Indoor football fans were left in the lurch. New Tri-Cities team rushes to take over

Brandon Tate looks to at least double — possibly more — his workload for the 2021 football season.

The head coach of the Tri-City Rage, an outdoor semipro football team, has now become the owner, head coach and offensive coordinator for an indoor football team, called the Tri-City Rush.

Officially owned by Rage Sports, the Rush was admitted this month into the American West Football Conference.

The AWFC is currently a five-team league. It began its inaugural season in 2019 with four franchises, including the Tri-Cities Fire, a team owned by Kinshasa Martin, who lived in Western Washington.

But earlier this year, with a week to go before the season opener, Martin pulled the plug on his team, leaving local fans, the Toyota Center, and the AWFC in the lurch.

In stepped Tate and his Rage.

Tate volunteered his semipro team to play the Fire’s road games, and the AWFC readily accepted.

“We developed a pretty good relationship with them (AWFC), and we tried to help them out last year by playing the Fire’s scheduled road games,” said Tate.

It was all moot a week later, as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the season and no games were ever played.

But the AWFC remembered what Tate and the Rage tried to do, and the organization is being welcomed into the membership this coming season.

Still, there are still plenty of things to do before any games would be played in March or April (pending COVID): first and foremost is finding a place to play.

The Toyota Center would be the obvious choice, but executive director Corey Pearson said he hasn’t talked to anyone from the organization.

And in all honesty, the Fire owes the Toyota Center money.

Tate believes another option could be the HAPO Center in Pasco, formerly the old TRAC building.

He said he’s talked to the people at the HAPO Center, and games probably could be played in the rodeo arena.

“We’d have to build our own floor boards,” he said. “We’d modify with floor seating.”

They also would need a field and the requisite dashboards.

Pearson said the old field, owned by former Tri-Cities Fever owners Teri and JR Carr, was being rented to the Fire. But when rent payments fell behind, they sold off the field and dashboards.

Those are hurdles, yes. But Tate is positive.

“Ideally, we still want to talk with the Toyota Center people and want to see what our options are,” said Tate.

Another thing Tate wants to take care of are the former Fire fans who bought season tickets for two seasons but didn’t get that second season.

“The main thing we want to do for the community is take care of them. They supported that team,” said Tate.

None of these problems were caused by Tate and his organization. They’ve just inherited them.

But he’s ready to take on the challenge.

“We finally decided to go up another level,” he said. “One option is for players wanting to go to college to get better (with the semipro team). Another option is for players trying to become professional (with the indoor team).”

The styles of football are different.

“It’s amazingly different from a fan’s standpoint,” Tate said. “Sometimes during outdoors games, it’s like watching it on TV, because you’re so far away from the action. But the indoor game, it’s like going to a pro wrestling event. You’re right there with a front row seat, with guys going over the boards and landing in your lap.”

Right now, it’s also about adding more players to the organization for both teams. The first Rush tryout is scheduled for Jan. 10 at the Southridge Sports Complex in Kennewick (email info@tricityrush.com for more details).

Even during the season, Tate expects to increase his workload, beside coaching the Rush.

“I’m going to ideally be the head coach for the semipro team too,” he said. “Hopefully things can be worked out for that.”

Overall, though, he’s fired up and ready to go, despite the hurdles.

“I’m excited,” he said. “The fan base here for the Fire was amazing. We didn’t want to see what the community went through, so we tried to help. We’re local people trying to do this. We know we could put together a pro-level team from around here.”

• With the addition of the Rush, the other AWFC teams are the 2019 champs, the Idaho Horsemen; the expansion Oregon High Desert Storm; the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks; and the expansion Yakima Canines.

• The Rush already has made a number of signings, many familiar to the community.

Former Fever running back Keithon Flemming, who lives in the community, has signed.

So has former Fire defensive lineman Kobryn Kamai, and ex-Fever RB/LB Leon “Zeus” Jackson.

Ex-Kamiakin and Fire defensive back-wide receiver Tyler Merkel has also signed.

And QB-WR Harry Peoples, who played with the Fever at one time, has also committed to the Rush.