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 Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in 1999 as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in 2004. They folded along with the original incarnation of the AFL following the 2008 season, after a total of ten seasons of play.
The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association and the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. The franchise was originally based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and then later in Las Vegas, Nevada, before relocating to Cleveland for the 2008 AFL season. The Gladiators qualified for the playoffs eight times in their history, reaching the ArenaBowl in 2014.
The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and then again in 1996 and the Independence Arena in 1995. They were owned by Allen J. Schwalb, Joanne Faruggia and former National Football League and United States Football League quarterback Cliff Stoudt.
Thomas Alfred Maddox is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also played one season each for the New Jersey Red Dogs of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the Los Angeles Xtreme of the XFL. In the XFL's only season, Maddox was the league's most valuable player (MVP) while leading the Xtreme to victory in the league's championship.
Richfield Coliseum, also known as the Coliseum at Richfield, was an indoor arena located in Richfield Township, between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. It opened in 1974 as a replacement for the Cleveland Arena, and had a seating capacity of 20,273 for basketball. It was the main arena for the Northeast Ohio region until 1994, when it was replaced by Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland. The Coliseum stood vacant for five years before it was purchased and demolished in 1999 by the National Park Service. The site of the building was converted to a meadow and is now part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The Cleveland Crunch is an American professional indoor soccer club located in Cleveland, Ohio.
Gordon Gund is an American businessman and professional sports owner. He is the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation. He is the former co-owner of the San Jose Sharks from 1992 to 2002, former principal owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1983 to 2005, and former principal owner of the Cleveland Rockers from 1997 to 2003. Gund lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa and was a co-founder of Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The Cleveland Barons were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1976 to 1978. They were a relocation of the California Golden Seals franchise that had played in Oakland since 1967. After just two seasons, the team merged with the Minnesota North Stars. As a result, the NHL operated with 17 teams during the 1978–79 season.
Anthony Robert Graziani is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL), and the Los Angeles Avengers and Philadelphia Soul of the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for the Oregon Ducks.
Throughout the years, a number of teams in the National Football League (NFL) have either moved or merged.
The East Division was a division of the Arena Football League's American Conference. It was first formed in 1995 as part of the National Conference when expansion led to the creation of divisions.
The 1992 Arena Football League season was the sixth season of the Arena Football League (AFL). The league champions were the Detroit Drive, who defeated the Orlando Predators in ArenaBowl VI.
Mike Wilpolt is a former American football wide receiver/defensive back for the Charlotte Rage (1992–1993), the Las Vegas Sting (1994–1995), and the Anaheim Piranhas (1996) in the Arena Football League (AFL). He also coached for 10 years in the AFL with the Indiana Firebirds, Los Angeles Avengers and Cleveland Gladiators.
The Columbus Aces were a proposed indoor football team based in Columbus, Ohio. The team was set to be the final team expansion team of the Continental Indoor Football League in 2010. The Aces would have been the third attempt at arena or indoor football in Columbus, the first were the Arena Football League's, following prior teams the Columbus Thunderbolts and the Columbus Destroyers. The owners of the Aces were Michael Burtch and Stanley Jackson. The Aces were scheduled to play their home games at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum in Columbus, Ohio.
The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference in the Arena Football League. Founded in 2010, the Power was the youngest franchise in the American Conference. The team played its home games at Consol Energy Center, which they shared with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. The Power shared the same color scheme as Pittsburgh's other professional sports teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League, the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL, and the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball.
Gary Mullen is a former professional American football and Arena football player who played wide receiver and defensive back for eight seasons for the Denver Dynamite, Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Cobras, Detroit Drive, Cincinnati Rockers and the Milwaukee Mustangs. He was elected into the Arena Football Hall of Fame in 1998.
The Columbus Beast was a professional indoor football team set to begin play as a charter member of the Xtreme Indoor Football League for its inaugural 2014 season. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the Beast were to play their home games at Stars Indoor Sports.
Ohio is home to many professional and college sports teams. The metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus are home to major league professional sports teams in baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.
