RiverCity Rage

Summary

The RiverCity Rage were a professional indoor football team in the Indoor Football League. They played home games at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri, part of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri, in past seasons, played in the Scottrade Center in downtown St. Louis in the 2006 season, and returned to the Family Arena for the 2007 UIF season.

RiverCity Rage
Established 2001
Folded 2011
Played in Saint Charles, Missouri
at the Family Arena
RageFootball.com
League/conference affiliations
Current uniform
Team colorsBlack, Red, White
     
MascotRagey
Personnel
Owner(s)Robert Sprowls
Jeff Sprowls
General managerBarney Welch
Head coachPatrick Pimmel
Team history
  • St. Louis Renegades (2001)
  • River City Renegades (2002)
  • Show Me Believers (2003–2004)
  • RiverCity Rage (2005–2010)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (2)
2005, 2006
Home arena(s)

History

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The Rage began play in 2001 as the St. Louis Renegades of the Indoor Professional Football League, finishing fourth in the league with a 2–11 record. After the IPFL folded, the team moved to the National Indoor Football League in 2002 and became the River City Renegades. The team finished its first season in the NIFL with a 1–13 record. For 2003–2004, the team was renamed the Show-Me Believers. In the first season under the new name, the team finished with a 4–10 record that showed improvement, despite being a losing record. In 2004, the team's skill increased vastly, and completed the season with a winning record for the first time at 9–5. In 2005, the team was renamed and is currently the RiverCity Rage. The Rage won the 2005 East Atlantic Conference Division with a record of 10–4. With this record, the team was locked in a three-way tie for the best regular-season record; however, the team lost its Conference Quarter Finals game 67 to 64 to the Cincinnati Marshals.

The next season, the team finished in a four-way tie for the regular season record at 13–1, and advanced to the Atlantic Conference championship game, losing to the Fayetteville Guard.

After the 2006 season, the Rage announced they were joining United Indoor Football for 2007. The Rage continue their membership in the United Indoor Football for 2008.[1]

In 2008, the RiverCity Rage struggled through a seven game losing streak before winning three of their last four games to make the playoffs. They won by a last-minute touchdown in a home playoff game against the Sioux City Bandits, but lost the Conference Finals on the road to the Bloomington Extreme, 33–7.

Starting in 2009, the Rage played in the Indoor Football League, a new league created out of the merger between the UIF and the Intense Football League. On August 15, 2009, the Rage lost the Indoor Football League championship to the Billings Outlaws by the score of 71–62.

Jeff Sprowls, who also owned IFL team the Omaha Beef, announced about a month after the Rage's loss in the IFL Championship game that the Rage would be ceasing operations and will not play in the 2010 season, due to financial issues in Omaha. According to the Indoor Football League website the Rage could return in 2011, if new owners are found. The team eventually folded in 2011 when no new owner was found.[2]

Brief rebirth in 2024

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The Rage name and identity would get a brief relaunch as an expansion team in 2023 and as a member of American Indoor Football for 2024. They were to have played in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at the Mid-America Center. However, due to financial concerns and the announcement of the Iowa Rampage joining the newly-launched third incarnation of the Arena Football League (but never played), the franchise delayed their debut season until 2025 and relocated to Coralville, Iowa and were rebranded the Coralville Chaos, currently playing at Xtream Arena.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ Rage Move To New League, OurSportsCentral, September 25, 2006
  2. ^ Owner shuts down IFL's River City, Billings Gazette, October 17, 2009
  3. ^ River City Rage Announces Relocation to Coralville IA for 2025 Indoor Football Season Archived 2010-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, AIF website, October 3, 2023
  4. ^ Coralville Chaos to join the American Indoor Football League in 2025, Ryan Hansen, Iowa City Press-Citizen, March 26, 2024
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