season they became members of the

through the UIF's merger with the

Intense Football League The Intense Football League (IFL) was a professional indoor football minor league that began operations in 2004. Its focus was in Texas, but it was notable for being the first professional football league to place a franchise in Alaska. History ...

2009 season

During the 2009 season the Outlaws had played tough and received two losses which came at the

Omaha Civic Auditorium Omaha Civic Auditorium was a multi-purpose convention center located in Omaha, Nebraska. Opened in 1954, it surpassed the Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum as the largest convention/entertainment complex in the city, until the completion of CHI Health Center ...

against the

Omaha Beef The Omaha Beef are a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. The Beef plays their home games at Liberty First Credit Union Arena in nearby Ralston, Nebraska, Ralston. The Beef competes in the National ...

. The second loss was very controversial as the Outlaws came on the field to tie the game up with one second remaining, but an Outlaws player was injured, requiring ten seconds to be run off the clock resulting in a 48–45 victory for the Beef. The Outlaws had won seven in a row until that loss but on the streak it included three wins against the four time defending UIF champion Sioux Falls Storm with scores of 42–41, 70–35, and 34–22. The last of these games was in Sioux Falls and snapped the Storm's 35 home-game win streak. The Outlaws then were considered the best team in the league and proved it against the

RiverCity Rage The RiverCity Rage were a professional indoor football team in the Indoor Football League. They played home games at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri, part of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri, in past seasons, played in ...

by defeating them in the United Bowl 71–62 in front of a near capacity crowd of 8,351.

2010 season

Kicking off the season at home, the Outlaws had a brutal win over Kent, one of the new league franchises. Not long after the win, the Outlaws suffered a loss on a no-call on pass interference, this left Sioux Falls victorious and the Outlaws dumbfounded with 1 in the loss column, and the second and last loss was controversial because the Outlaws were called for three penalties in the final minute of the game to which Fairbanks countered with a last second score to win 55–54. The Outlaws rebounded after the loss with a scoring onslaught to defeat the Tri-Cities Fever twice, the Kent Predators once, the San Angelo Stampede Express once, the

Arkansas Diamonds The Arkansas Diamonds were a soccer club based in Little Rock, Arkansas that competed in the SISL and USISL. The team was first owned by Samir Haj, a youth club coach based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The franchise struggled for funding as it fir ...

once, and the Sioux Falls Storm twice. The Outlaws again won the United Bowl, this time over long-time rival Sioux Falls by a score of 43–34 on July 17, 2010, in front of a packed house in the Sportsplex. The original home of the Outlaws, the Metrapark was heavily damaged by an F2 tornado following their last game of the regular season.

Team ceases operations

On October 7, 2010, the Outlaws announced they would cease operations due to not having enough money for the 2011 season, this was in large part due to a disagreement with county commissioners over funding non-insured losses suffered during the 2010 tornado that severely damaged the Rimrock Auto Arena. Indoor football would return to Billings five years later when the IFL awarded Billings an expansion franchise, the

Billings Wolves The Billings Wolves were a professional indoor football team based in Billings, Montana and members of the Indoor Football League (IFL) from 2015-2016. The Wolves began play in 2015 as an expansion team of the IFL and were owned by Ron Benzel ...

. The Wolves were coached in their first year by former Outlaws quarterback

Chris Dixon Chris Dixon (born ) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is also the co-founder and former CEO of Hunch. Dixon is known as a cryptocurrency and Web3 eva ...

who had gone on to win three more IFL titles with the Sioux Falls Storm following his consecutive titles in 2009 and 2010 with the Outlaws.

Training facility

A training facility costing around $3 million was built for the Outlaws and opened in March 2007. A facility of this nature is unprecedented in any indoor or arena league other than the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

. Photos of this facility can be foun
here
The facility is called the Outlaws Community SportsPlex. This facility has been used for many events and purposes such as practice, fundraisers, birthday parties, Montana State University Billings' Inter-Tribal Indian Club's Powwow, try-outs, and much more.

Schedules

2009 schedule

Coaching staff

Head Coach- Heron O'Neal Offensive Line- Artavious Williams

Statistics

*playoffs not included

Passing leaders

Receiving leaders

Rushing leaders

Interception leaders

Sack leaders

Rivals

*playoffs not included

Championship scores

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#FFD12A" , Billings Thunderbolts (Indoor Football League) , - , 2000 , , 8 , , 6 , , 0 , , 4th WC Northern , , -- , - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#104E8B" , Billings Outlaws (National Indoor Football League) , - , 2001 , , 7 , , 7 , , 0 , , 4th League Central , , -- , - , 2002 , , 12 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd Pacific West , , Won Round 1 ( Lincoln Capitols)
Won Conference Championship ( Bismarck Roughriders)
Lost Indoor Bowl II ( Ohio Valley Greyhounds) , - , 2003 , , 6 , , 8 , , 0 , , 5th Pacific West , , -- , - , 2004 , , 12 , , 4 , , 0 , , 1st Pacific West , , Won Pacific Semi-Final (

)
Lost Pacific Conference Championship ( Sioux Falls Storm) , - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#FFD12A" , Billings Mavericks (National Indoor Football League) , - , 2005 , , 5 , , 10 , , 0 , , 3rd Pacific West , , Lost Pacific Quarterfinal (

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#104E8B" , Billings Outlaws (National Indoor Football League) , - , 2006 , , 16 , , 1 , , 0 , , 1st Pacific North , , Won Pacific Semi-Final ( Tri-Cities Fever)
Won Pacific Conference Championship ( Rapid City Flying Aces)
Won Indoor Bowl VI (

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#104E8B" , Billings Outlaws (United Indoor Football) , - , 2007 , , 9 , , 7 , , 0 , , 2nd West , , Won Round 1 (

)
Lost Western Championship ( Sioux Falls Storm) , - , 2008 , , 11 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd West , , Won Round 1 (

)
Lost Western Championship ( Sioux Falls Storm) , - , colspan="6" align="center" bgcolor="#104E8B" , Billings Outlaws (Indoor Football League) , - , 2009 , , 15 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Intense Pacific , , Won Pacific Divisional Championship ( Fairbanks Grizzlies)
Won Instense Conference Championship ( El Paso Generals)
Won 2009 United Bowl (

) , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, , 16 , , 2 , , 0 , , 1st Pacific North , , Won Round 1 ( Tri-Cities Fever)
Won Conference Semi-Final ( San Angelo Stampede)
Won Intense Conference Championship (

)
Won

2010 United Bowl The 2010 United Bowl was the second title game of the Indoor Football League (IFL). It was played on July 17, 2010, at the Billings Sports Plex in Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United State ...

( Sioux Falls Storm) , - !Total , , 104 , , 41 , , 0 , colspan="2", (Regular season and playoffs) Billings Outlaws , - !Total , , 117 , , 57 , , 0 , colspan="2", (Regular season and playoffs) Billings Outlaws/Thunderbolts/Mavericks

References

External links

Official site

{{Billings, Montana 2001 establishments in Montana 2004 disestablishments in Montana 2006 establishments in Montana 2010 disestablishments in Montana American football teams established in 2001 American football teams established in 2006 American football teams disestablished in 2010 American football teams disestablished in 2004