Iowa Power diving into Dubuque to debut indoor football

DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) - Indoor football has deep roots in Iowa. Now the Iowa Power are another professional team debuting in Dubuque.

There have been a mixed bag of teams that have made it in eastern Iowa. The Cedar Rapids Titans have been in the city for over a decade. On the other hand, the Coralville Chaos lasted one year before relocating to Michigan.

The team’s co-owner and head coach, Anthony Bartley, said he was unfamiliar with Dubuque until he was scouting it out for the franchise.

“When I got here, met with the GM, got a tour of the facilities, I said, ‘This is perfect,” said Bartley.

The team’s first exhibition game went in their favor on the field, with a win. However, there were some struggles when it came to the gameday operations, including the scoreboard and confusion amongst players, coaches and refs.

As the team looks to smooth things out ahead of their first regular season game, players like Blake Bartz are intending to take advantage of the opportunity.

“I’ve always had the dream of playing at any professional level, ever since I’ve been young. Growing up in a small town of Independence, Iowa, right down the road, you’d never think that would happen. But I’ve gotten the chance to do it the past two years to do it. It’s awesome to be living my dream,” said Bartz.

Bartley also mentioned that they’ve had conversations with nations like Sweden and Finland about playing games over in their countries. First, he’ll be focused on gaining steam in Dubuque.