The Spokane Empire announce late Wednesday afternoon that they would be ceasing operations for the 2018 season.
Spokane finished its 2017 Indoor Football League (IFL) season with an 8-8 record, and failed to make the playoffs.
Spokane Empire Cease Operations for 2017 season
“We would like to thank the players, coaches, sponsors, fans and the entire Spokane Empire organization for another terrific season of professional indoor football. We came up short of our pre-season goals but it was not for a lack of effort
When we took over the Spokane Shock franchise four years ago, we felt we could provide great family entertainment at an affordable price while putting a competitive team on the field for The Inland Northwest to enjoy for many years to come. When we made the decision to leave the challenged Arena Football League two years ago and join the Indoor Football League, we did so with the desire to become part of a league with a solid foundation and committed ownership groups which we believed would allow us to continue the effort to offer up affordable sports entertainment with a winning team on the field. With strong local support, we felt confident the business would thrive.
After much deliberation, we have made the decision not to play football for the 2018 season to allow ourselves time to explore our alternatives including identifying potential local partners who would like to join in the effort to continue indoor football in Spokane or an outright sale of the team. We will be refunding all 2018 season ticket deposits to the legion of faithful fans who continue to support the team,” The Empire said in a statement.
After Spokane moved from the Arena Football League (AFL) to the IFL, they immediately saw success, making it to the championship game in their first season in the new league.
Now, it looks like the amount of success was not enough to keep the team going.
As the off-season continues to unravel, it will be interesting to see where teams will fall, as this is a big, unexpected hit to the IFL.
