The professional Indoor Football League is coming in March to the ShoWare Center in Kent.
ShoWare Center officials and the co-owners announced at a press conference Monday that the Kent Predators will compete in the second-year league.
“I am thrilled to be able to look at the prospect of Kent having its own indoor football team,” Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke said at the press conference. “And of all things, not only be called the Kent Predators, but having the wolf as the mascot – I love wolves. So I can’t wait to do some howling at a future game.”
Tim Higgins, ShoWare general manager, said a letter of intent has been signed by owners Chris Kokalis and Ken Moninski to bring the expansion team to Kent. City and ShoWare officials will release details of the lease with the Predators once the contract has been signed.
“We’re very close; it will be done soon,” Higgins said about the contract.
Kokalis and Moninski are co-owners of the La Crosse (Wis.) Spartans, which joined the league in November and also will debut in 2010. Kokalis is president and chief executive officer of CKME Group Marketing & Entertainment, a full-service marketing firm with offices in Milwaukee, Wis., and Los Angeles.
Moninski, of West Seattle, owns Tukwila-based Global Aircraft Services, a company that provides flight crews and logistics for the managed movement of commercial aircraft around the world.
The Predators will play seven home games and seven games on the road. Games take place Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The IFL schedule is expected to be released within the next week.
The cost of season tickets for seven games are $252 for front-row platinum seats, $232 for club and premium, $187 for reserved, $125 for touchdown and $96 for end-zone seats. Tickets are on sale now at the team’s Web site, www.kentpredators.com.
“This opportunity presented itself and is something we could not pass up,” Kokalis said. “This is an amazing opportunity for us to come into this great facility and a great community.”
Kokalis said a franchise costs about $300,000.
“This venue was always on the top of my list,” Moninski said. “Things in indoor football have been a little chaotic. But when I got involved with Chris and the La Crosse Spartans, he put together a business plan that we have already seen generate success in La Crosse and we believe will generate even greater success here in Kent. As a local resident, I am excited to get this team on the field.”
The league started last spring with 19 teams and plans to field 26 teams in 2010. The league, based in Richmond, Va., was created in 2008 with the merger of the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football.
The league runs a 14-game schedule from March through June. It has teams in 13 states from Maryland to Alaska.
Kent will play the Tri-Cities Fever and the Billings (Mont.) Outlaws, the only other teams in the Pacific Northwest, as well as a couple of teams in Alaska. Tri-Cities left the Arena Football League 2 last month to join the Indoor Football League.
Kokalis said he expects the Predators will sell out some games. The events center can seat 6,000 for football games.
“Teams in this league average 3,000 to 5,000 a game, but some of those bigger rivalries with Tri-Cities bringing fans down I think we could see sellouts,” Kokalis said. “Our staff will work extremely hard to sell out the seven home games.”
Team officials expect to announce a head coach next week. They plan to offer player tryouts later this month. Former college players form the rosters for many of the teams for the eight-on-eight games.
Players will receive $225 per game and a $25 bonus if their team wins, Kokalis said.
ShoWare officials had talked to Arena Football League 2 officials earlier this year about a team in Kent, but never reached an agreement.
City and ShoWare officials are trying to bring more events to the 84.5 million arena that opened last January. Arena officials expect to lose as much as $343,000 this year.
Operators predict the deficit because of the loss of four events scheduled in the last few months of 2009, declining Seattle Thunderbirds hockey attendance and drops in advertising and private suite revenue.
The T-Birds play about 40 games at the ShoWare from September through March. The arena also is the home for the two-game schedule of the Seattle Mist of the women’s Lingerie Football League.
Who: Kent Predators, Indoor Football League
What: 26 teams
When: March-June. 14-game schedule
Where: ShoWare Center, 7 home games
Rules: 8-on-8 players; field 50 yards long; no punting; 21 players on roster; each team may have one coach on the field
Tickets: Season tickets range from $96 to $252
Web site: www.kentpredators.com
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