State of Semi Pro/Minor League football in the Great Lakes part 3.
3 min readBrien Mitchum
In the last part I covered the Indiana teams that are in abundance, now going to give you my take on the leagues that are currently running in the great lakes, by great lakes I mean Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky.
UFL
The UFL is getting ready to start the second year, after a rough start to year one, they pulled the reigns in on the season and completed it, with some minor bumps in the road and some expected growing pains for sure, eventually crowning the inaugural UFL champs the Motor City Outlaws.
Year two looks to be better than the first with the several new teams that have joined to make the league stronger, including the return of the Michiana Thunderhawk’s. With a few more teams that will join before the start of the season. The pros of the UFL are they have a high set of standards that teams must have to be able to join, live streaming the games, as well as holding players, teams, and owners accountable which in the world of semi-pro is a hard task to accomplish.
The UFL also has strong ties to scouts for players to not only have opportunities to go to college, but higher levels of minor league football. In addition, at the end of 2022 the UFL rolled out Inside the UFL podcast and will continue to have that in 2023 with plans to feature players, teams and have highlights each week will definitely show why they have the best media team around. 2023 is shaping up to be a great year for the 2nd year league.
MCFL-Mid Central Football League
The Former BGFL was rebranded as the MCFL and like a phoenix rising from the ashes it has hit the floor running, improving from a dismal 4 teams in 2022 to an upwards of 12 at the moment with more to join i am sure, the two biggest grabs for the MCFL are the Fort Wayne Tigers (Formally the Fort Wayne Wolverines) and the current talk of the town the new franchise the Indy Bison.
MCFL will also have the return of 2022 champ Kentuckiana Calvary, LCW, Joliet Bucs with the new additions mentioned above and other the MCFL will surely be one of the top leagues in 2023, gaining interest from teams as far as Saint Louis it is already shaping up to be that.
PFA-Players Football Association
The PFA will be going into its second year and with the news of the merge with another league gives them 20 plus teams, spread out through Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and a few other states. With the return of the Canton Pitbull’s who won the 2022 PFA championship in triple overtime versus the Chargers out if Cincinnati who also just announced their commitment to the league, and the newest team Indiana Tornadoes who merged with the Indianapolis Jaguars and have rebranded themselves a bit, and with addition to several national sponsors and the leagues own podcast surely gives them some power going into 2023.
BCFL-Blue Collar Football League
The BCFL has been around for a while and will again be a top league in 2023, even with the loss of some teams going to other leagues there will always be team that want to play in an established league like the BCFL.
Stay tuned for next part as I break down the Indiana rankings as well as the league rankings.
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