Vermont to Get Its Own Professional (Indoor) Football Team

An AIF game. Photo by Joshua Kruger on Flickr/Creative Commons

Professional football is coming to the Green Mountain State.

The Vermont Bucks, owned by South Burlington native and part-time NASCAR driver Tim Viens, is expected to join the American Indoor Football league.

“This has been a dream of mine for probably four years, something in the back of my head,” Viens, 39, told the Burlington Free Press Thursday. “The response I’ve already gotten, the responses on Facebook, people are very excited. I think it will be a big hit and people will love it.”

The Bucks are one of two expansion franchises joining the 18-team, Baltimore-based league, which was founded in 2005 and relaunched in 2012. The High County Grizzles, located in Western Carolina, will also start play in 2017. The league’s reigning champs are the Columbus Lions of Columbus, Georgia.

Viens told the Free Press he hopes to play home games at the University of Vermont’s Gutterson Fieldhouse. UVM athletic director Jeff Schulman said that while the school has had “serious conversations” with Viens, no formal agreement is in place yet.

Viens, who currently resides in Daytona Beach and previously coached and played for a Florida indoor football team, said more than 100 players from across the country have expressed interest in joining the fledgling Bucks.