The game will be at Richmond Coliseum on Jan. 23 and feature a format that pits AIFA all-stars against the new Richmond team. It will be held at the beginning of the season and will be the first game for the currently unnamed team.

Later this week, the league will hold a news conference to announce the week's festivities, which will be anchored at the downtown Marriott. The game also will be televised via syndication.

Richmond's new team will take center stage. The league is conducting an online contest in which fans can suggest names, with a winner to be announced later this summer. Tryouts for local players also will be held sometime in September.

"The whole idea is to give the fans here in Richmond an opportunity to see what the product is all about," league President John Morris said. "It's not just about football, it's a family atmosphere."

Richmond's AIFA team will be based out of the Coliseum, playing a schedule against other area teams that begins with the all-star game.

The league is not affiliated with the Indoor Football League. The IFL announced plans to field a team at the SportsQuest facility in Chesterfield that is still under construction -- with the team taking the field as early as next year.

"I can tell you that this is a done deal," said Morris of the AIFA. "We're playing football."

The Coliseum has signed an exclusive agreement with the AIFA that includes office space. The league has started work on sponsorship packages, and employees in town also will work on the sale of ticket packages once they are announced.

National director Jack Bowman compared the all-star game to a college kickoff-type event. Last year, it was held in Harrisburg, Pa., and drew a crowd of about 4,000.

This is the league's third year in existence. Morris also announced that the league would underwrite all travel costs for teams that make the playoffs, to protect the teams' finances. The league's third championship game will be held this weekend in Wyoming.

For the Richmond team, naming suggestions are still being taken at aifainrichmondva.com. Morris said they were coming in at the rate of about 40 per week.