Spokane Tribe Casino partners with Shock football

AIRWAY HEIGHTS – The Spokane Tribe of Indians and the new Spokane Shock Indoor Football League (IFL) franchise have announced a collaboration that includes naming the team’s field after the Tribe’s main business venture.

At a ceremony announcing the partnership Thursday, Jan. 30, at Spokane Tribe Casino, Shock majority owner and chief executive office Sam Adams said the Tribe was a title sponsor of the team and that the field at Spokane’s Veterans Memorial Arena would be called “Spokane Tribe Casino Field.” Adams also said the field would not be standard green turf, but a color scheme yet to be disclosed.

“We’re excited about that,” Adams said. “It gives us an advantage.”

Casino general manger Javier De La Rosa said the arrangement was a “multi-year partnership” with the Shock.

“We are really excited to get arena football back in Spokane, in the Spokane area with the Shock,” he added.

Adams said the partnership will include a lot of community involvement through boys and girls clubs, sports camps and clinics.

“Spokane has such a rich history in arena football and being a part of the Spokane Tribe Casino means a lot to us,” head coach and director of player operations Billy Back said. “Our success on and off the field relies a lot on the community and we want to give back to the community any way we can.”

“We are very proud, and honored and excited to have this sponsorship with the Shock team,” Spokane Tribal Council Vice Chairman Greg Abrahamson said. Abrahamson added the Tribe had a very successful partnership with the original Shock franchise and looked forward to more success with the new ownership.

The Shock won the af2 (arenafootball2) Arena Cup in their inaugural season in 2006, and repeated as title winners in 2009. Moving up to the Arena Football League in 2010, they also won a title and became the first team to win both an Arena Cup and Arena Bowl.

Overall the franchise has a 134-50 regular-season record and 14-6 playoff mark. In 2019, Adams led an ownership group that purchased a franchise in the IFL before acquiring the original Spokane Shock intellectual property, allowing for the team name reemergence.

The 12-team IFL includes franchises in North and South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, California, Arizona and New Mexico.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].