RAPID CITY, S.D. — A new professional indoor football team is now coming to Rapid City.
Earlier today, officials from the team, The Monument and city gathered at Main Street Square to introduce the Rapid City Marshals, who will be a part of the Champions Indoor Football League (CIF).
The collaboration came with plans of having some sort of tenant, like the Marshals in the Summit Arena all along. But the plans for the team had to wait for the right time.
“We wanted to take our time,” Craig Baltzer, the Executive Director of the Monument. “Find the right thing we didn’t want to overwhelm the market.”
With the new Summit Arena boasting 10,000 to 11,000 thousand seats, Baltzer hopes the new team will help The Monument in its mission to be a facilitator of new business.
Whether that’s bringing new events or people here.
“The Monument’s job is to create economic impact,” Baltzer said. “Fill up hotel rooms, restaurants, shopping, do that kind of thing, bring people in for a weekend stay and all that and one of the things that really aids us in that is Black Hills is a destination area.”
Being the second attempt at bringing in a team, officials and planners of the team will have to be fluid especially as keeping a consistent fan base, which can be tough.
But, keeping people coming back starts with the players’ connection within the community from the start.
“Our sports players, you know, whether it’s hockey or arena football or even the junior league hockey team or Post 22, you know that is something people can get behind and get behind these players and these fans,” Baltzer said. “So to me, it’s all about connection to the city and to the community that helps build bells out of fan bases.”
A new area football team going deep in its attempt to plant down roots in Rapid City.
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