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Gladiators under new ownership; team exploring options for home games
The Duke City Gladiators finished 3-13 in 2024, including 2-6 at the Rio Rancho Events Center, where it plays its home games. The team is currently in a rebranding process and will announce a new team name over the summer.
RIO RANCHO — They may not be known as the Gladiators, and they might not even be playing all their home games at the Rio Rancho Events Center, but there will be a metro-area team playing in the Indoor Football League next season — and still providing “affordable family fun.”
The Duke City Gladiators, who played the 2021-24 IIFL seasons in the Rio Rancho Events Center, have a new owner.
The team, owned previously by Gina Prieskom-Thomas, went on hiatus this season. In early January, Prieskom-Thomas, who owned the team with her late husband Scott since 2019, sold the team to a new ownership group.
Michael Fietz and Bob Pitre have officially taken ownership of the team, approved by a unanimous decision from the IFL board of directors.
“We’re weighing all options right now,” said Feitz, a local home builder and land developer, who said he’ll be the interim general manager. Although his background is in banking and real estate, “This is an entertainment business as much as it is football.
“Refer to me as interim general manager; we’ll hire some professionals to do that as we move forward,” he added. “The focus (now) is what brand; what name are we going to play under and where are we going to play?”
Pitre owns the area’s Pitre auto dealerships.
“We’re looking at the opportunity to do some rebranding (i.e., possible team name change),” said Feitz, “to get teed up and ready to roll.”
Whether they roll in the Events Center or at Tingley Coliseum, the Gladiators’ former home, is to be decided, but Feitz said it’s possible a “spilt-season” could take place, with some games on the west side of the Rio Grande at the Events Center and some on the east side, at Tingley. The team played there in the Champions Indoor Football League from 2015-19, winning two championships in ’18 and ’19.
Read the rest of the story at rrobserver.com.
