Upcoming season or competition: 2024 Arena Football League season | |
Sport | Arena football |
---|---|
Founded | February 1, 2023 |
Founder | G6 Sports Investment Group, LLC (majority) Chris Chetty (chairman) Anthony Rossi (president) Shan Singh (president of operations) F1 Sports & Entertainment (minority) Lee A. Hutton III (chairman/then-commissioner) |
First season | 2024 |
President | Jared Widman |
Commissioner | Jeff Fisher (Interim) |
No. of teams | 9 (as of May 28, 2024) |
Country | United States |
Headquarters | Middletown, Delaware |
TV partner(s) | Gray Television, Vyre Sports |
Official website | theafl.com |
The Arena Football League (AFL) is a professional indoor American football league founded in 2023 with their first season beginning in 2024. The current AFL takes its identity, history, rulebook and some team names from, but is not directly connected to, the previous iteration of the Arena Football League founded by Jim Foster in 1986.
On February 1, 2023, G6 Sports Group (based in Toronto, Ontario, and Middletown, Delaware), a new ownership group that had acquired the league's trademarks and social media accounts, announced the league's launch, as a revival of the previous Arena Football League that operated in two incarnations from 1987 to 2008 and 2010 to 2019. [1]
The league launched in April 2024 with 16 teams, six of which were absorbed through a pre-launch merger with the existing Champions Indoor Football. Three weeks into the season, after numerous controversies, unfulfilled commitments and teams suspending operations, the ownership group fired founding commissioner Lee Hutton and reorganized as a ten-team league (shortly thereafter restored to eleven, then reduced to nine), hiring former NFL coach Jeff Fisher as its interim commissioner.
The original Arena Football League, created in 1981 and founded in 1986 by Jim Foster, had previously existed in two interrelated incarnations between 1987 and 2008, and 2010 to 2019. Only one of the current AFL teams has direct ties to the former AFL: the Albany Firebirds; the Firebirds had previously played as the Albany Empire the previous three seasons in the National Arena League after its ownership group acquired the intellectual properties of the Albany Empire of the AFL (the final champions of that league and itself a successor to two previous AFL and AF2 franchises known as the Firebirds) after the AFL's bankruptcy. Two other existing clubs revive the names of former AFL teams: the Orlando Predators (also coming from the NAL) and the Nashville Kats; several other such revivals were included at the start of the season but were among those contracted in the reorganization.
On February 1, 2023, over a year after Darren Arbet, who had acquired the league's trademarks out of bankruptcy, sold them to an investment group called G6 Sports Investment Group and sub-partner F1 Sports & Entertainment, the new owners confirmed plans to relaunch the Arena Football League. [2] The relaunched league, led by chairman Chris Chetty, president Anthony Rossi, president of operations Shan Singh, and commissioner Lee A. Hutton III, will feature 16 teams playing a 10-game season over the course of the summer months, followed by a postseason format that has yet to be determined. In a later interview, Chetty indicated that G6 planned no involvement or spending, with its only role being to collect licensing royalties from Hutton, who was given mostly free rein to build out the league: "everything down the line, turnkey. As an investor this sounds good to me. Hey, it doesn’t sound like I have to operate." [3]
The league returned its logo to the one used from 2003 to 2018. The new iteration of the league announced plans to feature "streaming, betting, technology, (and) virtual reality" elements, per Rossi. In a February 2023 interview with ArenaFan.com, the commissioner mentioned that the league would have a salary cap of $700,000, but the league will allows additional salary spending for "franchise players". [4] Players were promised a $1,000 per-game salary, substantially higher than that of other indoor leagues and in line with the AFL's previous incarnations. [5]
On July 18, 2023, TMZ Sports initially reported, and the league soon confirmed, 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. [6] Several of the cities' arenas indicated they had never been contacted [7] [8] or had only limited conversations before being awarded teams, [9] [10] with Cincinnati's arenas indicating they had in fact rejected the league's advances. [11] [12] Hutton purposely avoided confirming any news reports, stating that he would only release information "on our time," and threatened any news outlets who reported critically on the league with "egg on their faces come April 2024." [8]
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. [13] On August 31, the West Texas Desert Hawks (formerly the Warbirds) were the second team confirmed. [14] 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. [15] 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. [16]
