2024 The Arena League season

Last updated
2024 The Arena League season
League The Arena League
Sport Arena football
DurationJune 1 - August 10, 2024 [1]
Number of games16
Number of teams4
TV partner(s) YouTube
TAL seasons

The 2024 Arena League season is the inaugural season of The Arena League (TAL). The regular season began on June 1, 2024, with the regular season scheduled to end on July 27, 2024. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Background

The Arena League was announced as a six-on-six indoor American football league with the intentions to launch in 2024 with four teams and with Pro Football Hall of Famer Tim Brown as the Commissioner. The league kicked off the regular season on June 1, 2024.

The TAL aim is to highlight the player's athleticism and increase the pace of play.

Teams

The first city announced was Springfield [5] with Duluth being the second city. [6] Waterloo was announced as the third team on May 4, 2023. [7] Kansas City was the fourth and final team announced for the inaugural 2024 season.

On October 19, 2023 the Waterloo Woo announced their owners and changed their team name to the Iowa Woo. [8]

TeamCityStadiumCapacityJoinedHead coach
Duluth Harbor Monsters Duluth, Minnesota DECC Arena 5,3332024 Tony O'Neil
Iowa Woo Waterloo, Iowa The Hippodrome 5,1552024 Mook Zimmerman
Kansas City Goats Kansas City, Missouri Municipal Arena 9,9872024 Dorsey Golston III
Ozarks Lunkers Springfield, Missouri Wilson Logistics Arena 4,5002024 Cam Bruffett

League finances

Former IFL Commissioner, Tommy Benizio, an advisor for the league and his corporation will operate and run the teams, [9] while J.R. Bond leads a small group financing the league; Bond is a political advisor in Kansas City and has served as owner of several professional sports teams including the Sioux City Bandits, Topeka Tropics, and Topeka Golden Giants. [10] The league would later announce owners for all four locations. [11] [12] [13] [8]

Players

Teams have a 15-player roster with the game being played with six offensive players against six defensive players. The league will follow a one-platoon system with offensive and defensive players playing both sides of the ball. There are no restrictions on defense.

On December 5, 2023, the Lunkers signed Matt Rush, the first player to sign with a TAL team. [14]

Season format

The inaugural season of The Arena League will have a nine-week regular season schedule with each team receiving one bye week with playoffs to follow. The season will run from June to August 2024. [1] In September The AL released the 2024 schedule. [15]

Rules

Reference [16]

Standings

TeamWLPCTGBPFPASTK
(1) Kansas City Goats 61.857–520377W2
(2) Duluth Harbor Monsters 43.5712345333W2
(3) Ozarks Lunkers 34.4293351385L2
(4) Iowa Woo 16.1435322443L2
Legend
(1) – Clinched 1 Seed
(2) – Clinched 2 Seed
(3) – Clinched 3 Seed
(4) – Clinched 4 Seed
Tiebreaker notes [lower-alpha 1]
  1. ↑ The procedure used to determine tiebreakers is Head-to-head record. The next tiebreaker, point differential, cannot be used at the end of the season due to some teams playing three times in the season as well as the two game pairs resulting in sweeps. (Kansas City 2–0 Duluth, Ozarks 2–0 Iowa)

Season schedule

The regular season schedule was released on September 6, 2023. [1]

Regular season

Week 1

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
June 17:05 p.m. CT Duluth Harbor Monsters 5277 Kansas City Goats Municipal Arena
June 17:05 p.m. CT Iowa Woo 4069 Ozarks Lunkers Wilson Logistics Arena

Week 2

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
June 82:05 p.m. CT Kansas City Goats 9156 Iowa Woo The Hippodrome

Week 3

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
June 157:05 p.m. CT Duluth Harbor Monsters 4438 Ozarks Lunkers Wilson Logistics Arena
June 157:05 p.m. CT Iowa Woo 3858 Kansas City Goats Municipal Arena

Week 4

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
June 227:05 p.m. CT Ozarks Lunkers 5246 Iowa Woo The Hippodrome 2OT
June 235:05 p.m. CT Kansas City Goats 5857 Duluth Harbor Monsters Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena

Week 5

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
June 297:05 p.m. CT Ozarks Lunkers 6959 Kansas City Goats Wilson Logistics Arena Game originally scheduled to be held at Municipal Arena [18]
June 297:05 p.m. CT Iowa Woo 4122 Duluth Harbor Monsters Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena

Week 6

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
July 67:05 p.m. CT Duluth Harbor Monsters 6760 Ozarks Lunkers Wilson Logistics Arena

