For nearly two decades, the Indoor Football League (IFL) has delivered a spring football option for fans across the United States. Built from the ground up, the league continues to grow through stable ownership and a commitment to opportunity.
“We’re playing top level football in the spring. Our league has always been a platform to improve your life,” says IFL President Jared Widman.
Widman is in his first year leading the league after a brief stint as President and COO of the Arena Football League. With more than 20 years of executive leadership experience, he joined the IFL in November 2025 with a clear priority: expand the league’s visibility.
That effort quickly led to a major media breakthrough. The IFL partnered with Yahoo Sports and C15 Studio to stream 59 games nationally, a significant leap for a league that previously had limited distribution.
Widman says the results of the new partnership through the first month of the season have been phenomenal with first game viewership figures coming next week. With the added distribution plus a massive landmark multi-year, multi-million-dollar media rights agreement with Overtime for an additional 55 broadcasts, the key was building a talent roster to meet the moment.
“We didn’t go from crawling to walking. We went from crawling to sprinting,” says Widman. “We’ve brought in national talent to support these broadcasts as well. The support we have has been tremendous. It’s introducing so many new fans to the fast-paced action of our game.”
Widman says the first task was identifying a lead voice for the broadcasts, a role filled by CBS Sports’ Brent Stover. The two-decade broadcast veteran serves as the lead play-by-play voice for the IFL and as the league’s Director of Broadcasting.
The partnership with Yahoo Sports also helped shape the broadcast roster. Yahoo Sports announced that Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Jason Fitz and Caroline Fenton would team with Football 301 host Nate Tice for a select number of games airing on the platform.
“We brought in some big household names as well. Dave Ryan, Mark May, Anthony Herron and Danny Kanell to name just a few,” said Widman. “What we wanted to do no matter the game you’re watching. We wanted three national broadcasters. Professional announcers to give you the most polished look you can get… That was a big change we implemented this year.”
The IFL continues to lean into the appeal of arena football—a fast, high-scoring game played on a condensed field that keeps fans close to the action. Widman credits IFL Commissioner Todd Tryon for his steady leadership in growing the league to 14 markets since taking over in 2019. He also points to Tryon’s vision in finding new ways to expand distribution and bring the IFL product to more fans.
The league’s media strategy, however, has not come without challenges.
In November 2025, the IFL reached a deal with FanDuel Sports Network to air 60 games. Within months, instability surrounding Main Street Sports Group forced the league, along with several MLB, NHL, and NBA teams, to seek new distribution options.
“I can’t speak highly enough about the people at FanDuel Sports Network. Obviously, what’s going on there is not good for anybody right now. But they treated us wonderfully and we’re very upfront with us,” said Widman. “We were monitoring the situation closely. But we knew there was a chance that once the NBA and NHL regular seasons end, our games might not be there.”
Once the decision was made to exit the agreement with Main Street Sports, the IFL approached Yahoo Sports about expanding its package through the platform’s growing FAST services.
“We’re the first ever live sports on Yahoo Sports,” said Widman. “They do over one hundred million a month in web traffic, but now they have live sports. The end all be all for Yahoo Sports is not the Indoor Football League. This is setting them up for bigger things, just like it is for us.”
As sports leagues continue to explore new ways to reach audiences, the IFL is doing the same. Widman says the league is in discussions with the NFL on several fronts. Including the possibility of airing games on NFL Network, which is now operated by ESPN.
“We’re in conversations as we speak with the NFL Network to air a significant number of our games in season and beyond,” says Widman. “There are leagues that come and go. We’ve been here for two decades. We’re a sustained league and we would love to partner with the NFL… We want to be a feeder system and love that aspect. Right now, we are thrilled about what we’re doing.”
The season underway with two successful distribution agreements in place, rising attendance, and potential expansion on the horizon. The IFL is taking its next steps toward continued growth and broader exposure.
“Yahoo Sports and Overnight already have plans for expansion next year. With more teams comes more games, and we can’t be more thrilled about that,” says Widman. “We want to build this out and continued to expand our platform on the national stage.”
In a crowded football marketplace, the IFL is no longer just filling a seasonal gap. It is building a sustainable presence through accessibility, strategic partnerships, and steady growth.
For Widman, the goal is simple: keep pushing forward. The league has spent two decades proving it can survive. Now, it is focused on proving just how far it can go.
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