Ozarks Lunkers team falls short of last season’s goals

After finishing with a losing record in its inaugural season in 2024, last year’s campaign for the Ozarks Lunkers saw an improvement in team victories but a dip in home game attendance.

Owner Mark Burgess said garnering name recognition for his team, which competes in The Arena League, continues to be a challenge. The Lunkers are among eight teams competing in the multistate indoor football league that launched two years ago.

“We just need to do a better effort really of getting out to the public, let them know who we are and where we are, because there’s still a lot of people who don’t understand what we’re doing and where we’re located,” Burgess said. “But overall, I’d say we were relatively satisfied with year two.”

The Lunkers plays home games at Wilson Logistics Arena at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. Its third season begins May 30 with a home matchup against the Eau Claire Axemen from Wisconsin.

Lunkers officials said per game attendance this past season was around 2,000, a roughly 33% drop from the prior season. Burgess said the team had one of its home games over the July 4 weekend, which dragged down overall season attendance. This year, the league has no games scheduled for that first week of July.

Still, Burgess said he wants to see the arena sold out, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. The facility promotes a roughly 6,400-seat capacity, according to its website.

“Obviously, our goals for (this year) are to see more people and more sponsorships in order to be able to sustain this long term,” he said. “We didn’t like the fact that the attendance went down some. We’ve still got a very loyal fan base, and we see a lot of people coming out and people excited about it.”

While he declined to disclose figures, Burgess said revenue for the organization, like attendance, saw a dip in 2025.

“I think we probably were just a little bit in the red last year – not massively – but we put on a lot of extra staff last year that we probably didn’t need,” he said. “We had a couple more full-time coaches last year that we had decided now it’s probably not as necessary.

“We’re just kind of tweaking the model right now,” he said. “This year, there’s changes,

less outflow of cash, so it’s still an ongoing process.”

The Lunkers organization currently has a staff of five, officials say, including Cam Bruffett, who is returning for his third season as head coach. Bruffett is in the process of assembling his coaching staff, according to officials.

Tickets and sponsors
Monica Henderson, vice president of team operations, said nearly half of the attendance last season was from season ticket holders, which currently number around 900.

“A lot of the other ticket people are just buying them very last minute,” she said, adding the Lunkers are now offering general admission tickets for the first time, which allows seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Season ticket prices range $55-$810 for the four home games. Individual tickets range $12-$17.50 for children ages 3-12 and $17.50-$55 for adults, while children 2 and under receive free admission. Field boxes, which surround the field and contain eight seats, are available only by calling the Lunkers. The remaining seats in the arena are available online via Stubwire.com.

“We just added a couple options, but really didn’t increase prices at all,” Henderson said, noting fees are now included upfront in the ticket price.

The Lunkers website lists over 30 sponsors, including CoxHealth, Pasta Express and Rick’s Automotive Inc. Sponsorships are on par with last season, Henderson said. Last season had around 60 on board, according to past SBJ reporting.

“We’re working on getting the website up to date,” she said. “The league took over our website, so we can’t just go in and change it like we used to be able to.

“We were pretty even from year one to year two sponsorships,” she added. “Obviously, we were hoping to have more.”

Great Southern Bank is among sponsors with the Lunkers since the team’s 2024 debut. Andrea Brady, the bank’s community outreach and development manager, said it was an “easy conversation” when the opportunity to formalize a sponsorship came up. Declining to disclose financial details, she said the deal includes field-level suites and dasher board signage around the arena.

“Arena football brings people together in a way that’s exciting and accessible for the whole family, and the Ozarks Lunkers have built something special here in Springfield,” she said via email, adding the bank will remain a supporter for season three. “When we saw how much the team engaged with fans and created a real sense of energy and pride in the community, it aligned with everything we look for in a partnership.”

Staffing change
For the second straight year, a change took place in the general manager role. Stacie Wells, who in January 2025 replaced Caleb Scott as GM, exited the role 10 months later. Wells accepted a position as CEO for the booster club of Lighthouse Christian Athletics, a homeschool sports nonprofit.

“That position opened up, and that was her decision to go over there, which was probably a real good fit for her,” Burgess said. “That’s more what she really wants to do long term.”

In a post announcing Wells’ decision on the Facebook page of the Lunkers, she said she was “thankful for my season with the Ozarks Lunkers and the relationships built.”

“I will continue to support them,” she said in the post.

Burgess said he currently isn’t looking to hire a new GM, adding that the role is highly dependent on sales. As a result, he said the position’s duties have been split between Henderson and Kristina Boyer, account executive with the Lunkers. He added Henderson basically is an acting GM.

“I don’t think I’m hard to work for, but I am high demand,” Burgess said. “I expect superior performance. I expect everybody to do it first class.

“We need somebody to sell because if we don’t have the money coming in, if we don’t have sponsorships coming in, we don’t have the ticket sales coming in, there won’t be any jobs,” he added. “There won’t be a GM; there won’t be anything.”

Henderson said she’s pleased with season ticket sales and is hopeful the addition of general admission seating will boost fan turnout. She wants to see attendance reach over 3,000 tickets sold for each game this season.

“We found that a lot of these people want last-minute tickets, and they want the cheaper end of the tickets,” she said. “So, having the ability to sit wherever you want when you come in with those, I think, will help.”

Season prospects
The team finished 4-5 last season, losing in the semifinals of the playoffs. But Burgess said the open tryout for players the team held May 2 should have the roster for the upcoming season locked in, and he is optimistic of this year’s prospects. 

“The fact that we now are established, we’re not having to go out and chase players down like we did the first year,” he said. “They’re coming to us, and we’re being able to recruit a higher caliber of player that we weren’t able to get before.”

Becoming a success on and off the field is still a fluid process for the Lunkers, Burgess said.

“We are getting a better handle on it overall,” he said. “The main thing is, make sure we’re giving the fans the best possible experience and the most exciting experience so that they want to come back to the game each time.”