![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Kacee-Smith.jpeg\")
Kacee Smith talks to the media about the Rome Red Cats during a press conference at The Forum River Center on Tuesday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tKacee Smith talks to the media about the Rome Red Cats during a press conference at The Forum River Center on Tuesday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.<\/p>\n
By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director<\/p>\n
ROME, Ga. \u2013 Kacee Smith was a huge fan of the Rome Renegades professional indoor football team in the early 2000s.<\/p>\n
Now, some 20 years later, he\u2019s bringing it back to Rome.<\/p>\n
Smith is a co-owner and president of the new Rome Red Cats. Along with co-owners Richard Maslia and James Moreland, who is also the Red Cats\u2019 head coach, Smith made the announcement during a press conference at The Forum River Center on Tuesday morning. The Red Cats will compete in the American Arena League beginning in April at The Forum.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rome Renegades, that\u2019s probably why I\u2019m sitting here,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI think the Renegades did well. Harry (Pierce) did a phenomenal job putting that team together. They had a good second year (12-2 season in 2006; finished runner-up in the American Indoor Football League). We\u2019re familiar with the history of it. That\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m excited to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith has been involved with arena football for over 15 years. The past five years he was one of the owners of the Columbus (Ga.) Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived in Gordon County my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cI consider Rome practically home for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming. I wanted to put a team here in Rome. I just think Rome is a great market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreland is also familiar with the Renegades\u2019 indoor football legacy, and he wants to pick up where they left off.<\/p>\n
Moreland has a winning legacy of his own. He competed in arena football for 13 years, winning nine championships as a player or a coach.<\/p>\n
Prior to joining the Red Cats, Moreland coached the Peach State Cats in Suwanee, Ga., for five years. He\u2019s assisted over 80 players continuing their careers in higher professional leagues.<\/p>\n
Moreland said he\u2019s already beginning the process of evaluating film and signing players for the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some nice players who are coming in with arena experience,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for a very competitive and entertaining roster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two of those players are running back Tristan Gould and wide receiver Otis Odom. Moreland said Gould is a former championship MVP for the Salina Liberty and touts Odom as \u201cprobably the fastest receiver in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moreland also has some members of his staff in place, including defensive coordinator Shawn Sanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been with me the last two years. We\u2019ve won back-to-back championships with my developmental team,\u201d Moreland said of Sanders.
Sanders calls coaching in Rome \u201ca great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember playing in Rome when I was in the World Indoor Football League. Just being able to come back here as a coach is great,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember the atmosphere when I was here. It was great, a small arena, and the community was into it. I\u2019m looking forward to it. I\u2019m very excited being a part of this. Being in this atmosphere is great. I\u2019m happy and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Cats\u2019 season begins in April and lasts until mid-June. The team will play on Saturdays with a minimum of eight games, but \u201chopefully up to 12,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith also said the team may play an exhibition game prior to the regular season.<\/p>\n
Tickets should be on sale soon and should be between the $10-$20 range, Smith said. The team\u2019s website is located at romeredcats.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be Rome\u2019s team,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe want everyone in Rome to come together and make this thing work.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/James-Moreland.jpeg\")
Rome Red Cats co-owner\/head coach James Moreland talks about the team during an introductory press conference at The Forum River Center on Tuesday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kacee Smith talks to the media about the Rome Red Cats during a press conference at The Forum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29896,30060,29901,29902,30061,29903,30062,27,29905,30063,30064,30065,30066,30067,30068],"class_list":["post-46525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rome","tag-american-arena-league","tag-harry-pierce","tag-james-moreland","tag-kacee-smith","tag-otis-odom","tag-peach-state-cats","tag-richard-maslia","tag-rome","tag-rome-red-cats","tag-rome-renegades","tag-shawn-sanders","tag-suwanee","tag-the-forum-river-center","tag-tristan-gould","tag-world-indoor-football-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}