Pro indoor football team coming to Vermont

Professional indoor football is coming to Vermont.

The Vermont Bucks are expected to join the American Indoor Football league as an expansion franchise next year, team owner Tim Viens confirmed with the Burlington Free Press on Thursday.

Viens, a 1995 South Burlington High School graduate and part-time racecar driver on the NASCAR circuit, said the arrival of indoor football in Vermont will spark major interest.

“This has been a dream of mine for probably four years, something in the back of my head,” the 39-year-old Viens said. “The response I’ve already gotten, the responses on Facebook, people are very excited.

“I think it will be a big hit and people will love it.”

A football player during his days at South Burlington, Viens has raced on NASCAR Camping World Truck and Xfinity series as well as the ARCA circuit. The businessman lives in Daytona Beach, Florida but has a second residence in South Hero, Vermont. He was a kicker in college at Glenville State in West Virginia and was involved with another professional indoor team in Florida as a coach and player about 10 years ago.

American Indoor Football, based out of Baltimore, was founded in 2005 and relaunched in its current form in 2012, according to the league’s website (www.aifprofootball.com). The league is currently made up of 18 teams, but the High County Grizzles, located in Western Carolina, and the Vermont Bucks will be among the expansions teams for 2017.

A message for league commissioner John Morris was not immediately returned Thursday.

Viens said the team will play two preseason games followed by a six-game regular season before the playoffs begin. The 2017 season is slated to start in early March.

The hope, Viens said, is to play home games at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse. UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman said the school has had “serious conversations” with the Bucks but details have yet to be finalized.

“Our involvement would likely be as a facility owner renting Gutterson Fieldhouse to this group for a limited number of games at a time that doesn’t conflict with any of our activities,” Schulman said. “We don’t have an agreement yet.”

AIF is one of a few professional indoor leagues in the country. The Arena Football League, adopted in 1986, is perhaps the most well-known indoor outfit.

So what is American Indoor Football?

•Opposed to the traditional 11-on-11, AIF play is 8-on-8.

•The artificial indoor field is 85 feet wide and 50 yards long with end zones 8-10 yards long.

•Goal posts are centered at each end wall (10 feet off ground; 10 feet wide).

•The 60-minute game is broken up into four 15-minute quarters.

•A running clock is used except for the final minute of each half.

•Each squad is allowed 20 active players on its roster.

Tryouts for the Vermont Bucks will be conducted as early as August, and Viens expects to begin signing players within that time frame. He said over 100 have already expressed interest in competing for a spot on the team.

“We will be bringing talent from all over the country,” he said.

The AIF league wrapped up its 2016 season last month when the Columbus Lions defeated the West Michigan Ironmen 74-32.

For more information about the Bucks, visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/vermontbucks/

This story was originally published on July 7, 2016. Contact Alex Abrami at 660-1848 or aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/aabrami5