American West Football Conference

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American West Football Conference
Sport Indoor football
Founded 2018
Inaugural season 2019
President Chris Reynolds
Commissioner Brandon Berner[1]
No. of teams 3
Country United States
Most recent champion(s) Tri-City Rush
Most titles Tri-City Rush (2)
Founder Platinum Events & Security LLC
Official website AmericanWestFootballConference.com

The American West Football Conference (AWFC) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2018 by Platinum Events & Security, LLC, the owners of the Idaho Horsemen. The league's inaugural season was in 2019.[2]

Players are paid $150 per game before taxes with no other benefits, although the teams help the players find host families during the season.[3] Teams' operating budget is $200,000 per season.[3]

The league has a inter-league scheduling agreement with the American Indoor Football Alliance.[4][5]

History

After being unable to join the Indoor Football League or Champions Indoor Football citing league instability, as well as financial and travel issues due to the distance from the rest of the leagues' teams, Chris Reynolds, owner of the Idaho Horsemen announced that his ownership group Platinum Events & Security, LLC, created a new indoor league, the American West Football Conference (AWFC).[6] The league was created to fill the void of a lack of west coast teams and leagues and to decrease travel costs of operating the regional teams.[2][7] The league was announced with four teams: the Horsemen, Reno Express, Tri-Cities Fire, and the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks. The AWFC later added the Sacramento Spartans, but the team's facilities did not meet league standards and was removed a month before the start of the season.[8]

The first game in league history was the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks at the Idaho Horsemen on March 23, where the Horsemen won 33–22.[9] The season's first forfeit came on May 4 when the Skyhawks did not travel to play the Reno Express, who instead played a local semiprofessional team in order to fulfill its lease agreement. The following week, the only scheduled game was also postponed citing travel issues with the Tri-Cities Fire visiting Idaho, but was made-up on June 19. Idaho went undefeated and won the championship game 40–20 over Reno.

For the 2020 season, the league announced expansion teams in Yakima, Washington,[10] and the San Francisco Bay Area,[11] although the Bay Area team never launched.[12] In February 2020, the Reno Express was removed from the schedule[13] and the Tri-Cities Fire folded,[14] which led to the Idaho Horsemen and Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks both announce they would play independent schedules.[15][16] The league then announced it would be playing the 2020 season with three teams — Idaho, Wenatchee, and Yakima — while looking for non-league teams to fill in the lost games including the minor outdoor team, Tri-City Rage, filling in for the Fire's six scheduled away games.[17]

On March 13, 2020, the AWFC announced on its website that the 2020 season would be postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, citing the high number of cases reported from Washington, one of two states that had a team in the league.[18] On July 31, 2020, the AWFC announced the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the unavailability of arenas during the pandemic.[19] On September 28, 2020, the league announced a new expansion team in the state of Oregon for the 2021 season[20] called the Oregon High Desert Storm.[21] On November 13, 2020, the Tri-Cities were announced as the league's new franchise, which was named the Tri-City Rush a day later.[22][23]

On November 22, 2022 league champions Tri-City Rush announced they are folding after home arena in Pasco shut down for the 2023 season[24] and not meeting their financial goals.[25] With only three teams for the 2023 season, the AWFC announced they will play crossover games with four teams from the American Indoor Football Alliance, while Cali Gold (San Francisco Bay area) from the American Arena League 2 will play one game against each of the AWFC teams.[26]

Teams

Current

Team Location Arena Capacity Founded Joined Head coach
Idaho Horsemen Nampa, Idaho Ford Idaho Center 12,279 2017 2019 Chris Reynolds
Oregon High Desert Storm[27] Redmond, Oregon First Interstate Bank Center[28] 4,000 2020 2021 Keith Evans
Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks[29] Wenatchee, Washington Town Toyota Center 4,300 2018 2019 Meadow Lemon
American West Football Conference is located in USA West
High Desert Storm
High Desert Storm
Location of AWFC teams

Former teams

  • Reno Express (Reno, Nevada) – played the 2019 season but withdrew from the 2020 season.[30]
  • Tri-Cities Fire (Kennewick, Washington) – played the 2019 season and folded before the 2020 season.[31]
  • Yakima Canines (Yakima, Washington) – joined for the 2020 season before it was cancelled due to the pandemic, played the 2021 season, and the franchise was revoked prior to the 2022 season due to not meeting league minimum operating requirements. The Canines were replaced by the Washington Elite travel team to fill the rest of the league's home schedule.[24]
  • SoCal Redtails (City of Industry, California) - Originally the San Diego Red Tails, joined for 2022 but never played.[32] The independent Cali Gold filled in the rest of the league teams home schedule.[33]
  • Tri-Cities Rush (Pasco, Washington) - Played the 2021 & 2022 seasons. Folded Nov. 2022.[25]

Seasons

2019 season

Standings

Final standings.[34]

2019 American West Football Conference
Team W L PCT PF PA GB STK
y — Idaho Horsemen 12 0 1.000 597 331 — W12
x – Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 6 6 .500 461 381 6 W2
x – Reno Express 6 6 .500 339 396 W1
Tri-Cities Fire 0 12 .000 303 592 12 L12

y – clinched regular season title

x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

  Semifinal     Final
                 
    3  Reno Express 20
  3  Reno Express 28     1  Idaho Horsemen 40[35][36]
  2  Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 27  

2021 season

Standings

Final standings.[37]

2021 American West Football Conference
Team W L PCT PF PA
x – Tri-City Rush 8 2 .800 621 329
x – Oregon High Desert Storm 7 3 .700 456 349
x – Idaho Horsemen 6 4 .600 517 346
Yakima Canines 1 9 .100 198 565
Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 0 4 .000 69 272

y – clinched regular season title

x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

  Semifinals
(August 30)		     American West Bowl II
(September 4)
                 
    3  Idaho Horsemen 27
  3  Idaho Horsemen 55     1  Tri-City Rush 36
  2  Oregon High Desert Storm 37  

2022 season

Standings

Final standings.[38]

2022 American West Football Conference
Team W L PCT PF PA
x – Tri-City Rush 9 0 1.000 392 114
x – Idaho Horsemen 6 3 .667 356 279
x – Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 5 4 .556 239 233
Oregon High Desert Storm 4 5 .444 231 353
SoCal Red Tails 0 8 .000 - -
Northwest Elite 0 4 .000 40 279

y – clinched regular season title

x – clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

  Semifinals
(June 26)		     American West Bowl III[39]
(July 10)
                 
    3  Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 32
  3  Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks 80     1  Tri-City Rush 57
  2  Idaho Horsemen 70  

References

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External links

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