On May 31, 2015, the Cape Fear Heroes announced that they would be leaving the X-League entirely and operating independently the rest of the season while searching for a new league in 2016.
[3] On November 4, 2015, the Saginaw Sting returned to American Indoor Football (AIF), leaving the IFA; the Blue Racers followed shortly after.
On the same day, the Heroes (still at that point alone as members of their league) held a press conference holding firm to their plans on launching Supreme Indoor Football, with a target of eight teams for its inaugural 2016 season.
[5] The Heroes released their 2016 schedule on December 9, 2015; it included games against the Explosion, Knights, a team known as the "Maryland Big Red," Buffalo Lightning and Atlanta Sharks, the last two of which also jumped from AIF.
[8] Shortly thereafter, the Heroes released a revised schedule, removing the Atlanta Sharks and adding an unnamed team from Lockport, New York (taking the place of one of the Explosion's home games, an away game was still listed as being against the Explosion)[9] and the IFA website added several previously unannounced teams (Cincinnati Bulldogs, Cleveland Saints, River City Raptors, and the Steel City Patriots).
However, on March 3, 2016, league commissioner Barbara Spigner announced that the Cape Fear Heroes would sit out the 2016 season due to a number of factors, among them being financial support.
Its members were listed as the Heroes, the South Carolina Ravens (a travel team affiliated with AIF in 2016), the Cap City Bulls of Austin, Texas, and the Coastal Outlaws of Savannah, Georgia.
However, the Outlaws claimed to be part of a different league called United States Indoor Football and were eventually removed from the website in September.
[12] The SIF held a press conference on October 28 officially announcing its return to organizing as a league with the management of the Heroes and the Torch.
The EIF was founded by the Savannah Steam after the demise of the AIF and includes four other teams: the Atlanta Furious, the Carolina Cowboys, the Florida Tribe, and the Roanoke Militia.
While the Anderson Gladiators, Louisiana Cottonmouths, and South Carolina Ravens are still listed as SIF teams, they were left off the 2017 schedule and their social media pages have not been updated in several months; the header of the league's website now also includes the helmets of the EIF's Savannah Steam and Carolina Cowboys (whose helmet in turn is an unauthorized copy of the Dallas Desperados').