WILD HISTORY
The Wichita Wild formed in 2007 under the ownership of Wink Hartman as a Professional Indoor Football Team. Although the Wichita is a team with a young history, The Wilds has established themselves as one of the top tier teams in Professional Indoor Football. The Wichita Wild plays in the Indoor Football League (IFL) which formed in 2008 through a merger between the Intense Football League and the United Indoor Football (UIF) league. The Wichita Wild play out of Hartman Arena, located in Park City, Kansas.
2007 SEASON
The Wichita Wild began play in 2007 as an independent organization playing all games at home against semi-pro opponents from the Midwest. The Wild went undefeated in their first season, with a record of 9-0.
2008 SEASON
The 2008 season saw the entrance of the Wichita Wild into United Indoor Football (UIF) League. That season, the Wichita Wild went 2-12, finishing fourth in the East Division and failing to make the playoffs.
2009 SEASON
The 2009 season was a breakout season for the Wichita Wild. Joining the Indoor Football League (IFL) via a merger between the United Indoor Football League (UFL) and Intense Football League, the Wild quickly established themselves as one of the best indoor football franchises in the nation. The Wild went 8-6 in regular season play in the 2009 season, making the playoffs for the franchise’s first time. Wins over Bloomington in the Quarter finals and Omaha in the Semifinals took the Wichita Wild to the IFL Conference Championship- playing against River City. The team lost that game, failing to make to IFL Championship Game.
Following the end of the season, Wichita was recognized as the IFL's Franchise of the Year, and running back Darius Fudge named as IFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year.
2010 SEASON
The 2010 season was the team’s most successful season in franchise history to date. The team went 9-5 in regular season play, taking second in the Central West Division of the IFL and clinching the team’s second playoff berth. Much like the 2009 season, the Wild won the IFL Conference Quarterfinal over Bloomington, followed by a Conference Semifinals win over Rochester. Wichita found themselves in the IFL Conference Championship game playing the Sioux Fall Storm. The Wild fell to the Storm who went on the ultimately win the IFL Championship, but as a whole, the 2010 Wild season saw great success.
The team eclipsed their all time attendance recorded, seeing over 30,000 fans in attendance to Wild games in 2010- including a sellout crowd of 5,000 on opening night.
2011 SEASON
The 2011 season started slow for the Wichita Wild. Falling to a 0-5 start to the season, the Wild faced an uphill battle going into the second half of the season. Making a change in the Head Coaching position, as well as bringing in fresh new talent, Wichita went 6-3 over the last 9 games of the season. However the sluggish start was too much for the Wild to shake off, forcing the team to miss the playoffs for the first time in 2 years.
The Wild once again eclipsed their all time attendance record in 2011, seeing over 35,000 fans in attendance over all 7 home games.