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Peoria Pirates
AmericanFootball current event.svg 2009 af2 season
Peoria Pirates
Founded 1999
Folded September 2009
Owner Doug MacGregor (49%)[1]
Jim Foster[1]
Home arena Carver Arena (Peoria Civic Center)
City, State Peoria, Illinois
Conference American
Division Midwest
ArenaCup championships 2000, 2002 (af2)
Conference titles 2002, 2004 (af2)
Division titles 1999 (IFL)
2000, 2002 (af2)

The Peoria Pirates were a professional arena football team that last played in af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Carver Arena, part of the Peoria Civic Center in Illinois, and were coached by Mike Hohensee. The Pirates originally began play as a charter member of the Indoor Football League in 1999.

In their existence, the Pirates played in the Indoor Football League (IFL), af2 (twice), and United Indoor Football (UIF). They also won the 2000 IFL Championship. They were also, while in the UIF, known as the Peoria Rough Riders.

History[]

Indoor Football League (IFL) / af2[]

The Peoria Pirates were charter members of the Indoor Football League (IFL) and were also the IFL runners-up in 1999 and won the IFL championship in 2000 before their original league folded and the franchise moved over to af2. After the move, the Pirates managed to win ArenaCup III over the Florida Firecats, but couldn't repeat their performance the following year.

United Indoor Football (UIF)[]

Rough Riders

Peoria Rough Riders logo

After losing ArenaCup V to the Firecats, the franchise moved to United Indoor Football (UIF) and became the Peoria Rough Riders. Before changing team name (along with their move to the UIF), their name was the Mutineers. However, their IFL and af2 success did not translate with their move to United Indoor Football, as they finished 6–9, then 0–15.

On September 15, 2006, the Rough Riders officially ceased operations.[2][dead link]

af2 return[]

On August 22, 2007, it was announced that a new team would begin playing at Carver Arena, which would, play in af2, assume the old Peoria Pirates name, logo, colors, and history, and have longtime head coach Bruce Cowdrey become head coach once again. The Pirates returned to play in the 2008 af2 season.[3][dead link]

2009 closure[]

The domain of the Pirates official website expired on 31 August 2009. On 7 September 2009, the Pirates announced that they were closing down, would not play in 2010, and were selling off the team equipment later in the week.[4] The team could not provide a the required commitment and two $100,000 letters of credit by the af2's September 8 deadline for the 2010 season.[1][5] Later in the week, the Peoria Journal Star noted that one of the owners of the nearby Bloomington Extreme was interested in assisting with the launch of a new Peoria team as part of a new Midwest division for the Indoor Football League.[6]

Season-by-season[]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties

Season W L T Finish Playoff results
Peoria Pirates (IFL)
1999 11 1 0 1st EC Northern Won Semifinal (Dayton)
Lost Gold Cup I (Green Bay)
2000 14 0 0 1st EC Northern Won Round 1 (Madison)
Won Semifinal (Steel Valley)
Won Gold Cup II (Bismarck)
Peoria Pirates (af2)
2001 7 9 0 4th NC Midwestern --
2002 11 5 0 1st NC Midwestern Won NC Round 1 (Wichita)
Won NC Semifinal (San Diego)
Won NC Championship (Birmingham)
Won ArenaCup III (Florida)
2003 5 11 0 4th NC Midwestern --
2004 9 7 0 3rd NC Midwestern Won NC Round 1 (Oklahoma City)
Won NC Semifinal (Bakersfield)
Won NC Championship (Tulsa)
Lost ArenaCup V (Florida)
Peoria Rough Riders (UIF)
2005 6 9 0 3rd Midwest --
2006 0 15 0 3rd Central --
2007 Did Not Play
Peoria Pirates (af2)
2008 4 12 0 6th AC Midwest --
2009 5 11 0 5th AC Midwest --
Totals 79 76 0 (including playoffs)

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Eminian, Dave (2009-09-07). "Pirates won't play in Peoria". Peoria Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois: The Peoria Journal Star, Inc. (Gatehouse Media, Inc.)): p. A1. http://www.pjstar.com/news/x116303811/Pirates-wont-play-in-Peoria.
  2. http://www.pjstar.com/stories/091606/ROU_BAVLU2DQ.W02.shtml[dead link]
  3. http://pjstar.com/stories/082207/SPO_BE52L8ME.077.php[dead link]
  4. "Peoria Pirates af2 Cease Operations Media Release" (Press release). Peoria, Illinois: Peoria Pirates. 2009-09-07. http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3901901. Retrieved 2009-09-08.
  5. Long, Blake (2009-09-07). "Peoria Pirates Fold; Won't Play 2010 Season". ciproud.com (WMBD-TV). Peoria, Illinois: Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.. http://centralillinoisproud.com/content/fulltext/?cid=76471.
  6. Eminian, Dave (2009-09-08). "Indoor game is dead, but not buried". Peoria Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois: The Peoria Journal Star, Inc. (Gatehouse Media, Inc.)): p. D1. http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x1595423043/Eminian-Indoor-game-is-dead-but-not-buried.

External links[]

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