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. They are the 2024 AFL champions, defeating the Albany Firebirds 46–41 at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One.
The Outlaws will be the third indoor football team to be based in Billings following the original Billings Outlaws (2000–2010) and the Billings Wolves (2015–2016).
Champions Indoor Football (2022–2023)
On April 30, 2021, Keith Russ and Tel Koen, owners of fellow Champions Indoor Football (CIF) team the Wyoming Mustangs, announced they would bring an expansion CIF team to Billings for the 2022 season.[1] A name-the-team contest was held, with the Outlaws being named the winner on July 22.[2] Despite using the original Outlaws' name, logo, and colors, the current Outlaws are considered to be a new franchise with no other connection to the previous Outlaws, but continues to market itself as a continuation.
In June 2022, it was announced Steven Titus, a Gillette, Wyoming, attorney purchased the Outlaws and Wyoming Mustangs.[3] On August 29, 2023, the Outlaws were announced to become members of the third incarnation of the Arena Football League.[4] Titus named the Mustangs' head coach, Cedric Walker, as the new head coach of the Outlaws.[4]
Arena Football League (2024)
In 2024, the CIF merged with the latest incarnation of the Arena Football League along with remaining members Rapid City Marshals, Salina Liberty and Southwest Kansas Storm while the Omaha Beef, Sioux City Bandits and Topeka Tropics opted for the National Arena League and the Gillette Mustangs folding. The league faced massive turmoil and owner Steven Titus led the charge to oust league commissioner Lee Hutton III as the league was cut in half during the season with teams either folding or being removed from the schedule. Despite all of the turmoil, the Outlaws played on and made the playoffs as the #1 seed in the revamped system. The Outlaws would make it to ArenaBowl XXXIII, which was played at American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and face the Albany Firebirds. The Outlaws won the championship 46–41 over the Firebirds giving the Outlaws their first championship of any kind since the original Outlaws won their last title in 2010.
Arena Football One (2025-future)
On September 4, 2024, the Outlaws announced they were leaving the collapsed AFL and helping to form the new Arena Football One league, with team owner Steven Titus serving as league chairman. They will play in the West Division along with the Arizona Bandits, Oregon Lightning and Washington Wolfpack.
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.
The Omaha Beef are a professional indoor football team based in Omaha, Nebraska. The Beef plays their home games at Liberty First Credit Union Arena in nearby Ralston. The Beef competes in the National Arena League (NAL). The Beef has been a member of several leagues, including being a charter member of Champions Indoor Football (CIF).
The Sioux City Bandits are a professional indoor football team based in Sioux City, Iowa, and compete as a member of National Arena League (NAL). The team was founded in 1999 as the Sioux City Attack. In 2001, the team assumed their current name of the Bandits. The Bandits play their home games at the Tyson Events Center.
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.
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 Salina Liberty are a professional indoor football team based in Salina, Kansas. They began play in 2016 as members of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF) and played in the Arena Football League in 2024. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One. The team plays their home games at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center.
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.
The Gillette Mustangs were a professional indoor football team based in Gillette, Wyoming, with home games at Wyoming Center at the CAM-PLEX. The team was a member of Champions Indoor Football.
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 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 Albany Firebirds are a professional arena football team and are an inaugural team in Arena Football One. They started as an inaugural member of the ill-fated third iteration of the Arena Football League. The team is based in Albany, New York. Home games are played at the MVP Arena. This is the third time the Firebirds name has been used, first from 1990 to 2004 with the original Albany and Indiana Firebirds from the original AFL, and the Albany Firebirds of the af2 in 2009.
The Southwest Kansas Storm are a professional indoor football team based in Dodge City, Kansas. Members of Champions Indoor Football (CIF) from 2022 to 2023, they were announced as members of the revived Arena Football League (AFL) for the 2024 season. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One.
The 2024 Arena Football League season was the first season in the new version of the Arena Football League (AFL), and the 33rd season of play in the history of the Arena Football League brand.
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).
The Wichita Regulators are a professional indoor football team based in Park City, Kansas. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL) for 2024, beginning play as an independent semi-pro team in 2023 at Hartman Arena. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One.
The Arizona Bandits are a future professional indoor football team based in Tempe, Arizona. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL), but months after that league's collapse, they have joined the new Arena Football One that will begin play in 2025.
ArenaBowl XXXIII was the 33rd edition of the ArenaBowl, the championship game for the 2024 Arena Football League season. It took place at the American Dream Center, an ice rink located inside American Dream Meadowlands, a shopping mall and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19, 2024. It is the first since the original league's bankruptcy in 2019 and the reestablishment of the AFL in 2024. The game featured the Albany Firebirds facing off against the Billings Outlaws who had faced each other earlier in the season in Billings winning 36-35.
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional indoor American football league founded in 2023 with their first, and only, season beginning in 2024. The recent AFL took its identity, history, some of the 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.
Arena Football One is a future professional arena football league based in Nashville, Tennessee, set to play in 2025. The league was founded by the eight teams who had survived the 2024 Arena Football League season. The eight founding teams added multiple expansion teams in advance of the 2025 AF1 Season.
The 2025 season is the upcoming first season of the new Arena Football One. The regular season will begin on March 14, 2025 and run through June 15, 2025.
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