ENID, Okla. — The Oklahoma Flying Aces professional indoor football team will play a 10-game season in 2021 according to a release issued by Champions Indoor Football on Monday.
The Flying Aces have not played since the conclusion of their 2019 inaugural season after CIF canceled the league’s 2020 season due to issues related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The league has added an expansion franchise in Wyoming to bring the total number of teams in the league to eight for the 2021 season.
The Flying Aces, who play their home games at Enid’s Stride Bank Center, will open the regular season March 20 at home against Omaha.
Other home games will have Oklahoma hosting Wichita (April 10), West Texas (April 24), Sioux City (May 8) and Wyoming (June 5).
The Flying Aces’ first road game is slated for March 27 at Salina, followed by road trips to Wyoming (April 17), Amarillo (May 1), Wichita (May 21) and a regular-season concluding trip to West Texas on March 12.
The Flying Aces went 2-10 in their inaugural season in 2019.
When the 2020 season was canceled in June, Flying Aces head coach and managing partner Richard Davis, while understanding the decision to not proceed with the season, nonetheless expressed disappointment.
“Here we are in this situation, and we really were going to be so much better this year,” Davis said at the time. The Flying Aces’ only two wins in 2019 came by forfeit. “We were going to be considerably better.”
Davis said he and the players had been anxious to show Enid the improvement.
“I feel so bad for the players,” he said in June. “Those guys have been busting their asses with no one watching for a year now trying to be ready to roll and this [pandemic] just blocks them from having the opportunity to reap any reward or results from that hard work.”
The team said Monday it also was looking into the possibility of adding a preseason game the week before their 2021 season-opener.
Article by: Dave Ruthenberg – Enid News & Eagle
Photo by: Billy Hefton