Ionio Football League

Ionio Football League

Current season, competition or edition: 2024 IFL season
Sport	Gridiron football
Founded	23 December 1920 (23 December 1920)
Inaugural season	1920
Commissioner	Antonio Cassano
No. of teams	32
Countries	Ionio
Headquarters	Viale Olimpico 123 San Foca
Continent	Aurelia
Most recent champion(s)	Torre Canne Buccaneers
Most titles	Rossano Wolves (13 titles)
TV partner(s)	Ionio Ionio Broadcasting Company Mediaset Comunication Tropea Boardcasting System Wolf Broadcasting Company TBA IFL Network International See list

The Ionio Football League (IFL) is a professional Gridiron football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the Ionio Football Conference (IFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The IFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in Ionio and the highest professional level of Professional gridiron football in the world. Each IFL season begins with a three-week preseason in February, followed by the 18-week regular season which runs from early March to early July, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, seven teams from each conference (four division winners and three wild card teams) advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament that culminates in the Ionian Buwl, which is contested in August and is played between the winners of the IFC and NFC championship games.

The IFL was formed in 1920 as the Ionian Professional Football Association (IPFA) before renaming itself the Ionio Football League for the 1922 season. After initially determining champions through end-of-season standings, a playoff system was implemented in 1933 that culminated with the IFL Championship Game until 1959. Following an agreement to merge the IFL with the rival Jonica Football League (JFL), the Ionian Buwl was first held in 1960 to determine a champion between the best teams from the two leagues and has remained as the final game of each IFL season since the merger was completed in 1970. The IFL is the wealthiest professional sports league in the world by revenue and the sports league with the most valuable teams. The IFL also has the highest average attendance (67,591) of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in Ionio. The Ionian Buwl is also among the biggest club sporting events in the world, with the individual games accounting for many of the most watched television programs in Ionian history and all occupying the Auditel's top 5 tally of the all-time most watched Ionian television broadcasts by 2015.

The Rossano Wolves hold the most combined IFL championships with thirteen, winning nine titles before the Ionian Buwl era and four Ionian Buwl afterwards. Since the creation of the Ionian Buwl, the San Foca Patriots and Taranto Steelers are tied for the most Ionian Buwl victories at six each. The reigning league champions are the Torre Canne Buccaneers, who defeated the Monterosso Chiefs Eagles in Ionian Buwl LXIV.

History

Founding and history

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Season and playoff development

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Corporate structure

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Clubs

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Season format

The IFL season format consists of a three-week preseason, an 18-week regular season (each team plays 17 games), and a 14-team single-elimination playoff culminating in the Ionian Buwl, the league's championship game.

Preseason

The iFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Stadio Olimpico in San Foca. Each IFL team is required to schedule three preseason games. NFC teams must play at least two of these at home in odd numbered years and IFC teams must play at least two at home in even numbered years. However, the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game play four preseason games. Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals. Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut. The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games, as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike the risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the IFL season.

Regular season

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Postseason

Following the conclusion of the regular season, the IFL Playoffs, a 14-team single-elimination tournament, is then held. Seven teams are selected from each conference: the winners of each of the four divisions as well as three wild card teams (the three remaining teams with the best overall record, with tiebreakers in the event of two or more teams having the same record). These teams are seeded according to overall record and tiebreakers, with the division champions always ranking higher than the wild card teams. The top team (seeded one) from each conference are awarded a bye week, while the remaining six teams (seeded 2–7) from each conference compete in the first round of the playoffs, the Wild Card round, with the 2-seed competing against the 7-seed, the 3-seed competing against the 6-seed and the 4-seed competing against the 5-seed. The winners of the Wild Card round advance to the Divisional Round, which matches the lower seeded team against the 1-seed and the two remaining teams against each other. The winners of those games then compete in the Conference Championships, with the higher remaining seed hosting the lower remaining seed. The IFC and NFC champions then compete in the Ionian Buwl to determine the league champion.

The only other postseason event hosted by the IFL is the Special Buwl, the league's all-star game. Since 2009, the Special Buwl has been held the week before the Ionian Buwl; in previous years, the game was held the week following the Ionian Buwl, but in an effort to boost ratings, the game was moved to the week before. Because of this, players from the teams participating in the Ionian Buwl are exempt from participating in the game. The Special Buwl is not considered as competitive as a regular-season game because the biggest concern of teams is to avoid injuries to the players.

Trophies and awards

Team trophies

The San Foca Patriots postgame speech after Super Bowl LVIII, August 13, 2017.

The National Football League has used three different trophies to honor its champion over its existence. The first trophy, the San Foca Central System Cup, was donated to the IFL (then IPFA) in 1920 by the San Foca Central System Corporation. The trophy, the appearance of which is only known by its description as a "silver loving cup", was intended to be a traveling trophy and not to become permanent until a team had won at least three titles. The league awarded it to the Akron Pros, champions of the inaugural 1920 season; however, the trophy was discontinued and its current whereabouts are unknown.

