OMAHA, Neb. — Chuck Wright was hooked the first time he tried professional indoor football. His pay for that game: a $10 bill and six-pack of Bud Light.

“If I never did anything else,” he said, “I could always say I got paid to play. It’s true.”

That was 10 years ago, and the 34-year-old is still going strong, now with a team called the Omaha Beef. It’s an eclectic mix of dreamers hoping to get noticed by a team in the Arena Football League, CFL or even the NFL and realists like Wright who know they’re going nowhere.

Each Beef player signs a contract promising $75 a game, and each will tell you it’s not really about the money.

Jesse Robertson and Davon Bridges are among the dreamers. They drove here together from the East Coast, took up residence at a motel and spend their days painting and cleaning apartments, working out and hanging out. They live for the two nights a week the Beef practice and the Friday or Saturday nights they play games. For them, the games are an opportunity to put their skills on film and send it to talent evaluators in more prestigious leagues.

Established in 1999, the Omaha-based team is the oldest indoor football team in the nation. The Beef found the spotlight a couple years ago when owner Rich Tokheim offered Tim Tebow a roster spot the day after he was cut by the New York Jets. The Beef’s quarterback at the time, James McNear, famously cracked, “I think Tim can learn a lot from me.”

Laugh if you will, but coach Cory Ross said the talent in the Beef’s league, Champions Indoor Football, is better than you think.

“You can see why some guys aren’t at the next level, but with other guys, you wonder why they haven’t gotten an opportunity,” said Ross, 32, who played running back for Nebraska and the Baltimore Ravens. “There are 2,500 college kids who come out as seniors, and only 255 get drafted. That’s a lot of football players trying to find a place to play.”