The American Indoor Football Association has chosen a name for its new team in town: the Richmond Raiders.
Team owner John Morris came up with the name after sending e-mails to a database of Richmond sports fans, asking them for their input.
The team received lots of suggestions, including the Rapids and Renegades, but the Raiders won out. It “just sounds much more appealing when it's a football team,” says Morris, as in the NFL's bad boys the Oakland Raiders.
Morris owns the football league as well as the new team, which will play in the Richmond Coliseum.
Meanwhile, Chesterfield entrepreneur Steve Burton is bringing an Indoor Football League franchise to Richmond in 2010. Burton's team will play at the Arthur Ashe Center on the Boulevard, then move to a new stadium at SportsQuest, Burton's planned $250 million sports campus near Brandermill.
Burton's team plans to select a name by Aug. 26.
