Bemidji Axemen
| Minnesota Axemen | |||||
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Established 2013 Folded 2015 Played in Sanford Center in Bemidji, Minnesota MinnesotaAxemen.com |
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Indoor Football League (2014–2015)
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| Team colors | Red, Blue, Silver, White |
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| Mascot | Axel the Axeman | ||||
| Personnel | |||||
| Owner(s) | Phil Sallberg Nate Coffin Dan Skaug |
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| General manager | Richard Davis | ||||
| Head coach | Richard Davis | ||||
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| Championships | |||||
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League championships (0) 0 |
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Conference championships (0) 0 |
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Division championships (0) 0 |
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Indoor Football League (2014–2015)
The Minnesota Axemen were a professional indoor football team based in Bemidji, Minnesota. The Axemen joined the Indoor Football League (IFL) as an expansion team in 2013 as the Bemidji Axemen, and first took the field for the 2014 season. They participated in the United Conference of the IFL. The Axemen played their home games at the Sanford Center in Bemidji.
The Axemen are the first-ever indoor/arena football team to call Bemidji home, as well as Minnesota's first indoor/arena football team since the Duluth-Superior Lumberjacks and the Mankato-based Minnesota Purple Rage both played in the original Indoor Football League for the 2000 season, the league's last before folding.
The team would change their name to the Minnesota Axemen prior to the 2016 season. However, the league terminated the franchise's membership as they failed to meet the league's operational standards and commitments. Thus, the franchise folded on November 24, 2015
On July 15, 2013, the Bemidji Pioneer reported that the IFL was looking to expand to Northern Minnesota and the Sanford Center, with a press conference taking place three days later on July 18. League expansion director and Cedar Rapids Titans owner Chris Kokalis would state that for a team to begin play for the 2014 season, ownership had to be found between late August and early September at the latest. Reports of a potential ownership group forming surfaced on August 15. Five days later, on August 20, the IFL confirmed that an agreement had been reached and a team would indeed be coming to Bemidji, with an official press conference scheduled for the following day.
The team was officially named the Bemidji Axemen on September 5, 2013; the name is partly meant to reflect Bemidji's history and incorporated the Paul Bunyan tale so linked with the area. On February 22, 2014, the Axemen won their inaugural regular season game, claiming victory over the Green Bay Blizzard. The team performed well through early May, posting a 5-4 record, but then collapsed with 5 consecutive losses to complete the season at 5-9 and 3rd place in the United Conference. Fuller was fired after the end of the season.
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