The AF2 was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football rules and style of play. League seasons ran from April through July with the postseason and ArenaCup championship in August. The AF2 continued to operate while the AFL suspended operations for its 2009 season. The league was effectively disbanded in September 2009 when no team committed to playing in 2010, but several of the stronger franchises transferred into the reconstituted AFL.
The Austin Wranglers were an arena football team based in Austin, Texas. They played four seasons in the Arena Football League from 2004 to 2007 and spent one season in af2, the AFL's developmental league, in 2008. They made playoff appearances in the AFL in 2006 and in af2 in 2008. They played their home games at the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
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.
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 Texas Copperheads were a professional arena football that played in AF2, the minor league for the Arena Football League. The team was founded in 2006 as member of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). They played their home games at the Richard E. Berry Educational Support Center in Cypress, Texas. They were coached by Ollie Guidry.
Raymond 'Ray' Philyaw is a former arena football quarterback who was most recently the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Sharks of the Arena Football League (AFL). He also played for the Cleveland Gladiators, Chicago Rush, Kansas City Brigade, Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings and the Albany/Indiana Firebirds, leading the former to the American Conference championship game in 2004 and 2005. Prior to his Arena Football career, he played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Madison Mad Dogs of the Indoor Football League (IFL). After leaving to coach with the New Orleans VooDoo in 2011, he attempted a return as a player in 2012 with the San Jose SaberCats, but later became OC for the San Antonio Talons. He holds the record for the highest career TD-to-INT ratio in AFL history and threw a school record 52 TDs while attending Northeast Louisiana.
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.
John Fitzgerald is a former American football quarterback. He last played for the Kansas City Brigade of the Arena Football League (AFL). He was previously the head coach of af2's Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz where he compiled a 7–9 record in his one-season .
Tango Lee McCauley Sr. is a former gridiron football offensive lineman. He played college football at Texas A&M University and Alabama State University.
Derek Stingley Sr. is an American football coach. Prior to his coaching career, he had a nine-year playing career in the Arena Football League.
Damon Mason is a former American football defensive back.
Pharisse J. Berry is a former American football wide receiver. Berry played collegiately at Virginia State University.
James Harris is an American former professional arena football player who was a fullback/linebacker.
Lee Johnson is an arena football coach and former offensive lineman and defensive lineman. He played defensive line on the Missouri Tigers football team from 1987 to 1990. He played his college football at the University of Missouri, and was an AFL offensive lineman and defensive lineman from 1995 to 1996. He has been a football coach since 1997. After being the defensive coordinator for the Orlando Predators from 2010 to 2011, he became the San Antonio Talons head coach in 2011.
Robert Bees is a former American football quarterback who played two seasons in the Arena Football League (AFL) with the Oklahoma Wranglers, San Jose SaberCats and Buffalo Destroyers. He played college football at Rocky Mountain. He was also a member of the Richmond Speed, Billings Outlaws/Mavericks, Las Vegas Gladiators and Tulsa Talons.
Tim Martin is a former American football lineman who played eight seasons in the Arena Football League with the Oklahoma Wranglers, Dallas Desperados, New Orleans VooDoo, Grand Rapids Rampage and San Jose SaberCats. He played college football at the University of Tulsa and attended Sequoyah High School in Claremore, Oklahoma. He was also a member of the Miami Dolphins, Barcelona Dragons, Chicago Enforcers and New York Dragons.
Jeff Jarnigan is an assistant general manager and coach for the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League (IFL).
Moqut Ruffins was an American football offensive lineman. He played college football at Louisiana Tech University. He has also been a member of the Lakeland Thunderbolts, Laredo Lobos, Lubbock Renegades, Bossier–Shreveport Battle Wings, New Orleans VooDoo, Pittsburgh Power, San Antonio Talons and Washington Valor.
The Louisiana VooDoo were a professional arena football team based in Lafayette, Louisiana. They were members of the revived Arena Football League whose inaugural season in 2024 was cut short due to financial issues with the league under the league's previous administration and were left out of the remaining season as a result. This VooDoo franchise is named after, but otherwise unrelated to, the New Orleans VooDoo of the original AFL.
