The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, AF2, however, that changed briefly with their expansion into AFL markets such as Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles, and AF2 markets such as Fort Myers and Houston. Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson, New Orleans Saints quarterback John Fourcade and Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl running back Bam Morris, all played in the NIFL. The league folded in 2008.
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 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 Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings were an Arena Football League team based in Bossier City, Louisiana. They played at the CenturyTel Center in Bossier City and took their name from the metropolitan area that consists of Bossier City and neighboring city Shreveport in the Ark-La-Tex corridor. Playing in the defunct af2 from their inception in 2001 until the league's folding in 2009, the team had its best seasons in 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2009 having clinched division titles in the latter two years. They were also the only seasons in which the team had more wins than losses. In 2007, the Battle Wings clinched their first-ever playoff berth, beating the Arkansas Twisters and Rio Grande Valley Dorados before being beaten by the eventual Arena Cup champion Tulsa Talons. Despite having little success in their earlier days, the Battle Wings turned out some players who went on to appear in both the Canadian Football League and for other teams the Arena Football League, in which the team itself played for a single season after the AFL emerged from bankruptcy and resumed operations. Following the 2010 season, the team moved to New Orleans, Louisiana for the 2011 AFL season and became a successor to the New Orleans VooDoo. Bossier City was considered as a potential site for the 2024 revival of the AFL, but CenturyLink Center did not have enough open dates to accommodate a team, and thus the Louisiana AFL franchise, also named the VooDoo, was given to Lake Charles
The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The Well".
Bobby Joseph Hebert Jr. is an American sportscaster and former professional football quarterback. He played in the United States Football League (USFL) and National Football League (NFL) from 1983 to 1996 for the Michigan Panthers, Oakland Invaders, New Orleans Saints, and Atlanta Falcons. Nicknamed "the Cajun Cannon", Hebert led the Panthers to the USFL championship in the league's inaugural season. Later he helped bring the Saints their first winning season and playoff appearance in franchise history. Hebert was inducted to the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. He currently hosts an afternoon radio show on WWL AM 870 and WWL-FM 105.3 in New Orleans.
Donovan Morgan is an American former professional arena football wide receiver.
Troy Joseph Bergeron is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys. He also was a member of the Georgia Force and Cleveland Gladiators in the Arena Football League. He never played college football.
The Louisiana Bayou Beast were a team in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) in 1998, in the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) in 1999 and reincarnated in 2001 in the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). The Bayou Beast franchise was owned by James (Sr.) and Carolyn Shiver, who currently own and operate the NIFL which is based in Lafayette, Louisiana. The Bayou Beast competed in the PIFL in 1998, playing their home games at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. The team colors were red, black, and white. In 1999, the PIFL changed its name to the IPFL, and the Beast changed arenas, moving to the Riverside Centroplex in downtown Baton Rouge for that season.
The Mobile Seagulls were a professional indoor football team. They were initially a member of the Indoor Professional Football League for the 2000 season before joining the National Indoor Football League for the 2001 season, their final. They played their home games at Mobile Civic Center Arena for the 2000 season and at the Mitchell Center for the 2001 season. The majority owner of the team was Mobile businessman, James Childers.
Brett Dietz is an American college football coach and former quarterback. He is the head football coach for DePauw University, a position he has held since 2020. Dietz played college football at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana and professionally with several teams including the Turku Trojans in Finland Vaahteraliiga and in Arena Football League (AFL), Af2, and the National Indoor Football League (NIFL) for the Cincinnati Marshals, Louisville Fire, Tampa Bay Storm and California Redwoods.
Rickey Foggie is an American former gridiron football quarterback. Foggie was the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Golden Gophers for four seasons, before going on to play professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Arena Football League (AFL). Foggie had a short tenure as the head football coach for the Minnesota Myth AFL team.
Rod Harper is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Green Bay Packers in 2008. He played college football at Murray State University.
The Lafayette Wildcatters were a professional indoor football team based in Lafayette, Louisiana and a charter member of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL). They played their home games at the Cajundome, the Wildcatters are Lafayette's second attempt at an indoor/arena football team following the af2's Lafayette Roughnecks, the Roughnecks folded after their single season of 2001.
Juan Joseph was a professional Arena football quarterback who also played American and Canadian football. He last played for the Lafayette Wildcatters of the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL). He was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football for the Millsaps Majors. He was also a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Rio Grande Valley Magic were a professional indoor football team based in Hidalgo, Texas. The Magic were charter members of the Lone Star Football League (LSFL) in 2012, after playing as an expansion team in the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) in 2011. The Magic played their home games at the State Farm Arena.
The Alabama Hammers were a professional indoor football team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The team played in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) from 2012 to 2015. The Hammers originally began play as an expansion team in the Southern Indoor Football League in 2011. The Hammers are the fourth indoor football team to play at the Von Braun Center; these were the Alabama Vipers of the AFL (2010), the Tennessee Valley Vipers of the af2, and the Tennessee Valley Raptors of the United Indoor Football league (2005). The owner of the Hammers is Southern Sports Entertainment, LLC. The Hammers play their home games at the Von Braun Center. Their name comes from the Yellowhammer, the state bird of Alabama.
The Mississippi Fire Dogs were a professional indoor American football team based in Biloxi, Mississippi. They played their home games at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. They were a charter member of the Indoor Professional Football League. They played from in the 1999-2000 IPFL seasons before joining the National Indoor Football League in 2001. Their final season was in 2002.
Andrico Hines is a former American football quarterback who played three seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL) with the Cleveland Gladiators and Pittsburgh Power. He first enrolled at Middle Georgia College before transferring to Southwest Mississippi Community College and then Middle Tennessee State University. He attended Riverdale High School in Riverdale, Georgia. Hines was also a member of the South Georgia Wildcats, Chattahoochee Valley Vipers, Spokane Shock, Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings and Alabama Vipers.
Chase Fourcade is an American football quarterback for the Louisiana VooDoo of the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football for Nicholls. He had stints with the Columbus Lions of the National Arena League (NAL), Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL), Alabama Airborne of Major League Football (MLFB), and the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League (USFL).
