Arena football in works

A Spokane businessman and a former Seattle Seahawk are teaming up to try to bring an arena football team to Spokane.

Prospective owner Brady Nelson met with city officials Thursday in hopes of establishing a National Indoor Football League franchise in Spokane. Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Sam Adams, a 12-year NFL veteran who played for the Seahawks from 1994-99, would have a role in ownership, Nelson said.

“We’re getting close and it’s exciting,” Nelson said. “The Spokane Arena staff has been great. We can’t officially announce anything until we have an agreement with them, but we’re getting close to something that works for both of us.”

Kevin Twohig, executive director of the Spokane Public Facilities District, said the city has been approached several times in recent years by potential arena teams, but he’s impressed with Nelson’s plans.

“We talked about advancing toward getting a use agreement done and we went through an overview of lease terms” for the Spokane Arena, Twohig said. “I felt very positive about it. I think it’s very possible there will be a team here in spring 2006.”

NIFL teams play a 14-game schedule with seven home dates. The NIFL season runs from late March to June, so there figures to be minimal conflict with NCAA basketball, Spokane Chiefs hockey and Spokane Indians baseball.

“I picked football because I love sports and we don’t have a team here,” said the 27-year-old Nelson, a Central Valley grad who owns Regal Satellite and Regal Security. “There’s the Seahawks but they’re Seattle’s deal. There are 3½ months of down time after March Madness and before the Spokane Indians play.”

The NIFL is not affiliated with the Arena Football League or arenafootball2, though it plays on an indoor field of the same dimensions (50 yards by 25 yards). There are currently 21 NIFL teams, according to vice president of operations Dan Blum, and the league is optimistic about expanding.

The NIFL is affiliated with the NFL in recruiting, training and supervising of NIFL officials, Blum said.

“The league has been in existence for five years and that’s pretty good testimony that there’s some stability,” Blum said. “I would suppose other than the AFL this is probably the longest existing indoor league.”

Nelson and Adams, who owns the NIFL’s Everett franchise, began talking several months ago about establishing a Spokane team. “We were pursuing it at the same time with the league and the Spokane Arena put us together,” said Nelson, who would be the primary owner. “Marketing and promoting is my thing and Sam’s expertise is on the football side.”

Spokane would likely compete in the West Division of the Pacific Conference with Casper (Wyo.), Billings, Tri-Cities and Everett. Blum and Nelson said there’s been talk of Boise joining the NIFL. Blum said there’s no problem with Adams having an ownership hand with two teams. There are currently some owners with stakes in two NIFL franchises, Blum said.

“Usually you try to get the best players regionally and fill in from there. Sam has a lot of contacts,” Nelson said. “The next step is working with the Arena, getting our marketing plan together and start searching for a coaching staff. We need to hammer out our corporate identity, our team colors, mascot and name. We plan on announcing our strategy in September.”