Are you ready for some female football?

The Legends Football League, an all-woman’s tackle league that started five years ago, will hold its conference and league championship games in Ontario. Some call the sport demeaning, but it does include athleticism and hard hitting, according to players and league officials.

The Super Bowl is coming to Ontario.

Well, sort of.

The Legends Football League, a woman’s seven-on-seven tackle league that began play in 2009, is scheduled to play its championship game Sept. 6 at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

On Aug. 23, the league will hold its western conference championship game at the arena, which is home to the league’s Southern California franchise, the Los Angeles Temptation. One week before that, on Aug. 16, its eastern conference championship contest will be played there.

Founded as the Lingerie Football League, the eight-team league changed its name two years ago, said Courtney Gifford, the league’s national marketing manager for the Las Vegas-based league.

Officials hoped the rebranding would emphasize the athleticism of the players and that they hit hard and play a decent brand of arena football, said Gifford.

“A lot of people when they go to a game expect to see powder-puff football, so when they actually see a game they’re surprised,” Gifford said. ‘We have some high-caliber athletes who know how to play. Most of them have been playing sports all of their lives, and this is a way for them to stay competitive”

LFL officials decided to play the conference and league championship games in Ontario because the Temptation, which has played there since the league’s founding, has always drawn decent crowds: upwards of 4,000 fans per game in some instances, about twice the league norm.

“Citizens Business Bank Arena has always been a solid venue for us,” Gifford said.

The idea for a professional woman’s football league came from the Lingerie Bowl, which were several pay-per-view Super Bowl halftime shows that were broadcast opposite the actual Super Bowl halftime show during the mid-2000s.

From that, LFL founder and chairman Mitch Mortaza got the idea for a 10-team league. The LFL has since added a five-team league in Australia and a four-team league in Canada, and it’s looking to expand into Mexico and Europe, Gifford said.

The Las Vegas-based operation plays a four-game regular season during the spring and summer, mostly in NBA, NHL and Major League Soccer venues. The schedule is spread out so the players can fit the games around working, raising a family, going to school, etc., Gifford said.

LFL game rules are similar to those used in the Arena Football League, which started in 1987 and has achieved some success as a niche attraction.

Play is full-contact, and there are no punts or field goals. Each game consists of four eight-minute quarters, and kickoffs only happen to start the first and second half. Every player is eligible to catch a pass, and the offense must try for a first down on fourth down regardless of distance.

The field is 50 yards from end zone to end zone and 30 yards wide, with end zones that are eight yards deep. Those dimensions, considerably smaller than a regular football field, are about the same used in other indoor football leagues.

After a touchdown, the offense may try a one-point conversion from the one-yard line or a two-point conversion from three yards out. Rosters have 20 players each, but only 14 players are active for a game, meaning some players play offense and defense.

At its core, the LFL is a blend of sports and entertainment, with a heavy emphasis on entertainment.

“The best way to describe it is we’re the Arena League and the NFL mixed together,” Gifford said. “We don’t have rules against celebrating after a touchdown.”

The LFL has been criticized by some, especially in Australia, of being demeaning to women. Some critics are offended by the team uniforms, which include helmets and shoulder pads but otherwise are similar to the bikinis worn by beach volleyball players.

Despite that, and despite a lack of respect by some people for women’s sports in general, marketing the league hasn’t been difficult, according to Gifford.

“It’s not that tough a sell,” Gifford said. “It’s all about creating awareness and getting the word out as best we can, and we’ve been doing that with a lot of grassroots marketing. A lot depends on the city you’re in, because some places are more open-minded than others.”

Games between the Temptation and the Las Vegas Sin draw more than 4,000 fans to Citizens Business Bank Arena, and it’s not impossible that games there could draw as many as 10,000, said Sue Oxarart, the arena’s marketing director.

“The best way to sell the league is to get people to go to the games,” Oxarart said. “When they see how passionate the women are and how hard they play, their whole perception changes. It’s the real deal, which is not what they expected to see.”

A lot of LFL players played soccer in high school or college, and virtually everyone in the league has some athletic background, said Monique Gaxiola, a middle linebacker and offensive guard with the Temptation.

Gaxiola, a Grenada Hills native who played soccer when she was an undergraduate at USC and also played for the Mexican National Team, has played for the Temptation since the LFL formed in 2009. The league has improved dramatically since then because it’s gradually attracted better athletes, Gaxiola said.

“I knew the first time I saw it that I would be able to play,” Gaxiola said. “But as the league got better I had to trim down a little bit so I could compete. It wasn’t like that when the league started.”

The Temptation attracted some protests when the team played in Australia, but those protests died down once the competition began, Gaxiola said.

“I’m disappointed that some people think we’re demeaning,” she said. “All I can say to those people is go watch a game.”

The LFL is a rare opportunity for women to play after they reach adulthood, said Ogom Chijindu, cornerback, wide receiver and safety for the Temptation.

“I had never played football before, but when I heard about the league I didn’t hesitate to give it a try,” said Chijindu, a Pomona native who played soccer and volleyball and ran track at Cal State Fullerton. “Women have a different relationship with competitive sports. For us, it usually ends at college. I want to get married and have children some day but I love doing this. My plan is to keep playing until the wheels come off.”