DUBUQUE MINERS

DUBUQUE MINERS. In 2024 the Miners were a new semi-pro football team in Dubuque. Tryouts were scheduled for Saturday, June 15. Named for the historic LEAD miners, the team was looking to field a team of between 30-40 players ranging in age from 18 to 35 years of age. The team was scheduled to take the field in the summer of 2025 and play in a league that served as a pipeline to the UFL and Canadian Football League and had ties to the regional NFL Combines.

The Miners had a fully developed board of directors and a full coaching staff. (1)

Initial tryouts were held in July, 2024 on Timmerman Field at STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL. The inauguration season was to begin in April, 2025 with all home games being played on Dalzell Field. Dubuque is expected to compete against other semi-pro teams from Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. Dubuque's last semi-pro team was the BRUISERS which disbanded in 2013.(2)

On Saturday, June 15, 2025 a pregame tailgate party held at the Doghouse, a local lounge, was attended by an estimated seventy fans with members of the coaching staff and the team's board of directors. Miners' players handed out prizes and a raffle was held. By 4:30 p.m., 120 people had purchased tickets for the game against the St. Paul Pioneers. This exceeded the Miners goal of one hundred for the Midwest United Football League home opener, on Chalmers Field at the UNIVERSITY OF DUBUQUE. (3) The final score was 35 Pioneers and 6 for the Miners. (4)

Source:

1. Leitner, Jim, "Dubuque Miners to Hold Football Tryouts Saturday," Telegraph Herald. June 13, 2024, p. 3B

2. Miller, Danny, "Back on the Gridiron," Telegraph Herald, June 16, 2024, p. 1B

3. Miller, Danny, ""Miners Hot Home," Telegraph Herald, June 15, 2025, p. 1B

4. Pioneer's post on Facebook