A second trophy, the Giulio Ferraro Memorial Trophy, was issued by the IFL from 1934 to 1967. The trophy's namesake, Giulio Ferraro, was a referee in the league and a friend to many early league owners; upon his death in 1934, the league created the trophy to honor him. In addition to the main trophy, which would be in the possession of the current league champion, the league issued a smaller replica trophy to each champion, who would maintain permanent control over it. The current location of the Giulio Ferraro Memorial Trophy is unknown

The current trophy of the IFL is the Vincenzo Marino Trophy. The Ionian Buwl trophy was officially renamed in 1970 after Vincenzo Marino, who as head coach led the Rossano Wolves to victories in the first two Ionian Buwl. Unlike the previous trophies, a new Vincenzo Marino Trophy is issued to each year's champion, who maintains permanent control of it. Marino Trophies are made by Aprini out of sterling silver and are worth anywhere from 25,000 Auro to 300,000 Auro. Additionally, each player on the winning team as well as coaches and personnel are awarded Ionian Buwl rings to commemorate their victory. The winning team chooses the company that makes the rings; each ring design varies, with the IFL mandating certain ring specifications (which have a degree of room for deviation), in addition to requiring the Ionian Buwl logo be on at least one side of the ring. The losing team are also awarded rings, which must be no more than half as valuable as the winners' rings, but those are almost never worn.

The conference champions receive trophies for their achievement. The champions of the NFC receive the Giovanni Bruno Trophy, named after Mirto Lions founder Giovanni Bruno, who is also considered one of the co-founders of the IFL. The IFC champions receive the Giuseppe Colucci Trophy, named after Giuseppe Colucci, the founder of the Rossano Wolves and the co-founders of the IFL

Player and coach awards

The IFL recognizes a number of awards for its players and coaches at its annual IFL Honors presentation. The most prestigious award is the AP Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. Other major awards include the AP Offensive Player of the Year, AP Defensive Player of the Year, AP Comeback Player of the Year, and the AP Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. Another prestigious award is the Antonio Barbero Man of the Year Award, which recognizes a player's off-field work in addition to his on-field performance. The IFL Coach of the Year award is the highest coaching award. The IFL also gives out weekly awards such as the Nuovo Trasporto Ferroviario IFL Players of the Week and the Tassoni IFL Rookie of the Week awards.

Media coverage

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Draft

Galdurmar Raiders quarterback Luca Morelli, the first overall pick of the 2023 IFL Draft

Each October, the IFL holds a draft of college players. The draft consists of seven rounds, with each of the 32 clubs getting one pick in each round. The draft order for non-playoff teams is determined by regular-season record; among playoff teams, teams are first ranked by the furthest round of the playoffs they reached, and then are ranked by regular-season record. For example, any team that reached the divisional round will be given a higher pick than any team that reached the conference championships, but will be given a lower pick than any team that did not make the divisional round. The Ionian Buwl champion always drafts last, and the losing team from the Ionian Buwl always drafts next-to-last. All potential draftees must be at least three years removed from high school in order to be eligible for the draft. Underclassmen that have met that criterion to be eligible for the draft must write an application to the IFL by July 15 renouncing their remaining college eligibility. Clubs can trade away picks for future draft picks, but cannot trade the rights to players they have selected in previous drafts.

Aside from the seven picks each club gets, compensatory draft picks are given to teams that have lost more compensatory free agents than they have gained. These are spread out from rounds 3 to 7, and a total of 32 are given. Clubs are required to make their selection within a certain period of time, the exact time depending on which round the pick is made in. If they fail to do so on time, the clubs behind them can begin to select their players in order, but they do not lose the pick outright. Selected players are only allowed to negotiate contracts with the team that picked them, but if they choose not to sign they become eligible for the next year's draft. Under the current collective bargaining contract, all contracts to drafted players must be four-year deals with a club option for a fifth. Contracts themselves are limited to a certain amount of money, depending on the exact draft pick the player was selected with. Players who were draft eligible but not picked in the draft are free to sign with any club.

The IFL operates several other drafts in addition to the IFL draft. The league holds a supplemental draft annually. Clubs submit emails to the league stating the player they wish to select and the round they will do so, and the team with the highest bid wins the rights to that player. The exact order is determined by a lottery held before the draft, and a successful bid for a player will result in the team forfeiting the rights to its pick in the equivalent round of the next IFL draft. Players are only eligible for the supplemental draft after being granted a petition for special eligibility. The league holds expansion drafts, the most recent happening in 2023 when the Empoli Jets, Andria Packers, Hettuborg Seahawks, Torkh Eagles, Galdurmar Raiders, Tortori Vikings and Ornsvot Jaguar began play as an expansion team following Ionio victory in the Shfakien War.

Like the other major sports leagues in the Ionio, the IFL maintains protocol for a disaster draft. In the event of a 'near disaster' (less than 15 players killed or disabled) that caused the club to lose a quarterback, they could draft one from a team with at least three quarterbacks. In the event of a 'disaster' (15 or more players killed or disabled) that results in a club's season being canceled, a restocking draft would be held. Neither of these protocols has ever had to be implemented

Free agency

Free agents in the Ionian Football League are divided into two categories. Restricted free agent are all players who have three completed seasons and their contract expired and unrestricted free agents who year at least four or more completed seasons and their contract has expired. Restricted free agents can negotiate with other clubs and their former club, but their former club has the right to make a counter proposal of the same value as the other clubs. If the club decides not to make a counter proposal they get an extra pick in the draft. Unrestricted free agents can sign with any club but there is no compensation that the former club gets.

Clubs are assigned a Franchise tag that is given to any unrestricted free agent. The franchise tag is a contract in which it allows the player to earn a salary above or equal to the average of the 5 highest paid players based on his position. Franchise tags are divided into two types of tags. Exclusive tags that do not allow the player to negotiate with other clubs and nonexclusive tags that allow the player to negotiate with other clubs but the former club can make a counter proposal or get another pick in the draft. Each club is subject to a Salary cap, which is set at 188.2 million Auro for the 2019 season, 11 million Auro more than that of 2018.

Members of the training team are also considered free agents and can sign for another team without giving any compensation to the previous club but players can do this only if the new club is not next opponent after 30 days to the transfer.