More on Local Indoor Football

First off, the af2 press conference apparently did take place today, where the new team was announced. As the rumors had intimated, the new team will be the Mahoning Valley Thunder. In typical fashion, none of the news outlets in Youngstown have put anything of substance on their websites yet regarding the press conference (even though they've been gearing the public up for the team for weeks now). The most information I could find up to now comes from an apparenly semi-literate poster on the af2 message boards who was at the press conference and describes the logo as having a Thor-like character, with hammer raised, combined with the team's initials. Hopefully, there will be some more news on this soon. The af2 website, oddly enough, makes no mention of any expansion whatsoever.

Also, it appears that my earlier announcement of the demise of the Mahoning Valley HitMen was a little premature. Their website has actually been updated, with logos, uniforms, and even sponsors, and it looks like it's still a go. According to Warren's Tribune Chronicle, the team's owner has decided to press on, despite early setbacks in negotiations with the Ice Zone.

It's still up for debate whether or not Youngstown can support one indoor team, let alone two. I think that the af2 team, as I've stated previously, has by far the better chance of survival. What's particularly unusual is that the HitMen club is meant to be the first team in a brand new league- so it's got that added pressure on top of it, as well. No word yet on where those other teams will be from.