2024 The Arena League season | |
---|---|
League | The Arena League |
Sport | Arena football |
Duration | June 1 - August 10, 2024 [1] |
Number of games | 16 |
Number of teams | 4 |
TV partner(s) | YouTube |
Regular Season Champions | Kansas City Goats |
Champions | Duluth Harbor Monsters |
Runners-up | Iowa Woo |
Season MVP | Boo Smith |
The 2024 Arena League season was the inaugural season of The Arena League (The AL or TAL). The regular season began on June 1, 2024 and ended on July 27, 2024. [1] [2] [3] [4]
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 AL's aim is to highlight the player's athleticism and increase the pace of play.
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 along with a logo redesign. [8]
Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Joined | Head coach |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Duluth Harbor Monsters | Duluth, Minnesota | DECC Arena | 5,333 | 2024 | Tony O'Neil |
Iowa Woo | Waterloo, Iowa | The Hippodrome | 5,155 | 2024 | Mook Zimmerman |
Kansas City Goats | Kansas City, Missouri | Municipal Arena | 9,987 | 2024 | Dorsey Golston III |
Ozarks Lunkers | Springfield, Missouri | Wilson Logistics Arena | 4,500 | 2024 | Cam Bruffett |
Former IFL Commissioner, Tommy Benizio, an advisor for the league and his corporation operated and ran 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]
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 an AL team. [14]
The inaugural season of The Arena League had a nine-week regular season schedule with each team receiving one bye week with playoffs to follow. The season ran from June to August 2024. [1] In September, the AL released the 2024 schedule. [15]
Reference [16]
Team | W | L | PCT | GB | PF | PA | STK |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(1) Kansas City Goats | 7 | 1 | .875 | – | 581 | 405 | W3 |
(2) Duluth Harbor Monsters | 5 | 3 | .625 | 2 | 390 | 354 | W3 |
(3) Ozarks Lunkers | 3 | 5 | .375 | 4 | 379 | 446 | L3 |
(4) Iowa Woo | 1 | 7 | .125 | 6 | 343 | 488 | L3 |
Legend |
---|
(1) – Clinched 1 Seed |
(2) – Clinched 2 Seed |
(3) – Clinched 3 Seed |
(4) – Clinched 4 Seed |
The regular season schedule was released on September 6, 2023. [1]
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 1 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Duluth Harbor Monsters | 52 | 77 | Kansas City Goats | Municipal Arena | ||
June 1 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Iowa Woo | 40 | 69 | Ozarks Lunkers | Wilson Logistics Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 8 | 2:05 p.m. CT | Kansas City Goats | 91 | 56 | Iowa Woo | The Hippodrome |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 15 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Duluth Harbor Monsters | 44 | 38 | Ozarks Lunkers | Wilson Logistics Arena | ||
June 15 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Iowa Woo | 38 | 58 | Kansas City Goats | Municipal Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 22 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Ozarks Lunkers | 52 | 46 | Iowa Woo | The Hippodrome | 2OT | |
June 23 | 5:05 p.m. CT | Kansas City Goats | 58 | 57 | Duluth Harbor Monsters | DECC Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
June 29 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Ozarks Lunkers | 69 | 59 | Kansas City Goats | Wilson Logistics Arena | Game originally scheduled to be held at Municipal Arena [18] | |
June 29 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Iowa Woo | 41 | 22 | Duluth Harbor Monsters | DECC Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 6 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Duluth Harbor Monsters | 67 | 60 | Ozarks Lunkers | Wilson Logistics Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 13 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Kansas City Goats | 78 | 45 | Ozarks Lunkers | Wilson Logistics Arena | ||
July 13 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Iowa Woo | 41 | 52 | Duluth Harbor Monsters | DECC Arena |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 20 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Ozarks Lunkers | 18 | 51 | Duluth Harbor Monsters | DECC Arena | ||
July 20 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Kansas City Goats | 99 | 60 | Iowa Woo | The Hippodrome |
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
July 27 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Duluth Harbor Monsters | 45 | 21 | Iowa Woo | The Hippodrome | ||
July 27 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Ozarks Lunkers | 28 | 61 | Kansas City Goats | St. Pius X Football Stadium | Inside Out Game |
Semi-finals | ArenaMania I | |||||
August 3 – St. Pius X Football Stadium | ||||||
1 Kansas City Goats | 58 | |||||
August 10 – DECC Arena | ||||||
4 Iowa Woo | 59 | |||||
4 Iowa Woo | 44 | |||||
August 3 – DECC Arena | ||||||
