When the Copperheads left the Merrell Center and the National Indoor Football League, fans thought they had seen the end of indoor football in Katy.
But Odessa businessman Brandon Smith believed otherwise, announcing to about 25 business leaders at the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce that he is bringing an indoor football team to the Merrell Center next year.
The team will be a member of the Corpus Christi-based Intense Football League, an indoor league entering its fourth year of competition with teams in Corpus Christi, Odessa, Central Texas, San Angelo, Lake Charles and an expansion team in Frisco.
Smith, a self-proclaimed fan of the IFL's Odessa team, is the owner of Allegiance HR Solutions, a staffing company with offices in Odessa, Houston, El Paso and College Station. Along with his son Albert, Smith established Allegiance Pro Sports, LLC to purchase the Katy franchise and El Paso franchise for 2008.
Smith said he was looking at the possibility of putting a team in El Paso in two years when he received word of the Copperheads' move. Days later, he was visiting with officials at the Merrell Center.
"It's not like all the fans are going to follow the Copperheads wherever they go," Smith said. "I felt like everything was already in place and we can come in here and pick up right where they left off.
"If the Copperheads leave and nobody else comes out, then you've spoiled the market. People aren't going to want to come back after taking a year off. Katy wants football to stay here."
The league
The team will play a 14-game schedule, with seven games at the Merrell Center. Home dates have not been announced, but most are Saturday nights, similar to the Copperheads' schedule last season. The IFL season begins April 14.
Rosters have 25 players, similar to the Copperheads, but will pay players up to $260 a game including food and housing for the season. As most Katy indoor football fans saw last season, the scores tend to be high.
"There's a lot more passing in our league," IFL Commissioner Chad Dittman said. "You're going to have high scores, just like you did in last year's league."
Dittman said rules are similar to Arena Football League games played on Sundays. The only difference is the IFL does not have rebound nets in the back of the end zones.
"We want to promote our players to a higher level to get them to the NFL," he said.
Dittman said while there will most likely be between seven and nine teams next season, travel concerns are less of a problem than those of the NIFL, which forced the Copperheads to travel to South Dakota twice. All but one team in the IFL is inside the state, limiting Katy's longest road trip to within six hours.
"It doesn't come into play because our travel budget is our 11th (highest) line item (on the budget)," Dittman said. "From Corpus to here, it'll cost probably $1,500. It's going to be very, very minimal."
"With Katy being where it is, you don't even have to stay overnight," Smith said. "The travel is a real nice thing in this league."
While attendance in the NIFL varied between 100 and 6,000 on a weekly basis for teams across the nation, Dittman said the Intense Football League draws an average of 4,000 fans a game. His team, the Corpus Christi Hammerheads, draws a league-high 7,000 a game.
The team Smith said he'll run an extensive search for a head coach and plans to name one in a couple of weeks.
"It's such an important piece of the puzzle," Dittman said, "because your player is going to act just as your coach acts, just as your coach acts the way your owner acts."
Like the Copperheads, the team will hold tryouts in January to find local players with a following around the Katy area.
"With the rich tradition they have with football here, there'll be quite a few local talent," said Dittman, who said six members of the 2006 Copperheads were former IFL players. "I think you could field a team out of Houston in five seconds.
"These are guys that you guys know and that y'all are going to come out and see play."
Dittman said the new Katy team is one of two candidates to host the league's All-Star Game, which takes place after the season. The format, though, is unique, as the host team plays the All-Star team. The league even auctioned off a roster spot on the 2006 All-Star team on eBay. The winning bid was $330.
The team has not chosen a name or logo, and will hold an online contest to let fans pick the name, which will be revealed on Nov. 15.
The winner receives two season tickets and will be recognized at the home opener in April. Visit its Web site, www.katyifl.com, to enter a name.
"I'm going to come out here much as I can," said Smith, who resides in Odessa. "I'm going to put most of my focus for the next year right here in Katy."
Name the Team Contest
E-mail your name, address, phone number, email address, date of birth and suggested team name to [email protected]. Put the words "Team name contest" in the subject line of the e-mail. Only one entry per person. Ages 13 and up are eligible. Deadline is Nov. 10, and the winner will be announced Nov. 15. Winner will receive a pair of season tickets to seven games in the Merrell Center and be recognized during the home opener.
Article courtesy of The Katy Sun
