Tucson 'checked off all the boxes' as host of IFL championship

After Las Vegas’ three-year bid as the host of the Indoor Football League national championship, the league explored other options.

IFL commissioner Todd Tryon thought about extending the league’s agreement in Las Vegas, but also looked into Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, the host of the Arizona Rattlers, or Nashville.

Rio Nuevo District and Visit Tucson “put the bid together to get us” to Tucson, Tryon said. After a quick trip to Tucson and walking around the downtown area and scoping out the Tucson Convention Center, which finished a 10-year, $100 million renovation project last year, Tryon was sold on hosting the championship at Tucson Arena — also known as “The Bone Yard,” the home of the Tucson Sugar Skulls, which has been in the IFL since 2019.

“We’re really excited,” Tryon said. “We just wrapped up three years in Vegas and we’re looking forward to a new market and experience a new market. ... We’re really excited about something new. We always try to keep it west since that’s more of a centralized location. We’re looking forward to it. Behind the scenes, it’s all hands on deck, just getting ready for a big weekend.”

The IFL championship at Tucson Arena Saturday night is a matchup between the fourth-seeded Vegas Knight Hawks (12-6) and second-seeded Green Bay Blizzard (12-6) — the two highest-scoring teams in the IFL this season.

Leading up to the IFL championship, the league will host owner meetings and host its annual awards banquet in Tucson. Preceding the game on Saturday, the IFL is hosting a pregame tailgate in the main exhibit hall at Tucson Convention Center.

Tryon recently joined “Spears & Ali” on ESPN Tucson to talk about the IFL championships beginning its three-year contract in Tucson and the highly anticipated matchup on Saturday.

What separated Tucson from the other potential host cities for the IFL championship?

A: “Vegas wanted it back. Vegas does a great job of hosting and it’s a great destination city, but what we learned over three years — and we’re learning here and we knew it — is that it’s about matchups. What is the matchup that will attract people, because your city alone coming out to support a game where they don’t have a team in it, that’s the challenge.

“We looked at Glendale. Glendale has 15,000 people, but if the Rattlers aren’t in it, that’s a big stadium to fill. We had a couple of Midwest teams, but sometimes those Midwest sites are a challenge to get to. Then we looked at Tucson and it checked off all the boxes.

“We wanted a warmer climate, something that was centralized, because pretty much everyone in the west can drive to Tucson and (the) east was going to be a flight anyway. Visit Tucson and Rio Nuevo, they did a great job of bringing money to the table to justify us committing.”

What do you like about the matchup between Green Bay and Vegas, which is led by former Arizona Wildcats quarterback Jayden de Laura, who has thrown for 34 touchdowns and three interceptions this season?

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

A: “Jayden has had a great season. What’s crazy about him is Vegas has the reigning (IFL Offensive MVP) at quarterback coming back and Jayden did a great (job) of sticking with it. By Week 3 or Week 4, he earned that starting spot. He’s a good, fun and new talent to watch.

“He slings that ball around and I know he’s a local kid there from the U of A. ... As far as the matchup goes, it’s always so interesting, because the west and east have two totally different styles of play and you’ll see the contrasting styles as they come together. But Green Bay seems to match with the west style pretty good.

“Usually the west is physical and bigger up front and everyone has talent on the outside. But Green Bay was the (No. 1 seed) last year and got upset in the conference championship. It seems like they’ve been playing with a chip on their shoulder. Both teams can score points, so I expect some points to be put on the board. ... Neither team has been in the championship before, which is fun. It says a lot about our league when we don’t have back-to-back winners. It just seems the standard these teams are getting to, you have no idea who’s getting to the championship.”

Arizona has the most IFL teams between the Arizona Rattlers, Tucson Sugar Skulls and Northern Arizona Wranglers. Why is Arizona a good market for the IFL?

A: “The Rattlers. They’ve been around for 35 years or whatever it’s been, so they’ve gotten the state accustomed to the Indoor Football League. Coach (Kevin) Guy had a big hand in it. He was the one who came down to Tucson with his wife and opened the Tucson team. ... I would compliment the Rattlers and Coach Guy having three teams.”

Since the Sugar Skulls joined the IFL six years ago, how much has the league grown?

A: “We have grown tremendously in our standards. By upping our standards, you attract better people and better ownership groups. Not too long ago, we were a six-team league and we’ve grown to 14 and we anticipate a couple more coming on here the next year. We have a huge growth year set for 2027. ...

“When we announce some things we’re about to announce, our valuations are about to go through the roof and we’re going to continue to attract the type of ownership groups that we want. What that does, it stabilizes you. You’re not dealing with lower-end teams cutting the corners. You’re dealing with a higher standard and it goes across the board, which is why you’ve seen the growth that we have.”

Have you noticed an uptick in talent as well?

A: “We have. We continue to be the major league of indoor football. Our rules require you to go out and recruit. There’s only so many veterans that a team can have. I hate using the term ‘developmental league,’ because we create a platform for you to advance your life and 99% of the time will be done off the field. To move up into the higher leagues, like the UFL, CFL or NFL, they’re not taking anyone above 27 years old. We’ve set that at age as the veterans in our league, which creates parity and requires you to go out and recruit new talent. ... It’s attractive to these young athletes that aren’t ready to move on with life just yet.”