Рочестер Рейдерс: Американ футбол командасының тарихы

American indoor football team

The Rochester Raiders were a professional indoor football team based in the Rochester, New York area. They played their home games at Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex in Rochester. The Raiders were previously a member of the Continental Indoor Football League from 2006 to 2008 and the American Indoor Football Association for two exhibition matches in 2008. In 2014, the Raiders came back and played as a member of American Indoor Football (AIF). The Raiders played in the CIFL championship game twice, both times against the Port Huron / Michigan Pirates. They lost to Port Huron in 2006 but defeated Michigan in 2007. Rochester finished the 2008 regular season undefeated at 12–0; however, the team resigned after their final regular season opponent, the Flint Phantoms, did not show for the game and forfeited.

The Rochester Raiders were founded in 2006 as a charter member of the newly created Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL). The Raiders derived their name from a local flag football team. There were a small number of fans concerned with copyright between the team's logo and the National Football League's Oakland Raiders. However, since the Rochester team never played in California, this was not believed to be of real concern. The Raiders were one of two 2006 teams in the GLIFL that held a television contract, at the time with WBGT CA, a local low power station. Games have since been moved to Time Warner Cable SportsNet. The Raiders' first home venue was the ESL Sports Centre in Brighton (a suburb of Rochester, now known as Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex). The team's 2006 roster featured Syracuse University standout wide receiver Maurice Jackson (who won the inaugural GLIFL Wide Receiver of the Year Award), quarterback Matt Cottengim (the league's inaugural MVP), Darius Smith (the league's inaugural Return Man of the Year), and in January 2006, they signed 2 time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl XXVI Most Valuable Player Mark Rypien to a one game contract. Rochester went 8–4 under head coach Dennis Greco (on loan from East Rochester High School) during the 2006 regular season and advanced to the postseason. However, they would ultimately fall to the Port Huron Pirates by a score of 40–34 in Great Lakes Bowl I, the GLIFL championship game. After the season, the Raiders moved from the 2,500 seat ESL Sports Centre to the 5,000 seat Main Street Armory in downtown Rochester.

In December 2009, Rochester businessman Bob Bartosiewicz sold his majority share in the team to minority owner and team founder Dave McCarthy; Bartosiewicz, who had backed out of a plan to bring an af2 franchise to nearby Buffalo the year prior, had lost millions of dollars on the Raiders during the team's existence. McCarthy announced that the team would be playing its 2010 home games at the Dome Arena in Henrietta, which has 2,164 seats—the lowest seating capacity of any IFL team, and lower than the previous arenas they used in the GLIFL and CIFL.

On April 23, 2010, McCarthy announced that he was looking to sell part of the team. On June 5, 2010, the Raiders hosted the first outdoor IFL game against the Chicago Slaughter at Marina Auto Stadium. The Raiders won that game 43 36.

In November 2010, the Rochester Raiders announced its cessation of operations. Professional indoor football would return to the city in 2013, with the announcement of the independent Roc City Thunder taking up residence in the city.

For the 2014 season the Rochester Raiders began play in the American Indoor Football League. After initially announcing plans to return to the Main Street Armory, a scheduling issue prompted the team to instead return to Bill Gray's. The Raiders suspended operations after the 2014 season with the intent of returning in 2016. The Raiders never returned and a new team called the Rochester Kings would start play in 2017.