4 teams, 3 weeks, 1 stadium

[J. Myrle Fuller]

So with two days to go before the season I figured I'd check out the SFL site and see if they had any updates. One, they have finally updated their schedule... and two... um... well, this is going to be a rather interesting situation.

As a footnote to their schedule release, the league made note that all games this year are going to be held at Central Broward Regional Park, the home of the Barracudas. Now, that wasn't made clear at first because the first doubleheader had Daytona as the "host" and Hulthwaite apparently has never bothered to renew the contract with Municipal Stadium after the whole Exclusive Football League fiasco last year. So basically they have not only renamed the Swampdogs, but they also didn't renew the agreement with Bishop Verot or find any stadium at or near Pompano Beach... in other words, that whole Pompano Beach thing is just some random city on the Gold Coast they chose.

Three... apparently the season is a mere three weeks long this year, with two games each week. I am not joking. The schedule has two baseball-style doubleheaders on the 8th, 15th and 27th, then it's the playoffs, and everyone qualifies for the playoffs.

Four... we're back down to four teams. The Palm Beach Admirals are not on the schedule this year. Amazingly, however, the Miami Ironmen have survived.

Just to give you an idea of how amateurish the idea of a single-campus league is... I can only think of one other such league: the Texas Six-Man Football League, an all-amateur 6-man outfit in San Antonio that I presume does it because there are not as many 6-man-specific fields (80x40 yards). At least the TSFL doesn't use fake city names!

I know most of us here have pretty much walked out on taking the league seriously, but the whole quixotic notion keeps me coming back, if only for the entertainment value!

starsfootballleague.com/news/sfl-2013-schedule-finalized/

[gatek99]

smh, why do I still check this haha, probably for the laugh I get

[broncofan]

Somehow I'm not surprised at any of this. Maybe they should just give up on the cities call them the Ironmen 1, 2, 3 & 4.

Did anybody try to listed to the ESPN broadcast?

[J. Myrle Fuller]

Unfortunately, I work Saturdays (as usual) and didn't get to listen in. But if their Twitter is any indication, they are taking the SFL seriously. They're using their own staff to cover the game and had quarter-by-quarter updates.

Miami Ironmen 18
Fort Lauderdale Barracudas 14

I do not have a result for the early game.

[broncofan]

Pompano Beach Swampdogs 8
Daytona Beach Racers 6

Oddly enough, no points were scored by the offense of either team. There was an interception for a touchdown, a kick returned for a touchdown, and a safety after a botched snap on a punt.

www.news-journalonline.com/article/20130608/SPORTS/130609759

Incidently, the News-Journal may be the only non-paid for media covering the league at this point. Kind of strange, considering the Racers haven't had a home game in two years.

[J. Myrle Fuller]

It seems merely to be a paraphrase of Dahryll Brown's PR filing with the sports editor, the same way high school teams do. At least he's taking that step. If they were smart, they'd drop the whole Pompano ruse and start sending reports to the News-Press in Fort Myers, too. That will at least keep the public in those towns aware that the teams exist and plants the seeds for a possible return.