Upcoming season or competition: 2024 The Arena League season | |
 | |
| Sport | Six-man arena football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2023 |
| First season | 2024 |
| Commissioner | Tim Brown |
| No. of teams | 4 (+1 planned) |
| Country | United States |
| Official website | thearenaleague.football |
The Arena League (The AL or TAL) is a future six-on-six indoor American football league in the United States. The league intends to launch in 2024 with four teams.
The league was first announced in February 2023, with Pro Football Hall of Famer Tim Brown as TAL Commissioner. [1] The league then released a list of ten semi-finalist markets, which people could vote for the city to be a part of the inaugural season: Waterloo, Iowa; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; Rochester, Minnesota; Little Rock, Arkansas; Rockford, Illinois; Dubuque, Iowa; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Duluth, Minnesota and Wichita Falls, Texas with fans casting their votes at TAL official website. [2]
The first city announced was Springfield [3] with Duluth being the second city. [4] Waterloo was announced on May 4 as the third team. [5] Kansas City was the fourth and final team announced for the inaugural 2024 season. [6] The league anticipates expanding in the forthcoming years, including adding two teams for the 2025 season, [7] with hope to expand to 12 teams by 2026. [8] In September The AL released the 2024 schedule. [9]
On October 19, 2023 the Waterloo Woo announced their owners and changed their team name to the Iowa Woo. [10]
On April 5, 2024, the league released a list of five markets, which people could vote on at the TAL website for the city to be an expansion franchise beginning in the 2025 season. The five markets included: Dallas, Texas; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; St. Joseph, Missouri; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and Rochester, Minnesota, which was a part of the inaugural season voting. On April 25, 2024, the league announced that Hot Springs would be the first expansion team and will begin play in 2025. [11]
The Arena League's rules aim to highlight the player's athleticism and increase the pace of play. The field will be traditional arena football size, measuring 50 yards long and 85 feet wide enclosed by padded walls. Teams will have 15-player rosters with the game being played with six offensive players against six defensive players. The league will follow a one-platoon system with offensive and defensive players playing both sides of the ball. There are no restrictions on defense. The play clock is reduced to 20 seconds (the teaser video did not mention whether this will be measured from the spotting of the ball, as in the Canadian Football League, or the end of the previous play). No offensive huddles are allowed unless a timeout is called.
As is the case with traditional six-man football as played at the high school level, all offensive players are eligible receivers with three players initially lined up in an offensive line position. The quarterback cannot run the ball past the line of scrimmage.
All players and coaches will communicate with helmet communication systems that fans will be able to listen to in real time. Kickoffs will be replaced with a quarterback throwoff, with an onside conversion option (akin to that seen in Fan Controlled Football and Alliance of American Football) available. All forms of kicking the ball are prohibited, including punts and field goals. [12]
There will only be one on-field official to mark and set the ball and make penalty announcements. There will be sky judges watching live video feeds to decide penalties in real time. [13] Coaches and fans will have access to the referee interactions. After each game, fans can give feedback on the referees performance.
| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Joined | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth Harbor Monsters | Duluth, Minnesota | DECC Arena | 5,333 | 2024 | Tony O'Neil |
| Iowa Woo | Waterloo, Iowa | The Hippodrome | 5,155 | 2024 | Mook Zimmerman |
| Kansas City Goats | Kansas City, Missouri | Municipal Auditorium | 9,987 | 2024 | TBA |
| Ozarks Lunkers | Springfield, Missouri | Wilson Logistics Arena | 4,500 | 2024 | Cam Bruffett |
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Founded | Joined | Head coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot Springs TBD | Hot Springs, Arkansas | Bank OZK Arena | 6,050 | 2024 | 2025 | TBD |
The inaugural season of The Arena League will have a nine-week regular season schedule with each team receiving one bye week with playoffs to follow. The season will run from June to August 2024. [14]
On April 6, 2024, the league announced that the championship game will be known as ArenaMania. [15]
| Game | Date | Winning team | Losing team | MVP | Site | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | August 10, 2024 | TBD | TBD | TBD | Higher seed | |||
| Team | TV Station(s) | Radio Station(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duluth Harbor Monsters | Northland Fan 106.5 FM and 560AM [16] | ||
| Iowa Woo | [lower-alpha 1] | ||
| Kansas City Goats | |||
| Ozarks Lunkers | |||
| Hot Springs |
Former IFL Commissioner, Tommy Benizio, an advisor for the league and his corporation will operate and run the teams until, he hopes, business leaders in the community decide they want to be a part of it and own and operate a team. [17] The league would later announce owners for all four locations. [18] [19] [20] [10]
On December 4, 2023 former Dallas Desperados executive Ronnie Davis was appointed as Deputy Commissioner. [21]
J.R. Bond leads a small group financing the league; Bond is a political advisor in Kansas City and has served as owner of several professional sports teams including the Sioux City Bandits, Topeka Tropics, and Topeka Golden Giants. [22]
The Arena Football League (AFL) can refer to one of three successive professional indoor American football leagues in the United States. The first of these was founded in 1986, and played its first official games in the 1987 season, running for 22 consecutive seasons until going bankrupt following the 2008 season. The second league, consisting largely of teams from the first AFL and arenafootball2, purchased the first league's assets out of bankruptcy and resumed play in 2010 as a continuation of the first AFL; this second AFL ran for ten further seasons, before again going bankrupt following the 2019 season. A third AFL, which is not directly connected to the previous two iterations of the league but claiming their histories and trademarks, intends to launch in 2024.
The Georgia Force is the name of three separate versions of Arena Football League (AFL) teams based in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area of Georgia, United States, that played in the South Division of the American Conference.
The Louisiana VooDoo are a professional arena football team based in Lafayette, Louisiana. They are members of the Arena Football League and will play their home games at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette starting in 2024.
Arena football is a variety of eight-man indoor gridiron football. The game is played indoors 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, 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 Extreme Football League is a women's semi-professional indoor American football league operating in the United States. The league was originally founded in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League (LFL), and later rebranded as the Legends Football League in 2013.
American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America.
The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won division titles in all four seasons and ArenaCups in 2006 and 2009 before they joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in its 2010 relaunch. The team advanced to the playoffs three times after joining the AFL, winning ArenaBowl XXIII in their first season, making them the only arena football franchise to win both the ArenaCup and the ArenaBowl.
The Port Huron Pirates were a professional indoor football team based in Port Huron, Michigan. The team was a charter member of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIFL) joining the league in 2006 as an expansion team. The Pirates were the first professional indoor football team to be based in Port Huron. They played their home games at McMorran Arena in Port Huron, Michigan.
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 2023 season, the league consists of 14 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 National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. For the upcoming 2024 season, the league consists of six teams.
Fan Controlled Football (FCF) is a dormant professional 7-on-7 indoor football league that played two seasons in 2021 and 2022. The league operated on the premise of fans voting on play calls and other in-game events. All games were played at the Pullman Yards in Atlanta, Georgia and broadcast on streaming television. The league plans to return in 2024.
The Iowa Heartlanders are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Coralville, Iowa. The team began play in the 2021–22 ECHL season, playing their home games at Xtream Arena.
The Topeka Tropics are a professional indoor football based in Topeka, Kansas, and play 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 are the third indoor football team to be based in Topeka following the Topeka Knights/Kings (1999–2000) and the Kansas Koyotes (2003–2014).
The Duluth Harbor Monsters are a future Arena football team based in Duluth, Minnesota. They were announced as one of the four inaugural teams of The Arena League on April 5, 2023. This is the second professional arena/indoor football team to the Duluth area, the first being the Duluth-Superior Lumberjacks of the IFL. The team will play their games at the DECC Arena.
The Ozarks Lunkers are a professional indoor football team based in Springfield, Missouri. They are currently members of The Arena League (TAL). They will play their home games at Wilson Logistics Arena, a multipurpose arena built next to the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds.
The 2024 TAL season is the upcoming inaugural season of The Arena League (TAL). The regular season is scheduled to begin on June 1, 2024, with the regular season ending on July 27, 2024.
The Iowa Woo are a professional indoor football team based in Waterloo, Iowa. They are currently members of The Arena League (TAL). They will play their home games at The Hippodrome at the National Cattle Congress.
The 2024 Arena Football League season will be the 33rd in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL) and the first season as the rebooted version of the league, after it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at the end of the 2019 season.
The 2025 TAL season is the upcoming second season of The Arena League (TAL).