On November 16, 2023, at the AFL relaunch event, Hutton revealed the 16 teams set play in the 2024 season, while he mentioned the league might expand in the future to 24 teams, as the Chicago Rush and Arizona Bandits are expected to join in 2025 along with other possible teams in markets that were part of the league's original market announcement. [17] Hutton also declared that the league game "will be broadcast, streamed and will also be available in VR". 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 disturb the league progress, which caused a move to different locations. [18] Hutton also mentioned he's in preliminary talks about conducting international exhibitions games, and with that in mind they changed the official website from "TheAFL.com" to "ArenaFootballUSA.com", as they plan to globalize the game. [18]
Following the inaugural week of competition in 2024, numerous problems began to emerge with the league's teams. The Philadelphia Soul coach and roster all departed abruptly before their contest (forcing an American Arena League team from Dallas to don the Soul's uniforms for the game) against the Louisiana VooDoo, [19] [20] who themselves were forced to move their home schedule from Lake Charles to Lafayette days before the game after the manager of Lake Charles's arena accused the VooDoo of failing to cover rent or insurance expenses. [21] The Oregon Blackbears' home arena in Salem, Oregon was deemed unsafe, forcing a slew of schedule changes. [22] The Iowa Rampage folded after its inaugural contest, accusing Hutton of reneging on promises to cover increased expenses, [23] while the Rapid City Marshals granted six players their release and renegotiated lower salaries for their remaining players after they also did not receive the promised compensation from the league. [24] a tactic the Washington Wolfpack also used. Their final game was on May 4, 2024, on the road at Southwest Kansas, losing 34–18. Rossi disowned any connection to league operations in the wake of the controversy, instead stating that his company had licensed the Arena Football League trademarks to Hutton's company for a fee that Hutton did not pay. [25] Documents related to the Louisiana VooDoo showed that Hutton had indeed operated the league through the business structure of the Minnesota Myth. [26] These problems have prompted calls for Hutton to resign, including from Billings Outlaws owner Steven Titus. [27] Marshals owner Wes Johnson noted that the league structure centered all power in the commissioner, whom the owners had no leverage to fire. [24] On May 9, 2024, it was announced that the Georgia Force had abruptly folded [28] and the Soul had suspended operations for the remainder of the 2024 season with hopes of returning in 2025. [29]
On May 12, 2024, kicker Melissa Strother made an extra point while playing for the Washington Wolfpack, making her the first female player to score a point in the Arena Football League. [30] Strother, who had previously been on the Marshals roster prior to the CIF merger with the AFL, was a 13-year veteran of women's leagues and a former member of the women's national team. [31]
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. [32] [33] Hours later, the same Arena Insider reported that sources with the AFL stated that, in a unanimous vote among the remaining owners, Lee Hutton was ousted as league commissioner and that Nashville Kats president (and former NFL and USFL head coach) Jeff Fisher was appointed interim commissioner. The official announcement was made May 14. [34] [35] This is despite a league bylaw that was believed to have granted Hutton total immunity from ouster by league owners; [24] the ouster was made with the full cooperation of G6 Sports Group (owners of the trademarks and connected to the original F1 group that had founded the revival), who had suggested Fisher for the position. [36] Chairman Chris Chetty, who had initially expected to remain in Canada and not to have an active role in league operations, noted that Hutton had breached multiple clauses of his contract with G6 even before the league kicked off, which provided the legal justification for revoking the license on the AFL trademarks. [3]
The change in commissioner did not completely restore stability; Oregon pulled out of a last-minute assignment "due to unforeseen circumstances" on May 24, forcing the temporarily independent Cedar Rapids River Kings to step in the Blackbears' stead; [37] Rapid City, having faced continued labor strife tied to the promises made by the Hutton regime, folded following their May 23 game. [38] [39]
The league would announce the hiring of its new president and chief operating officer Jared Widman on May 28, 2024, along with the announcement that the league was contracting to nine teams, again expelling Oregon (who had been briefly removed from the league web site, then restored, the previous day). [40] Oregon did not immediately cease operations and retained its previous online broker for ticket sales for "any future home games." [41]
Team | Location | Arena | Capacity | Founded | Head coach |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albany Firebirds [42] [43] | Albany, New York | MVP Arena | 13,785 | 2023 | Damon Ware |
Billings Outlaws | Billings, Montana | MetraPark First Interstate Arena | 8,700 | 2021 | Cedric Walker |
Nashville Kats [44] | Nashville, Tennessee | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | 8,000 | 2023 | Dean Cokinos |
Orlando Predators | Orlando, Florida | Kia Center | 17,192 | 2019 | E. J. Burt |
Salina Liberty | Salina, Kansas | Tony's Pizza Events Center | 7,583 | 2015 | Heron O'Neal |
Southwest Kansas Storm | Dodge City, Kansas | United Wireless Arena | 5,300 | 2021 | Gary Thomas [45] |
