Former University of Texas and current CenTex Barracudas quarterback James Brown may get to relive his famous roll left play against Nebraska after all.

Sort of.

The Barracudas’ Intense Football League and the United Indoor Football League, a predominantly Midwest league headquartered in Nebraska, on Tuesday announced plans to merge for the 2009 season, creating a minimum 17-team league.

“Today is one of the best days, if not the best, for indoor football,” IFL president Chad Dittman said. “What the merger of the NFL and the AFL did for professional football in the 1960s, this partnership will do for us. It can and will lead to bigger and better things.”

Said Dr. Fred Barnett, the Barracudas’ owner: “I think it will be good for the league and the Barracudas. I think this move will solidify two leagues that are already strong. Becoming national as opposed to regional raises the value of each and every team. It will give us increased credibility and visibility.”

The final details will be put into place in September when officials for both leagues meet, but a formal announcement is set for Aug. 1, when the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Storm hosts the winner between Monday’s Intense Bowl game between the Corpus Christi Hammerheads and the Louisiana Swashbucklers.

That IFL-UIFL game, billed as the “National Indoor Football Championship,” had been agreed upon between the leagues earlier this year, primarily as an exhibition game.

“We’ve been in conversation for about three years,” IFL vice-president Tommy Benizio said. “This is really a flawed industry but the IFL is an exception in that we’ve never had a team fold. We admire them (the UIFL), and they are similar to us in that they’ve been a similar beacon of positivity. We’ve been drawn together and have talked every year. It felt like the right time.”

In addition to Sioux Falls, the UIFL has teams in Bloomington, Ill.; St. Charles, Mo.; Sioux City, Iowa; Wichita, Kan.; Billings, Mont.; Fort Collins, Colo.; and Omaha, Neb.

They will join CenTex, which just completed its third season, Corpus Christi, Louisiana and the other IFL teams: Odessa, San Angelo, Frisco, Katy, Fairbanks (Alaska) and Anchorage (Alaska).

Benizio said the owners of both leagues were unanimous in their decision to merge and that it’s a win-win situation for all.

“One of the reasons we’ve been successful is that we’ve been cost-conscious,” he said. “We stay grounded and realize that teams have to be fiscally responsible.”

The Belton-based Barracudas, who reached the IFL semifinals before a loss at Corpus Christi on Saturday, support the merger and are excited about the future of the new league.

Barracudas general manager Brett Quigley agreed with Barnett.

“It makes us more legitimate now without raising costs,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been successful is by keeping costs down. When you bring people who have been around the game that helps. It will help teams and will decrease costs.

“When you go to order things like jerseys, you have to buy in bulk and you can go to the market with 19 teams instead of nine, and that brings down the cost. So the extra cost in travel will be easily offset by the savings there.”

But travel might not be an issue. Preliminary plans have the new league adding at least three teams for 2009 and splitting into three divisions. The plan is for most games to be played within those divisions, along with some interdivision play. Details of the newly formed divisions will be worked out in September.

Barracudas coach Chris Duliban, the first CenTex coach to complete a full season, also said the merger will help with recruiting.

“It helps in recruiting because when asked you don’t have to say it’s an 8-9 team league; you can say it’s an 18-team league, and that adds legitimacy,” he noted. “You can compete against the AFL2 for talent because we can say we are a national league as well.”

Added Quigley: “It’s a neat thing because you get to see some new places. Some of the players will get to go places they’ve never been. Most of the guys we recruit have been in Texas and the Southwest. This will broaden that.”

Details that still need to be worked out include a formal league name, league officials and playing rules, as there are small variations between the two leagues, with the IFL closer to Arena League rules.

“I hope we keep our rules,” said Barracudas veteran Tim Cook, who retired after Saturday’s loss to Corpus Christi to join the CenTex coaching staff. “It works better for player development. I like their (the UIFL’s) defensive rules as they don’t have to have two linebackers and we do, but it doesn’t help with development.”

Benizio said a committee made up of owners has been formed to examine the rulebooks and come up with the best hybrid of rules to use.

“Everyone is excited about it,” Quigley said. “It would be a mistake just to jump into this. But they took their time and deliberated over this slowly. The owners in both leagues are proud of what they’ve done and accomplished with their teams. Now they see this as an opportunity to grow.”