Barnstormers revived as af2 team

By TOM WITOSKY
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
September 20, 2007

The Iowa Barnstormers of arenafootball2 are back in business.

Jerry Kurz, af2 president, said Wednesday that the league's team owners have been notified that the franchise, which has been dormant since 2001, will resume play in 2008.

In addition, Kurz said the owners have given their approval to a new investor group headed by Ankeny lawyer Jeff Lamberti and Des Moines-area businessman Dan Stanbrough to operate the franchise once owned by a group headed by arena football founder Jim Foster. The new group will hold the franchise operating rights as Iowa Pro Football L.P., the original holding company. No financial terms were disclosed.

"I couldn't be more happy or excited to have Des Moines back in the arena football family," Kurz said. "This is a great day for the league and for the fans of arena football."

The league's action marks the end of a significant effort by Foster and league officials to bring arena football back to Des Moines, which embraced the Barnstormers from 1995-2000 as part of the senior Arena Football League but rejected the minor-league version a year later.

Des Moines is the third new city to be approved to begin play in the 2008 season. Franchises in Biloxi, Miss., and Peoria, Ill., also have been approved. The league is expected to have about 30 teams competing in 2008.

The league began play in 2000 with 13 franchises located mostly in the Midwest and South. Now it stretches from Manchester, N.H., to Bakersfield, Calif., and from Green Bay, Wis., to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

"We have some steps that we still need to take, but I am very comfortable that this is going to go forward," Lamberti said. "The group wants to bring a strong sports entertainment option to the community that already has a proven track record here. We want to bring the Barnstormers back and all the good things that they brought to central Iowa."

Foster said he was pleased that the Barnstormers would be back in business.

"I'm happy everything has worked out," he said. "This new group is made up of successful and strong businessmen who have a good sense of what the pro sports business is all about. I have no doubt that they will put a strong and competitive team on the field and will attract the kind of support we had when we began."

Lamberti said negotiations with Matt Homan, general manager of Wells Fargo Arena, have progressed well, but that an agreement needs to be finalized. Lamberti said Polk County officials also are involved in the negotiating process.

Others who have agreed to invest in the team are Jamie Myers, a top executive for Regency Builders, and Don Lamberti, founder and longtime chief executive of Casey's General Stores Inc., and Jeff Lamberti's father.

Jeff Lamberti said that the group is interested in finding a few more local investors.

Lamberti said he has had discussions with former Barnstormers coach John Gregory about returning to direct the team.

Gregory, who coached the af2 Arkansas Twisters the past two seasons, notified team officials there Monday that he would not be returning. Twisters officials said Gregory would be leaving to pursue other opportunities.

"John Gregory is an Iowan and has proven he can win in arena football," Lamberti said. "I have a lot of respect for what Gregory was able to do here and believe he could do it again."

Gregory was the Barnstormers' only head coach.