Oregon Blackbears | |
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Established 2023 Folded 2024 Played in Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavilion in Salem, Oregon OregonBlackBears.com | |
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League/conference affiliations | |
Current uniform | |
Team colors | Black, Gray, Red |
Personnel | |
Owner(s) | Oregon Arena Football, LLC (majority) Arena Football Management, LLC (minority) Justin Butler (minority stake) |
President | Patrick Johnson |
Head coach | Chuck Jones |
Team history | |
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Championships | |
League championships (0) | |
Conference championships (0) | |
Division championships (0) | |
Home arena(s) | |
The Oregon Blackbears were 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 team appears to have either folded for good or have been expelled from the league altogether as the team's website has been shut down after it was discovered that Lee Hutton (Arena Football Management LLC) and Travelle Gaines (Oregon Arena Football LLC) were indeed the actual owners of the franchise.
The Blackbears were the third official Oregon-based team to play in the Arena Football League, but were the first to play outside of the Portland, Oregon, area. They were also the first "major" sports team based in Salem.
The first team representing the state of Oregon in the Arena Football League were the Portland Forest Dragons, who played from 1997 to 1999 before relocating to Oklahoma City and being rebranded as the Oklahoma Wranglers. Oregon would not see the AFL again until 2013 when the Portland Thunder were established by Clackamas billionaire Terry Emmert and would take the field a few months later. The Thunder were rebranded as the Portland Steel in 2016 after the league took control of the franchise from Emmert, then abruptly folded at season's end with no explanation. The second incarnation of the league would fold three years later. Both teams played their home games at the Moda Center. [1]
Four years after the original AFL folded for the second time, it was announced on February 1, 2023 that the league intended on relaunching in 2024. [2] On July 18, the 16 intended market cities were announced, including Salem. [3] Like some other locations, Salem city officials were surprised about the announcement, but stated that they "look forward to learning more". [4]
On October 25, 2023, a press release announced that the team would be called the Oregon Blackbears. The ownership group was announced to have been led by former Oregon Ducks standout and current New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux and that their head coach is former player Chuck Jones. [5] [6] [7] [8] In a statement to Arena Insider, Thibodeaux stated that he was never an owner of the team and that "(t)he league used my name for publicity.". [9] Before the start of the 2024 season, Patrick Johnson was named the team president. [10] Their main rivals in the new AFL are the Washington Wolfpack and Billings Outlaws.
On April 27, 2024, the Blackbears won the debut at home over the Wolfpack 47-40.
With the ouster of commissioner Lee Hutton on May 14, 2024, the Blackbears were initially left out of the reorganized ten-team league. League officials expressed openness to continuing to schedule games against the Blackbears. [11] In a statement, Johnson expressed surprise that his organization had not been involved in the decision and that he would accept the ruling and disband the team, beginning negotiations with other leagues to ensure Blackbears players could finish the season elsewhere. [12] In a statement to the Statesman-Journal, he indicated plans to discuss the team's exclusion with the other ten remaining owners before taking any further action. [13] As of May 16, the Blackbears are still scheduled to play the Washington Wolfpack on May 18. [14] filling a schedule hole left when the Rapid City Marshals, one of the ten surviving teams, cancelled an upcoming game amid in-team turmoil that had forced the sudden forfeiture of that team's previous game. [15] The Blackbears announced an agreement to finish the 2024 season on May 17 [16] after a local ownership group was found to cover the league's shares in the team. [17]
After declining a Week 5 reassignment to play the Southwest Kansas Storm in place of the Billings Outlaws "due to unforeseen circumstances," [18] the Blackbears were briefly removed from the Arena Football League's list of teams on May 27 without their knowledge before being restored later that day. [19] On May 28, 2024, coinciding with the naming of new league president/chief operating officer Jared Widman, the league officially removed the team from the remainder of the 2024 season schedule. [20] Despite rumors to the contrary of folding or ceasing operations, the team continues to negotiate with the league while also exploring other options and the team announced the renewal of its contract with HUMBL (which had been the AFL's online platform under Hutton) for ticket sales for "any future home games." [21] On June 17, after the team was unable to find opponents for their two remaining scheduled home games, the Blackbears formally concluded their season, finishing 3-1 in their inaugural season, intending to return to play in 2025.
In a twist of fate in the ongoing turmoil surrounding Blackbears ownership, it was discovered after an investigation, Arena Insider exposed the team's actual ownership was Travelle Gaines (dba Oregon Arena Football, LLC) and former commissioner Lee Hutton (dba Arena Football Management LLC, also owner of the failed Georgia Force revival, Louisiana VooDoo, failed Philadelphia Soul revival and wife Diana Hutton's failed Minnesota Myth). It was reported that the organization's ownership under Hutton and Gaines failed to pay its venue fees of $30,948.88 to the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center and they also owe many vendors who are seeking payments from the ownership. The Blackbears were rumored to have been sold to a new local ownership group, however the current owners refuse to sell them. Legal action could be taken against the Blackbears and AFM and this could spell the end for the team despite claims that they will return for 2025. [22]
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 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 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.
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The Milwaukee Mustangs were a professional arena football team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They were members of the Arena Football League (AFL), which they joined in 2010 during the league's restructuring. They played their home games at the Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee.
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.
Terry W. Emmert is an American businessman, entrepreneur and sports franchise owner from Clackamas, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. He is the founder and owner of Emmert International, an engineering and transport service company, the International Basketball League's Portland Chinooks and the Portland Thunder professional Arena Football League team. He has two children, Terry Michael Emmert, who is vice president of Emmert International, and Christine Vessey, the Vice President of Multrec Corporation.
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.
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The West Texas Desert Hawks were a professional indoor football team and an inaugural member of the relaunched Arena Football League. The Desert Hawks were based in Odessa, Texas, with home games at the Ector County Coliseum. The team played their first several seasons as the West Texas Warbirds.
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 2024 Arena Football League season is 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 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.
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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, 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.
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