2 Duluth Harbor Monsters | 46 | |||||
2 Duluth Harbor Monsters | 50 | |||||
3 Ozarks Lunkers | 18 | |||||
Date | Time | Away team | Result | Home team | Stadium | Notes | Ref | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
August 3 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Iowa Woo | 59 | 58 | Kansas City Goats | St. Pius X Football Stadium | ||
August 3 | 7:05 p.m. CT | Ozarks Lunkers | 18 | 50 | Duluth Harbor Monsters | DECC Arena |
Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Iowa Woo | 6 | 12 | 0 | 26 | 44 |
Duluth Harbor Monsters | 7 | 8 | 12 | 19 | 46 |
Team | TV Station(s) | Radio Station(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Duluth Harbor Monsters | Northland Fan 106.5 FM and 560AM [20] | ||
Iowa Woo | KCRG-TV [21] | [a] | |
Kansas City Goats | |||
Ozarks Lunkers | KYTV [22] |
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.
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.
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played 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, and features between six and eight players for each team playing at any given time depending on the league, 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.
American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America.
The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL). It was formed by Jeff Spitaleri, his brother Eric, and a third member, Cory Trapp, all from the Canton, Ohio, area.
The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams among indoor football leagues. As of the 2024 season, the league consists of 16 teams in two conferences with each team playing 16 games over 19 weeks.
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The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the official Hall of Fame of the Arena Football League (AFL). The inaugural class was announced in 1998 and the Hall was not formally organized until 2011. Prior to 2011, there were four classes: 1998–2000 and then another in 2002. The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the highest honor for players, coaches, and contributors involved in the AFL. The voting process consists of fans and current Hall of Fame members voting on the finalists. The finalists are selected by the League Office in which they collect ballots from the Arena Football Hall of Fame Advisory Board, a group which consisted of former players, executives, journalists and media personnel with a long-time involvement in the league. The league began to decline in 2015, so no Hall of Fame announcements have been made since this year. The league folded for a second time in 2019. After the league's second closure, ArenaFan, a long-running fan site, announced it had taken over operations of the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
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 consisted of five teams.
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.
The Albany Empire were a professional indoor football team based in Albany, New York. They were members of the National Arena League from 2021 to 2023 and played home games at MVP Arena. They are named after the defunct Arena Football League (AFL) team of the same name that won the last ArenaBowl before the AFL folded.
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 a were the third indoor football team to be based in Topeka following the Topeka Knights/Kings (1999–2000) and the Kansas Koyotes (2003–2014).
The Arena League is an indoor American football league in the United States. The league launched in 2024 with four teams playing six-on-six football, but expanded to six-teams and started playing regular 7-on-7 indoor football in its second season.
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.
The Ozarks Lunkers are a professional indoor football team based in Springfield, Missouri. They are currently members of The Arena League. They will play their home games at Wilson Logistics Arena, a multipurpose arena built next to the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds.
The Kansas City Goats are a professional indoor football team based in St. Joseph, Missouri in the United States. They are currently members of The Arena League. They played their home games at Municipal Auditorium for most of the 2024 AL season, but have announced their intentions to move to nearby St. Joseph, Missouri.
Cameron W. Bruffett, is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach for Parkview High School and the inaugural head coach of the Ozarks Lunkers in The Arena League, which began in 2024. Bruffett is also a former defensive back in the Arena Football League (AFL).
The Iowa Woo are a professional indoor football team based in Waterloo, Iowa. They are currently members of The Arena League. They play their home games at The Hippodrome at the National Cattle Congress.