The Tri-Cities Fire were a professional indoor football team based out of Kennewick, Washington, with home games at the Toyota Center during the 2019 season.[1] They were owned by Kinshasa Martin of Rampage Sports Entertainment, LLC.[2] They folded in February 2020 after playing one season, citing lack of support from sponsors and ticket sales.[3] They were the second arena/indoor team to play in the Tri-City region preceded by the Tri-Cities Fever of the NIFL, af2 and the Indoor Football League and followed by the Tri-City Rush of the AWFC.
| Tri-Cities Fire | |
|---|---|
| Established 2018 Folded 2020 Played in Kennewick, Washington at Toyota Center GoFireFootball.com | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
| American West Football Conference (2019) | |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Black, red, gold, white |
| Mascot | Sparky |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Rampage Sports Entertainment, LLC (Kinshasa Martin) |
| General manager | Andy Allord |
| Head coach | Kevin Heard |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (0) | |
| Division championships (0) | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
History
editOn October 15, 2018, the American West Football Conference was founded by the Idaho Horsemen and added the Fire and two other teams to the league: the Reno Express, and Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks.[4][5] The Fire were the first indoor football team in the Tri-Cities following the departure of the Tri-Cities Fever of the Indoor Football League in 2016. Despite being announced in October 2018, they were one of the last AWFC teams to sign a lease with the arena in January 2019.[6]
Their season began on March 23, 2019, in a 42–24 loss at Reno. After a 0–5 start to their inaugural season, the Fire fired head coach Warren Reynolds and was replaced by defensive coordinator Kevin Heard.[7] The Fire finished the season losing all twelve games. The team abruptly folded two weeks prior to the planned start of the 2020 season.[8] They would be replaced a year later by the Tri-City Rush.
2019 standings
editFinal standings.[9]
| 2019 American West Football Conference | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | GB | STK | |
| y — Idaho Horsemen | 12 | 0 | 1.000 | 597 | 331 | — | W12 | |
| x – Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks | 6 | 6 | .500 | 461 | 381 | 6 | W2 | |
| x – Reno Express | 6 | 6 | .500 | 339 | 396 | W1 | ||
| Tri-Cities Fire | 0 | 12 | .000 | 303 | 592 | 12 | L12 | |
y – clinched regular season title
x – clinched playoff spot
Playoffs
edit| Semifinal | Final | ||||||||
| 3 | Reno Express | 20 | |||||||
| 3 | Reno Express | 28 | 1 | Idaho Horsemen | 40[10][11] | ||||
| 2 | Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks | 27 | |||||||
References
edit- ^ "Indoor football team reaches Tri-Cities deal". Tri-City Herald. January 29, 2019.
- ^ "Western US based indoor football league forming for 2019". Arena Football Talk. October 21, 2018.
- ^ "Tri-Cities Fire Facebook post February 26, 2020". Facebook. February 26, 2020.
- ^ "A DECISION HAS BEEN MADE". AWFC Insider. October 15, 2018.
- ^ "Western US based indoor football league forming for 2019". Arena Football Talk. October 21, 2018.
- ^ "Indoor football league considers new Tri-City team". Tri-City Herald. December 15, 2018.
- ^ "Tri-Cities Fire brings a new coach and a new attitude in quest to get first league win". Tri-City Herald. May 22, 2019.
- ^ "THE TRI-CITIES FIRE UN-EXPECTANTLY CLOSES UP SHOP!". AWFC. February 28, 2020.
- ^ "AWFC Standings". AWFC. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ "Express v Horsemen (first half)". Facebook.
- ^ "Express v Horsemen (second half)". Facebook.