Week 7

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
July 137:05 p.m. CT Kansas City Goats 7845 Ozarks Lunkers Wilson Logistics Arena
July 137:05 p.m. CT Iowa Woo 4152 Duluth Harbor Monsters Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena

Week 8

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
July 207:05 p.m. CT Ozarks Lunkers 1851 Duluth Harbor Monsters Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena
July 207:05 p.m. CT Kansas City Goats 9960 Iowa Woo The Hippodrome

Week 9

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
July 277:05 p.m. CT Duluth Harbor Monsters Iowa Woo The Hippodrome
July 277:05 p.m. CT Ozarks Lunkers Kansas City Goats Municipal Arena

[19]

Postseason

 
Semi-finalArenaMania
 
      
 
August 3 – Municipal Arena
 
 
1
Kansas City Goats
 
August 10
 
4
Iowa Woo
 
 
 
August 3 – Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena
 
 
 
2
Duluth Harbor Monsters
 
 
3
Ozarks Lunkers
 

Semi-finals

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
August 3TBDIowa WooKansas City Goats Municipal Arena
August 3TBDOzarks LunkersDuluth Harbor Monsters Kramer Service Group Field at DECC Arena

ArenaMania

DateTimeAway teamResultHome teamStadiumNotesRef
August 10TBATBDTBDHigher seed


Media

TAL team media deals
TeamTV Station(s)Radio Station(s)Notes
Duluth Harbor Monsters Northland Fan 106.5 FM and 560AM [20]
Iowa Woo KCRG-TV [21] [lower-alpha 1]
Kansas City Goats
Ozarks Lunkers KYTV [22]
  1. ↑ The team is partnered with KWWL as the exclusive news source.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arena Football League</span> Professional American arena football league

The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in North America after the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the National Football League (NFL) until the AFL closed in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Force</span> Arena football team

The Georgia Force was the name of three separate versions of Arena Football League (AFL) teams based in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area of Georgia, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arena football</span> Variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas

Arena football is a variety of eight-man indoor gridiron football. The game is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game that can be played on the floors of indoor arenas. The sport was invented in 1981, and patented in 1987, by Jim Foster, a former executive of the National Football League and the United States Football League. The name is trademarked by Gridiron Enterprises and had a proprietary format until its patent expired in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Indoor Football</span> Professional indoor football league

American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Burmeister</span> American football player

Paul Burmeister Paul Burmeister is an American sportscaster with NBC Sports and NBC Olympics, working primarily as a play-by-play voice and studio host across a wide range of platforms. Prior to his arrival at NBC in 2014, he spent a decade at NFL Network as a studio host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Professional Football League</span> Indoor gridiron football league

The American Professional Football League (APFL) was an indoor football league that was founded in 2003. After the 2012 season, most of the teams left to start the Champions Professional Indoor Football League. The league consisted of professional and semi-professional teams, with a few core teams that played a full 10 game schedule and other teams that played partial schedules. At the end of each season, the playoffs were contested between the league's core teams. The first few years of league play were dominated by the Kansas Koyotes, but in later years the league had more parity and more stable members, resulting in the first championship won by another team, the Iowa Blackhawks, and the first championship game not involving the Koyotes, when the Iowa Blackhawks defended their championship against the Mid-Missouri Outlaws in the 2010 APFL season. Former Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl champion Clayton Holmes played for the Kansas Koyotes and former Kansas State star QB Jonathan Beasley played for the Wichita Aviators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Major Arena Soccer League</span> Football league

The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The league draw talent from a global talent pool with players from MLS, LigaMX and many national teams. With a new management team, the league has grown in popularity and commercially. Former USMNT and MLS star Landon Donovan played in MASL as do multiple international players.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacksonville Sharks</span> Arena football team

The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. As of 2024, they are members of the Indoor Football League (IFL).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Champions Indoor Football</span> Indoor American football league

Champions Indoor Football (CIF) was a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from the Indoor Football League and two expansion teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Arena League</span> American indoor football league

The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. As of the end of the 2024 season, the league consists of five teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Arena League</span> U.S. indoor football league

The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL only claimed the APF history after the former Can-Am founder left the league. Teams from both leagues, new teams, and later teams from Supreme Indoor Football and National Arena League constituted the new league for its inaugural season. Since 2023, the league has operated as American Arena League 2 (AAL2), which was originally conceived as the AAL's minor league but has since effectively taken its parent league's place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fan Controlled Football</span> Professional indoor football league

