Indoor Football League not expanding to Wasilla

WASILLA — The Indoor Football League will not be expanding to Wasilla for the 2010 season.

Last month, it appeared a deal was made to bring a third IFL franchise to Alaska, and that team, the Arctic Predators, would be based in Wasilla and the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Complex.

But after an apparent disagreement, followed by a stalemate between an ownership group and would-be head coach Hans Deemer, the IFL will instead be expanding to Kent, Wash., co-owner Chris Kokalis confirmed on Monday afternoon.

That team will be called the Kent Predators, and will be one of two Washington franchises in the 26-team IFL.

Kokalis said the ownership group was unable to come to terms with the city of Wasilla on a lease agreement, and with no place in Wasilla to play, the IFL made other plans.

“We were in a bind to make a decision,” Kokalis said by phone Monday afternoon. “We made a commitment to the league and the two other Alaska franchises to get them another team to help them cut travel costs. We couldn’t put them in a situation where there wouldn’t be a new team in the Pacific Northwest. We had to do something.”

Kokalis was set to co-own the Wasilla franchise alongside Ken Moninski, a Seattle-area businessman who was born and raised in Anchorage. Deemer, a former youth and prep football coach who also spent time as the head coach of the IFL’s Alaska Wild, was hired to be the Wasilla team’s first head coach.

The franchise held its first press conference on Nov. 16 in a Menard Sports Complex meeting room to formerly announced the plans.

Even though the IFL has opted against expanding to Wasilla, Deemer said he is still determined to bring indoor football to the Mat-Su Valley.

“We’re going to continue operations as the Arctic Predators,” Deemer said on Monday.

Deemer has already pursed the possibility of teaming with another league, the American Indoor Football Association.

“We’re very serious about doing this,” Deemer said.

For more on this developing story, see the Tuesday edition of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman and further updates on www.frontiersman.com.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.