2017 EFL Season

***Mou***The **2017 EFL season** was the 52nd regular season of the Eastern Football League. The season ended with the Nashville Tags defeating the Maryland Pride in the 2017 Canton Championship on August 21, 2017, defeating them 42-41, ending their 79-year championship drought and earning their first franchise championship. In addition to this, two new EFL teams were founded: the Columbus Rams, who were relocated from Denver, Colorado, and the Buffalo Broncos, who were relocated from Tampa, Florida.

Due to financial issues, the Colorado Boilers announced could not afford to stay in Denver after the 2015 season. Therefore, the team relocated to Columbus, Ohio at the end of the 2016 season and announced that they were going to bring back the legacy of the Cleveland Rams, one of the original eight EFL teams that moved to Morgantown, West Virginia in 2002.

In 2015, the Tampa Bay Invaders, who were only 17 years in their existence would announce that they were going to relocate to a different city for the 2017 season due to poor sales to games in Florida due to the more popular Florida teams, the Orlando Rockets and the Florida Tortugas, both of which were founded to the league in 1992 as expansion teams for both leagues. The original proposal for this was that the Invaders would move to Oklahoma City and change their name to the Cyclones. However, the league felt that a relocation to Oklahoma City would not attract fans and then would be in the same boat as their situation in Tampa. The league new that the city of Buffalo was asking for a new EFL team since the Niagara Falls EFL Classic in 2006, between the Boston Stars and the New York Rebels. With the decision at hand, the league decided that the Invaders would move to Buffalo and be called the Broncos. Fans were thrilled to have a new football team in the city, and the Broncos made the EFL playoffs in their inaugural season, but lost in the divisional round to the Maryland Pride.

#### ***Midwest Division***

 Toledo Treetops | 17
 Iowa Bucks | 15
 Indiana Indians | 7
 Madison Capitals | 4

#### ***Southern Division***

 New Orleans Stallions | 9
 Texas Giants | 8
 Arkansas Smokies | 6
 Kansas Cornhuskers | 4

#### ***Dixie Division***

 Orlando Rockets | 16
 Carolina Cardinals | 15
 Atlanta Reds | 7
 Kentucky Nuggets | 4

#### ***Erie Division***

 New York Rebels | 18
 Detroit Blues | 14
 Akron Lakers | 9
 Morgantown Monarchs | 6

#### ***Gulf Division***

 Knoxville Knockers | 18
 Florida Tortugas | 18
 Memphis Heels | 14
 Birmingham Crimson | 6

#### ***Lake Division***

 Fort Wayne Bolts | 19
 Minnesota Mariners | 13
 Michigan Rangers | 9
 Wisconsin Bruins | 5

#### ***Mountain Division***

 Pittsburgh Titans | 12
 Cincinnati Jacks | 9
 Columbus Rams | 5
 West Virginia Wolverines | 2

#### ***Atlantic Division***

 Boston Stars | 19
 Long Island Lizards | 17
 Norfolk Colonials | 10
 Buffalo Broncos | 4

## Playoffs

The Eastern Football League playoffs for the 2017 season began on July 31, 2017. The postseason tournament concluded with the Nashville Tags defeating the Maryland Pride in the 2017 Canton Championship, 42-41, on August 21, at Hathaway Memorial Field in Canton, Ohio.

### ***EFL Quarterfinal Round***

July 31 - Motorola Stadium

Aug 1 - Shiloh Memorial Field

July 31 - Xfinity Field

Aug 1 - Mason Stadium

July 31 - Exxon Stadium

Aug. 1 - Cintas Field

July 31 - Rawlings Field

Aug. 1 - Lockheed Martin Stadium

### ***EFL Divisional Round***

Aug. 6 - Motorola Stadium

Aug. 7 - Mason Stadium

Aug. 6 - Exxon Stadium
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Aug. 7 - Lockheed Martin Stadium