Bloomington Edge To Join CPIFL

Indoor football will remain in Bloomington under new ownership that’s already familiar to the community.
Hockey Sensations LLC led by Sandra Hunnewell has agreed to purchase the Bloomington Edge indoor football team from principal owner Jim Morris. Hunnewell’s group formed the Bloomington Blaze hockey team last year; that team begins its second Central Hockey League season next week.  Morris operated the Edge for the 2011 season.
“We are very confident with the overall commitment of Blaze owner Sandra Hunnewell and the leadership of Blaze President David Holt,” said John Butler, President of Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM) which operates U.S. Cellular Coliseum. “There are many advantages to the Blaze operating the football team. They have a full-time dedicated front office staff and Mr. Holt understands the commitment it takes to operate successful minor league teams. They will bring a lot of excitement to downtown Bloomington and U.S. Cellular Coliseum next season.”
“Indoor football has proven to be popular in Central Illinois and we are happy to include the Edge in our operations,” said Hunnewell. “We have the necessary resources already in place with the Blaze, which will allow for a smooth transition as we continue to provide Bloomington-Normal with professionally-operated teams of which the community can be proud.”
The Edge are finalizing plans to play in the new Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL), which is scheduled to begin play in February 2013 with teams in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The Edge are the eighth team to announce plans to join the new circuit, with at least two more teams expected to announce their plans to join in coming weeks.
“The idea behind the CPIFL is to bring together like-minded owners with an emphasis on geography and professionalism,” said CPIFL Commissioner James Bain. “Bloomington has a successful history of putting exciting teams on the field, and adding the Edge to our league brings a great deal of credibility.”
Hockey Sensations will assume the final year of the current indoor football license agreement, pending approval by the Bloomington City Council. “The indoor football team is dependent on the final year of the license agreement with the city,” said Butler. “The terms and conditions of the current license agreement will not change for next season.”