The big problem is that his Hitmen are the only team left in the league.

The big problem is that his Hitmen are the only team left in the league.
By JOHN KOVACH
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
MASURY -- Jim Terry, commissioner of the four-team Eastern Indoor Football League, denies the league is finished even though the coaches and players who compose three of the member teams -- the Mid American Buzzards, North East Ohio Panthers and 3 Rivers Rats -- have quit.
"It is impossible for the Buzzards, the Panthers and the 3 Rivers Rats to withdraw from the Eastern Indoor Football League," Terry said Saturday. "They are entities and can't withdraw from the league."
But, "The coaches and the individuals running the organizations can go whenever they want."
Terry, owner of the Mahoning Valley Hitmen, the other EIFL team, said he plans to rebuild the league with other coaches and players, and in the interim have the Hitmen play a winner-take-all, big-money game at the Thunder Dome.
"The teams will stay intact. What the Hitmen will do until we can rebuild the structure of the league, which includes the Buzzards, Panthers and 3 Rivers Rats, is to issue a 10,000 purse and open it up to any indoor or arena team in the country to play us," said Terry. "All they have to do is show and beat us. If they can beat us, they will walk away with 10,000."
Game March 17
Terry said the 10,000 game will be played March 17 at the Thunder Dome. The deadline for a challenging team to qualify to play the Hitmen is March 7.
He said that a challenging team must put up a deposit of 2,000, which they can get back if they win, and that the deposit must be presented to him by March 7.
"We are going to play in my arena [the Thunder Dome] -- the arena that we have a two-year exclusivity contract to use," said Terry, who acknowledged that Thunder Dome owner Steve Lisko is trying to evict him.
"It will take him 8-10 weeks to evict me, even if he is right about the lease," said Terry.
Lisko said Terry never obtained liability insurance for the league, which was required to make their lease valid, and owes him more than 3,000 in rent and sponsorship fees.
Terry discounts Lisko's claim
Terry contends that Lisko also is supposed to provide liability insurance for the EIFL, but has not shown it to him.
"If he would show us his liability insurance, we would show him our liability insurance," said Terry.
Terry rejected the general consensus in the league that he was supposed to provide liability insurance for all four teams through FrontLine Insurance, contending that each team was to provide its own insurance.
FrontLine Insurance, which gave Terry 3,500 for naming rights to the Thunder Dome Field, said it never has sold any liability Insurance to any EIFL team, and also has severed ties with Terry and the EIFL.
kovach@vindy.com