The Bismarck Bucks were an indoor American football team based in Bismarck, North Dakota . The Bucks joined Champions Indoor Football (CIF) as an expansion team in 2016, and began play for the 2017 season. The team moved to the Indoor Football League (IFL) beginning with the 2019 season . The team played its home games at the Bismarck Event Center in Bismarck. The team suspended operations in 2022; the team's owners indicated it would attempt to return in 2025 under a new brand, the Dakota Bucks , once the regulatory issues that prevented the team from playing in 2023 were resolved. The issues, as of November 2024, remain unresolved, and the IFL left the team off its 2025 schedule.
8-703: The Bucks were the third indoor football team to play in Bismarck, following the Bismarck Blaze who played in the original Indoor Football League for its second and final season of 2000, as well as the Bismarck Roughriders who played in the National Indoor Football League from 2002 until 2003 . On September 28, 2016, it was announced that Bismarck had been granted a team in the CIF to begin play for
16-608: The 2017 season and owned by the Sallberg family under the corporate name Dakota Pro Football LLC. Richard Davis was announced as the team's first head coach and general manager, with former University of Mary wide receiver Elby Pope signed as the team's first player. Following a name-the-team contest, the Bismarck Bucks name, logo and colors were announced on the November 1 episode of KXMB-TV news/talk program Good Day Dakota. During
24-606: The 2019 season, following the Quad City Steamwheelers from the CIF. At the beginning of the 2019 season , the majority ownership of Dakota Pro Football LLC was sold to BEK Communications by the Sallberg family. The Bucks were inactive for the 2023 season in the IFL. The team will be collaborating with the North Dakota Workforce Safety Insurance (WSI) to determine the scope of services needed to support
32-574: The 2025 season; this did not come to pass, and on October 31, 2024, the IFL released its 2025 schedule, which did not include the Bucks. Bismarck Blaze The Bismarck Blaze were a professional indoor American football team based in Bismarck, North Dakota . They were members of the original Indoor Football League founded in 1999 and began play in 2000. They competed in the Northern Division of
40-475: The Bucks' second season, head coach and general manager Richard Davis was relieved of duties after several workplace grievances had been filed against him and his wife Judy Davis, another Bucks' employee. He was replaced by former Wichita Force and Bucks' offensive coordinator Paco Martinez on an interim basis. On October 5, 2018, the Bucks announced that they had joined the Indoor Football League for
48-576: The Western Conference. The Blaze were founded as an expansion team in 1999 and joined the original incarnation of the Indoor Football League along with several others expansion franchises. In the only season in the IFL, the team compiled an 11–3 record finishing in first place in the Western Conference and qualified for the IFL Gold Cup playoffs. They defeated the Sioux City Attack 30–14 in
56-581: The franchise. The team' proposed a relocation to Fargo , planning to play its games in Scheels Arena there, with one game at Rough Rider Center in Watford City ; to this effect, the team hosted a "Fargo IFL Gridiron Classic" between the Sioux Falls Storm and Massachusetts Pirates on April 27. To accommodate the change, the team announced a name change to the "Dakota Bucks." The Bucks looked to compete in
64-578: The second round of the playoffs, then the Topeka Kings 51–-27 in the semifinals advancing to the 2000 Gold Cup, only to lose to the Peoria Pirates in the championship game 69–42. After the IFL was bought out by af2 , the Blaze were not among the many teams that moved to the new league and subsequently folded. However, a new franchise resurfaced in Bismarck to play in the National Indoor Football League for
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