I find the league exciting, but that's just me. They're really stretching themselves to even have a league because the players essentially play their own way, and only get $$ from the team when the team turns a profit. I believe that the Sirens have been paid only once in the last five years. Some of the players get personal sponsorships sort of like individual sport athletes, but by no means do all players get this.
My favorite player (who unfortunately retired before last season) was the first player I ever saw take two punts back to the hizzy in the same game several years ago at a game in San Diego. (San Diego became an 8-person team the next season.) There was a girl playing in New Hampshire last year who competed at the 2006 Winter Olympics in hockey. A football autographed by the 2005 New York Sharks was temporarily on display in Canton along with stuff from big name NFL stars like Walter Payton and Bart Starr.
In 2008, the IWFL is moving to a 3-tier system to more adequately match teams and prevent the 60-0 blowouts that have occurred in recent years. Tier 3 is 6-person football (hence the name "Sixxes") and currently has four teams, two independent [the Oakland Banshees and the Central Coast Heat (San Luis Obispo), the 2006 Sixxes Champs] and two teams semi-affiliated with colleges (the Boise State Broncos and the Missoula Venom). The IWFL is not only hoping for more of these teams, but is starting to offer Sixxes-style football for high school girls, though details are not available yet. I guess that they're hoping that the high school teams will feed into the other ones.
It's going to take a while for women's football to stick. They've been trying since at least the 1960s. Most games are held at HS or JC fields. The California Quake in Long Beach are perhaps the best off in that they play where Long Beach State used to play, but it's only half a field's worth of seats. (Long Beach Memorial Stadium has ALWAYS been like that, even when LBSU had a team.) The two games that I've attended were fun, though they would have been better had the teams been better matched. Had I been able to attend the title game in Long Beach last year, that was a REALLY good game from what I hear. But, being the loyal fan that I am, I just couldn't see the expense of going from Barstow to Long Beach for a game involving teams from Detroit and Atlanta.
I have no idea where the finals will be held this year, but I hope it's in Cali.
