Pre-launch
On July 18, 2023, TMZ Sports initially reported that the AFL had selected the following cities that would be receiving new teams: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bakersfield, California; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; St. Paul, Minnesota; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; Orlando, Florida; Salem, Oregon; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri; Tallahassee, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Everett, Washington; and Odessa, Texas. [7] The league made the statement official on their Twitter page. Managers of Cincinnati's main indoor arena, the Heritage Bank Center, refuted the report, stating they had rejected the AFL's advances, [8] while the two college/university-owned arenas in the city both said they had not been approached and also would not be open to hosting the league. [9] Representatives with Lake Charles stated that their conversations with the league were still in preliminary phases (having advanced only to the point of informing the league what days their arena was available), and that although they were open to hosting the league, "it’s closer to not being true than being true at this time." [10] The city of Salem was also unaware of the AFL having discussions for placing a team in the city, but were open to hearing more about their plans. [11] In Everett, the manager of the city's only major arena, Angel of the Winds Arena, stated that he was only contacted by a potential ownership group several days after the announcement of teams. When reached for comment, Hutton stated he would only reveal information "on our time." [12] The league eventually secured an agreement with Angel of the Winds Arena in late September; the owners of the Everett franchise, led by the owner of the local semi-pro Everett Royals, noted that he had acquired the franchise after contacting the league after the announcement of cities in hopes of getting Royals players onto the squad, only to find that the league had not yet lined up an owner for the city's team at the time. [13]
On the same day as the TMZ report, the Orlando Predators and West Texas Warbirds (Odessa), who were both playing in the National Arena League, stated they were joining the new AFL, although the Warbirds later removed their Facebook post within the first week. [14] [15] (The Warbirds later announced that they would be instead branding as the "Desert Hawks" for the 2024 season. [16] ) In a statement to Philadelphia media, Hutton stated that the Philadelphia Soul was also expected to be revived, with Soul co-owner Ron Jaworski returning, if not as an owner then as a consultant. [17] Jaworski denied Hutton's claims. [18]
Among cities considered but ultimately not included, Atlantic City's financial terms were considered unrealistic, [17] Bossier City, Louisiana had too many schedule conflicts for 2024 but expressed interest in 2025, [19] while the Albany Empire—returning champions from the last AFL season in 2019—expressed interest in returning, but was initially unable to accept because of the excessive cost of worker's compensation in the state. [20] (The worker's compensation issue was later resolved, and the league announced a new iteration of the Albany Firebirds would join in 2024.) Neither Buffalo, nor Rochester, New York were considered, despite some interest from Bob Bartosiewicz, who previously owned the Rochester Raiders. [21]
In late 2023, three supposed expansion teams were announced as the "California Grizzlies", "Minnesota Myth", and "St. Louis Rampage". The teams were announced on their respective Instagram and X accounts. [22] [23] However, league commissioner Hutton released a statement regarding the addition of these new team names. He stated on his X account, "Any information that concerns the Arena Football League must be endorsed by me or our CEO otherwise it is not reliable. AFL team name announcements will be coming soon for all locations. It is an exciting time as we make our mark to be bigger and better." [24] The Rampage later admitted to being a hoax supported by fans of the St. Louis Battlehawks. [25] Defector Media traced the California Grizzlies to Tim Carbajal, who operates a semi-pro spring football team in the area. Carbajal confirmed the Grizzlies' existence—and confirmed that he, under an alias, had contacted Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield inquiring about using the facility—but otherwise stated he was not at liberty to discuss further details due to Hutton's gag order. [26] The Myth were later revealed as Hutton's own franchise, nominally owned by his wife Diana, [27] who is partner in the Hutton law firm with him. [28] Observers in Boise noticed that the owner of Idaho Central Arena had renewed the domain name for the Boise Burn, a former af2 franchise, weeks before the announcement, and that the AFL was not bringing on the Idaho Horsemen, who play in nearby Nampa. [29] The proposed Tallahassee team was to be the Capital City Cyclones, as announced by a business associate of Cyclones owner Alton Walker, [30] but the Cyclones instead reverted to its previous name as the Tampa Bay Tornadoes and joined the International Football Alliance. [31]
