Mall Rats Dead, Combines Live!

(Lind, WA) - The Capitol Mall Rats are no more. Following a violation of their lease by the Olympia City Council the Mall Rats opted to move onto dustier pastures. Namely Lind, Washington, population 500.

Lind native and rodeo great Emil Sackmann purchased the Mall Rats for an undisclosed amount and promptly moved them to become the Inland Empire Fightin' Combines of Lind. Former owner Brandon Sparks retains a minority interest in the team and will remain the general manager and coach of the Combines.

"This is an exciting time for Lind and Eastern Washington," said Sparks at a press conference held at the team's temporary home, the Lind Lion's Club Arena, which is adjacent to the Combine's future 60,000 seat stadium and home every year to the Combine Demolition Derby for which the team is named. "Emil and I plan to bring an amazing product to the Inland Empire. We will work tirelessly to make this the best football team Lind has ever seen."

The team has already set up a website and plans to have an office up and running in downtown Lind within the next couple of days.

"We have a lot to do. The draft is on Sunday and we have little time to sell advertising and season tickets, but already people have been clamoring from all over the place to become a part of this exciting opportunity, " said Sparks. "We've had businesses from Othello to Soap Lake interested in our team, so things are looking very good."

"We've never been this excited to get the season going," continued Sparks. "We've learned a lot from our past mistakes and our draft will be much more solid this year and I have all the confidence in the world that we can bring the CFFL championship back to Lind."