Washington Wolfpack | Everett, Washington | Angel of the Winds Arena | 8,149 | 2023 | J.R. Wells |
West Texas Desert Hawks | Odessa, Texas | Ector County Coliseum | 5,131 | 2019 | Chris Siegfried |
Wichita Regulators | Park City, Kansas | Park City Arena | 5,000 | 2023 | Clinton Solomon |
Division | Team | Location | Arena | Capacity | Founded | Head coach |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2025 teams | Arizona Bandits | Phoenix, Arizona | TBD | TBD | 2023 | Darren Arbet |
Chicago Rush | Chicago, Illinois | TBD | TBD | 2023 | TBD | |
For the 2024 return, the AFL signed a national television deal with the NFL Network for broadcast over 30 AFL regular season games (games will also be streamed on NFL+); [46] this never materalized, as NFL Network dropped plans to carry the games before they were played. [47] The league announced on March 29 that much of the league's schedule will be carried on Gray Television owned-and-operated stations in each team's home market and in regional syndication. [48]
Select AFL games have been livestreamed through the Vyre streaming app.
January 16, 2024, the league announced a partnership with American 7s Football League (A7FL) for player development, as players can transfer between leagues, with the A7FL functioning as its de facto minor league. As part of the partnership, both leagues "will collectively align on marketing efforts that will elevate the visibility of leagues athletes". [49]
In November 2023, the league announced a multi-year partnership with USA Football naming the AFL as an "official national team development & scouting partner", with the AFL helping USA Football recruiting players who want to represent the United States in international competition. [50]
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 Philadelphia Soul can refer to one of two successive professional arena football teams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They both have competed in the Arena Football League (AFL). The Soul made six ArenaBowl appearances, winning their first appearance and losing their next two appearances. The Soul won in their fourth appearance, against the Rattlers in 2016, winning 56–42. They also won in their fifth appearance in 2017 against the Tampa Bay Storm, winning 44–40 before losing in their sixth appearance in 2019 to the Albany Empire 45-27.
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.
The New Orleans VooDoo were a professional arena football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They were members of the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2015.
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.
The Albany Firebirds were a professional arena football team of the AF2 based in Albany, New York. Albany was granted an expansion team in 2002 and began play as the Albany Conquest. The Firebirds played their home games at the Times Union Center. They are the second arena football team for Albany, as the city was granted an expansion team, the Albany Firebirds, in the Arena Football League in 1990. The team moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in 2000 and played as the Indiana Firebirds through 2004 before disbanding.
American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America.
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 2023 season, the league consists of 14 teams in two conferences with each team playing 16 games over 19 weeks.
Robert Redd is an American football wide receiver for the Florida Tarpons of the American Arena League (AAL).
The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Angeles Kiss. The team played their home games at the Moda Center. They were known as the Thunder until the franchise went under league ownership in 2016 and became the Steel.
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.
The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. For the upcoming 2024 season, the league consists of six teams.
The Albany Empire was 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 Billings Outlaws are a professional indoor football team that began play as a member of Champions Indoor Football for the 2022 season. Based in Billings, Montana, the Outlaws play their home games at MetraPark First Interstate Arena. For 2024, they have been announced as members of the revived Arena Football League.
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.
The Washington Wolfpack are a professional indoor football team based in Everett in the U.S. state of Washington. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL), beginning play in 2024.
The Oregon Blackbears are a professional indoor football team based in Salem, Oregon. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL), beginning play in 2024. They play at the Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion in Salem. The Blackbears have been in a state of uncertainty since a league reorganization early in the 2024 season, having twice been removed from, then restored to the league.
The 2024 Arena Football League season is the first season in the new version of the Arena Football League (AFL).
The Minnesota Myth were a professional indoor football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Myth played their home games at the Target Center. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL), playing its lone season in 2024.
The Iowa Rampage were a professional arena football team based in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL).