Columbus Lions head to new league in 2016

The Columbus Lions announced Tuesday that the team will move to the American Indoor Football League for the 2016 season.

The Lions, who will heading into its 10th season, will be playing in its fifth league. They played in 2007 in the WIFL, followed by the AIFA in 2008-09, the SIFL in 2010-11 and the PIFL from 2012-15.

The PIFL had seven teams last season with Columbus winning the league championship. Trenton ceased operations at the end of last season. With one other team also ceasing operations, the league was reduced to five teams.

Three of those teams -- Richmond and Alabama are two of those -- chose to sit out the 2016 season and make a decision about their future next year.

Columbus and Lehigh Valley decided last weekend to join the AIF.

"We didn't feel that sitting out a year would be fair to our fans, staff and players so we searched and found a very good situation for us," Lions owner Skip Seda said. "The AIF has been around for 10 years and they have a stable of southern-based teams that we have been searching for.

"People in Columbus, Phenix City and the Valley love Lions football and we want to give it to them."

The AIF has 15 teams for next season, according to the league's website.

The Lions will compete in the Southern Division with Atlanta, Savannah, Winston-Salem, Central Florida (Lakeland) and Triangle (Raleigh, N.C.).

Lehigh Valley General Manager Mike Clark said his team never considered sitting out a season.

"We take a lot of pride in giving back to this community and providing entertainment to the Lehigh Valley," Clark said.

"With our move last season to the brand new PPL Center, and the successes we've built on the field, we are excited to continue our growth and bring our experiences to the AIF."

Kevin Price, Follow Kevin on Twitter@lesports

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 10:44 PM with the headline "Columbus Lions head to new league in 2016 ."