 In December, it was announced that owner Jeff Hauser had sold a stake in the franchise to a local group that included Jeff Plyler (owner of Plyler Overhead Door of McKean, Pennsylvania) and Bill Stafford (owner of several Subway restaurant locations in Erie), among others.The team remained in the AIFA, and the team adopted the corporate name "Erie Professional Football, Inc." in December 2009, in anticipation of a new franchise name to be announced in January 2010.Hauser maintained a smaller stake in the team, which immediately dropped the RiverRats name.