Iowa’s Newest Football Team Folded After a Week 1 Win

Iowa's newest football team has announced it's suspending operations after playing and winning their Week 1 contest in the newly revived Arena Football League (AFL). From the press release to the surrounding news questioning the stability of the league, it's a wonder if more teams won't follow suite.

The Iowa Rampage are one of 16 inaugural teams in the relaunch of the AFL. After winning their season opener against the Rapid City Marshals by an eye-popping score of 58-28, the Rampage have effectively folded, per an announcement on their Facebook page. The team never played a single game in Iowa.

Had the Rampage lasted long enough, they would've played their home games in the 30,000 square-feet arena Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, IA. Things already weren't looking good when the team fired their head coach back in January, but now, the entire league itself looks to be in hot water.

In the press release, written by Iowa Rampage owners Trevor Burdett and Mike Taliaferro, they cite multiple broken promises from AFL Commissioner Lee A. Hutton III, including a lack of camp and workout gear, as well as a botched agreement with the NFL Network.

The NFL Network was set to broadcast a couple dozen Arena Football League games this season, but not a single game aired on the network during Week 1 and none are on the schedule in the future:

Lee Hutton and his team have destroyed not only the revival of the AFL, but they have destroyed the hopes of players all over the US,” Rampage owners Trevor Burdett and Mike Taliaferro said in the press release. “As owners, we do not take this decision lightly and we wished this wouldn’t have come, but with the promised support of the league, we have no other option than to discontinue operations immediately. - per a press release from the Iowa Rampage

Part of the trouble with these start-up football leagues is figuring out how/where to find reliable information related to league news, player signings, and more. According to the website Pro Football Newsroom, there are reports that the AFL and Iowa's next opponent might step in to fund the Rampage, so they can play their game against the Southwest Kansas Storm in Council Bluffs this weekend.

However, then you see the Iowa Rampage Twitter account post this damning comment from a Facebook user on their page and start to wonder how they come back from this:

Talk about an absolutely unmitigated disaster.

To be clear, the Iowa Rampage has nothing to do with the Iowa Woo (formerly the Waterloo Woo) of The Arena League. The Arena League is a brand new football league that is also looking to begin play later this year, with the Iowa Woo said to play at the Hippodrome.

Even the newly launched United Football League (UFL), which saw the United States Football League (USFL) and XFL merge into one league, has had their own struggles, but this has mostly been in ratings consistency. When a league is having trouble funding basic gear for their players, let alone paying them, that's the sign of a true failure.

Learn more about the Iowa Rampage's exit from the Arena Football League on Pro Football Newsroom's website.