The Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) was an indoor

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minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

based along the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

region. The league began play in February 2013. In August 2014, the CPIFL and Lone Star Football League (LSFL) completed a merger to form Champions Indoor Football (CIF) and began play in 2015.

Season structure

During the off-season, teams held open tryouts for free-agent players to earn invites to pre-season camps.

Free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

tryouts ranged from October to January depending on the individual team. Pre-season typically ran the duration of February and could involve exhibition games with teams inside the league or outside teams in other indoor football leagues. The regular season schedule was a 12-game format typically starting in mid-March and going until mid-June. Each team played six home games and six road games, typically on Friday and Saturday nights, with some exceptions like occasional Sunday afternoon games. The four teams with the best overall record at the end of the season qualified for post-season play. The teams with the best records hosted the first round of the playoffs, with the first-place team hosting the fourth-place team and the second-place team hosting the third-place team. The league did not have a divisional split. The second round of the playoffs was considered the CPIFL Championship game to crown the league champion each year.

League history

In August 2012, Sioux City Bandits' managing partner, Bob Scott, generated the idea of a league that would be run by team owners, and not by a president. The idea came after the Bandits had spent two years in the American Professional Football League. The focus was to build the highest level of indoor football in the Midwest by adding teams to the league, linking "well-established teams currently coming from Iowa, Missouri and Kansas." The CPIFL brought together the top indoor football teams in the Midwest from existing leagues such as the

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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 ...

, and the American Professional Football League to fill the new league. The CPIFL is bringing back rivalries from the past. Tulsa (Oklahoma Defenders) vs. Wichita (Wild), Lincoln (Haymakers) vs. Omaha (Beef), Lincoln vs. Sioux City (Bandits) and Omaha vs. Sioux City are a few examples. The league gained its first member on August 11, 2012, when the Bandits officially announced their intentions to join the CPIFL. Also on August 11, the league voted that James Bain would be the league's first Commissioner. On August 14, 2014, it was announced on the league website that they had merged with the Lone Star Football League to create what they claimed to be the largest indoor football league in the country.Merger Between CPIFL and LSFL is a Success
, CPIFL website, August 14, 2014

Teams

Map - Champions Professional Indoor Football League

Former teams

* Mid-Missouri Outlaws – played 2013 season in CPIFL before leaving to join outdoor semi-pro Central Plains Football League. * Kansas City Renegades – played 2013 season in CPIFL, then abruptly folded.

CPIFL Champions Bowl results

References

{{Profootball Defunct indoor American football leagues in the United States Sports leagues established in 2012 Sports leagues disestablished in 2014 2012 establishments in the United States 2014 disestablishments in the United States