Racine Sun

After nearly 70-years of being in action and nine national championships, the Racine Raiders are set to make the jump to the Gridiron Developmental Football league in 2023.

With 11 of their last 12 seasons spent in the Mid States Football League, the team’s board of directors recently made the decision to sign off on the switch.

“We’re very excited to add a high-caliber organization with such a rich history and championship pedigree to our national platform,” Gridiron Developmental Football League president Charles Thompson told RacineCountyEye.com. “We know that entering their 70th season, the Raiders have consistently been a top-level team on the field, while also being a model organization to emulate off the field.”

For the Raiders, the lure of joining a bigger league and playing against a higher grade of competition was enough to close the deal. The new national league gives the team an opportunity to compete for even bigger national championships. To a man, team members swear they aren’t interested in the off-season championships up for grabs to other semi-pro teams looking to make money, insisting they’re more interested in the true title and their annual goal of winning a national championship every year.

As the second oldest amateur football team in the country, the Raiders began their search for a new league several months ago. The Gridiron Developmental league is based in Memphis and has 30 different teams across 15 states, with the Syracuse Strong now reigning as champs.

Games for the league will begin in June of 2023.