Fan Controlled Football (FCF) is a dormant professional 7-on-7 indoor football league that played two seasons in 2021 and 2022. The league operated on the premise of fans voting on play calls and other in-game events. All games were played at Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia and broadcast on streaming television. The league plans to return in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American West Football Conference</span> American football minor league

The American West Football Conference (AWFC) are an inactive professional indoor American football minor league created in 2018 by Platinum Events & Security, LLC, the owners of the Idaho Horsemen. The league's inaugural season was in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapid City Marshals</span> Professional indoor football team based in Rapid City, South Dakota

The Rapid City Marshals were a professional indoor football team based in Rapid City, South Dakota. The Marshals played their home games at the Summit Arena at The Monument. They began as an expansion team in Champions Indoor Football in 2022 and played in that league until 2023. They became members of the revived Arena Football League and began play in 2024 before folding midseason among labor strife tied to a wider league instability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topeka Tropics</span> American indoor football team

The Topeka Tropics were a professional indoor football based in Topeka, Kansas, and played their home games at the Stormont Vail Events Center. The team originally folded after its inaugural 2022 season, but was renewed under new ownership before the 2023 season. The Tropics are the third indoor football team to be based in Topeka following the Topeka Knights/Kings (1999–2000) and the Kansas Koyotes (2003–2014).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Arena League</span> Professional American arena football league

The Arena League is a six-on-six indoor American football league in the United States. The league launched in 2024 with four teams.

Wilson Logistics Arena is a multipurpose arena in Springfield, Missouri located on the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. The stadium opened on January 11, 2024. The stadium replaced the Corwin Auto Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ozarks Lunkers</span> Arena football team

The Ozarks Lunkers are a professional indoor football team based in Springfield, Missouri. They are currently members of The Arena League (TAL). They will play their home games at Wilson Logistics Arena, a multipurpose arena built next to the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Goats</span> Arena football team

The Kansas City Goats are a professional indoor football team based in Kansas City, Missouri in the United States. They are currently members of The Arena League (TAL). They will play their home games at Municipal Auditorium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iowa Woo</span> Arena football team

The Iowa Woo are a professional indoor football team based in Waterloo, Iowa. They are currently members of The Arena League (TAL). They play their home games at The Hippodrome at the National Cattle Congress.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McClure, Jeffrey F. (6 September 2023). "The Arena League releases schedule for 2024 season". Northern News Now. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  2. ↑ Vierzba, Neil (6 September 2023). "The Arena League Reveals 2024 Schedule, Duluth Harbor Monsters to Open Year on Road". FOX21. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Tipcke, Alicia (6 September 2023). "The Arena League reveals Duluth Harbor Monsters schedule". WDIO. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  4. ↑ "Schedule". The Arena League. Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  5. ↑ Wheeler, Wyatt D. (9 March 2023). "'The Arena League' football is coming to Springfield in 2024. Here's what to know". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  6. ↑ Malcomb, Jamey (6 April 2023). "NFL Hall of Famer Tim Brown announces Duluth to receive Arena League team". Duluth News Tribune. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  7. ↑ Brown, Chelsie (4 May 2023). "The Arena League bringing a professional football team to Waterloo in inaugural season". KCRG. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  8. 1 2 "New owners and name announced for Waterloo's arena football league". KWWL. 19 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  9. ↑ Wheeler, Wyatt D. (9 March 2023). "'The Arena League' football is coming to Springfield in 2024. Here's what to know". Springfield News-Leader. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  10. ↑ Cullinan, Mike (17 March 2023). "Arena football league selects Springfield for first team". Springfield Business Journal. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "Duluth arena football team names owner". Duluth News Tribune. 28 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Young, Mason (July 18, 2023). "The Arena League brings Kansas City Goats, unique indoor football experience to town". The Kansas City Star.
  13. ↑ "Owner reveals name for Springfield's new Arena League football team". KY3. June 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ Pinson, Chris (5 December 2023). "Lunkers reel in Springfield native Rush". Ozarks First. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  15. ↑ "Our 2024 Regular Season Schedule is here!". Facebook.
  16. ↑ "Rules". The Arena League. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  17. ↑ "The Arena League Referees". youtube.com.
  18. ↑ "Schedule Change: Ozarks Lunkers playing at home Saturday against the Kansas City Goats". KY3. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
  19. ↑ "Schedule - The Arena League". thearenaleague.football.
  20. ↑ Cooper, Nick (24 January 2024). "Duluth Harbor Monsters arena football team partners with The FAN 106.5 as exclusive radio home". Northland FAN. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  21. ↑ "KCRG to air Arena League Football". KCRG. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  22. ↑ "KY3 broadcasting Ozarks Lunkers Arena League Football games".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.