On August 29, 2023, the league officially announced that the Billings Outlaws, formerly of Champions Indoor Football, would be the inaugural members of the new version of the league. [32] On August 31, the West Texas Desert Hawks (formerly the Warbirds) were the second team confirmed. [33] The Orlando Predators were the third team announced on September 25; with the announcement of the Predators, the league announced its intent to instead have 20 teams in its 2024 season, as it planned on absorbing three additional teams from Champions Indoor Football. [34] On October 5, 2023, Hutton appeared with the owners of three remaining CIF teams—the ICT Regulators of the Wichita metropolitan area, Salina Liberty and Southwest Kansas Storm in Dodge City— and CIF commissioner Mike McCoy as they announced the remainder of that league was merging into the AFL, with McCoy being named AFL deputy commissioner three weeks later. [35]
On October 2, 2023, it was announced that the Albany Firebirds name will be brought back and to play in the AFL for 2024. On October 6, 2023, it was officially announced that the Orlando Predators, Billings Outlaws, Southwest Kansas Storm, Salina Liberty, Wichita Regulators, and an Everett AFL team were announced. On October 25, 2023, the Oregon Blackbears were officially announced as the league's newest team. The league claimed that Kayvon Thibodeaux was the majority owner of the Blackbears, but Thibodeaux later denied this, stating that "the league used my name for publicity." [36] The league announced revivals of the Nashville Kats, Philadelphia Soul and Chicago Rush on November 1.
On November 16, 2023, in the AFL relaunch event, Hutton revealed the 16 teams who will play in the 2024 season, while he mentioned the league might expand in the future to 24 teams. He also referred to the original list of cities and revealed that other "leagues and individuals" (none specified) were trying to cancel teams contracts with the arenas and participated in "anti-competitive practices" to try to disturb the league's progress, which caused a move to different locations. [37]
Mid-season changes
On May 2, 2024, the Iowa Rampage announced it had folded after one game, citing multiple broken promises from league management to cover increased expenses. [38] The Georgia Force abruptly folded a few days later [39] and on May 9, the Soul suspended operations for the remainder of the 2024 season with hopes of returning in 2025. [40]
On May 13, 2024, in an email from owner Diana Hutton, the Minnesota Myth became the fourth team to suspend operations, blaming it on an inability to raise necessary sponsorships because of "negative publicity" and accusing the owners of "sabotage" in order to force her husband Lee Hutton to resign as commissioner; Hutton confirmed the team's closure publicly a day later. [41] [42]
In a press release, the Outlaws indicated that the league would contract to 10 teams for the remainder of the season: Washington, Billings, Rapid City, Southwest Kansas, Salina, West Texas, Wichita, Albany, Nashville, and Orlando, with the league remaining open to continue scheduling games with Oregon and "other teams not mentioned." [43] The Blackbears announced an agreement to continue in the league for the rest of the 2024 season on May 17. [44] The Cedar Rapids River Kings, recently severed from American Indoor Football due to owner misconduct, were added to the schedule as a non-league member for Week 5. [45] Rapid City folded on May 24, due to continued turmoil within the organization. [46] Oregon was again removed from the league on May 28, as incoming president Jared Widman announced that the league would be moving forward with only nine teams. [47]
Multiple sources indicated the West Texas Desert Hawks had ended their season June 18, four days before their last scheduled game and nine days after they had quietly fired their head coach. [48] Salina acknowledged the maneuver and scheduled the River Kings as their opponent for the planned matchup against West Texas. [49] The league confirmed that the Desert Hawks had withdrawn from their final game "for reasons that we will not disclose" on June 20 but that the team had not folded. [50] Desert Hawks owner Zack Bugg folded the team officially on June 21, citing arena concessions money disputes, [51] lingering issues tied to Hutton's promises, and the alleged embezzlement of the money Bugg had fronted to NFL Network to televise a game that the network never televised. [52] [53]
