Wichita Regulators | |
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Current season | |
Established 2023 Play in Park City, Kansas at Hartman Arena WichitaKSRegulators.com | |
League/conference affiliations | |
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Current uniform | |
Team colors | Black, orange & blue |
Personnel | |
Owner(s) | TBA |
Head coach | Clinton Solomon |
Team history | |
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Championships | |
League championships (0) | |
Conference championships (0) | |
Division championships (0) | |
Home arena(s) | |
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The Wichita Regulators are a professional indoor football team based in Park City, Kansas. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL) for 2024, beginning play as an independent semi-pro team in 2023 at Hartman Arena. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One .
The Regulators began as an independent semi-professional indoor team in 2022 playing a five-game schedule of games, all games at Hartman Arena. The initial coaching staff featured Carlos Cavanaugh Sr. as Head Coach, Rick Lee as Running Game Coordinator, Justin Hurley as Defensive Line Coach and Curtis Williams as Secondary Coach. They finished 5–0 in their inaugural season. [1] They were set to join Champions Indoor Football before that league was absorbed into the second revivial of the Arena Football League.[ citation needed ]
Four years after the 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; Kansas was not initially among the 16 regions receiving a team but would join with the league's eventual merger with Champions Indoor Football.
Steven Titus, the owner of the CIF's Gillette Mustangs and Billings Outlaws, joined the AFL in the summer of 2023, choosing the Outlaws as the team that would join, since the arena in Gillette, Wyoming could not accommodate rebound nets needed for the AFL and league bylaws did not at the time allow an owner (other than central league office) to own multiple teams. Since the sale of the team was unfeasible with the CIF merging with the AFL, Titus indicated he would transfer the Mustangs' CIF, later AFL, rights to a team in Kansas, [3] giving an opening for the Regulators to join the league.
On October 5, 2023, the AFL announced that the Regulators would join the CIF's two existing Kansas teams, the Southwest Kansas Storm and Salina Liberty, in the AFL, as it merged with CIF. [4] They will be members of the Central Division. [5]
It is the sixth indoor team to play in Wichita and the first arena-formatted team since the Wichita Stealth played in AF2 from 2000 to 2004. Other teams that played include the Wichita Warlords, Wichita Aviators, Wichita Wild, and Wichita Force.[ citation needed ]
On September 4, 2024, the Regulators, along with the other seven surviving members of the collapsed AFL, left that league and became charter members of the newly-formed Arena Football One set to play in 2025.
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 Amarillo Dusters are a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas, currently a member of the National Arena League. They play their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as a charter member of the Intense Football League, a small indoor football league based in Texas. They won the championship in their first and only season with the Intense Football League.
Hartman Arena is a privately managed 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Park City, Kansas, United States. It is located northwest of I-135 and 77th Street North in the north Wichita metro area.
The Wichita Wild were a professional indoor football team based in Wichita, Kansas. They were members of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL). The team was founded in 2006 as an independent indoor football franchise. In 2008, the team joined United Indoor Football (UIF). They joined the Indoor Football League (IFL) during the UIF and Intense Football League merger of 2009. In 2012, the team left the IFL to become charter members of the CPIFL. The Wild's home games were played at Hartman Arena in nearby Park City. When they lost their lease with the Hartman Arena, they folded..
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 2024 season, the league consists of 16 teams in two conferences with each team playing 16 games over 19 weeks.
The Dodge City Law were a professional indoor football team based in Dodge City, Kansas, with home games at the United Wireless Arena. The team joined the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) in 2013 as an expansion member for the 2014 season. In 2014, the CPIFL merged with the Lone Star Football League (LSFL) to form Champions Indoor Football (CIF). The branding was used again for the 2021 season as a replacement team before an expansion team was granted to the Southwest Kansas Storm for the 2022 season.
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 Wichita Force were a professional indoor football team based in Wichita, Kansas, with home games in Wichita Ice Center. The team was founded in 2014 as an expansion franchise in the Champions Indoor Football league for the 2015 season. The Force's membership in the CIF was revoked prior to the 2022 season and the team joined the new Arena Football Association.
The Salina Liberty are a professional indoor football team based in Salina, Kansas. They began play in 2016 as members of the Champions Indoor Football (CIF) and played in the Arena Football League in 2024. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One. The team plays their home games at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center.
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.
The Gillette Mustangs was a professional indoor football team based in Gillette, Wyoming, with home games at Wyoming Center at the CAM-PLEX. The team was a member of Champions Indoor Football.
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 Billings Outlaws are a professional indoor football team that began play as a member of Champions Indoor Football for the 2022 season. Based in Billings, Montana, the Outlaws play their home games at MetraPark First Interstate Arena. For 2024, they have been announced as members of the revived Arena Football League. They are the 2024 AFL champions, defeating the Albany Firebirds 46–41 at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One.
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 Topeka Tropics were a professional indoor football based in Topeka, Kansas, and played 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 Southwest Kansas Storm are a professional indoor football team based in Dodge City, Kansas. Members of Champions Indoor Football (CIF) from 2022 to 2023, they were announced as members of the revived Arena Football League (AFL) for the 2024 season. In 2025, they will become inaugural members of the newly-formed Arena Football One.
The 2024 Arena Football League season was 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 Iowa Rampage were a professional arena football team based in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL).
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional indoor American football league founded in 2023 with their first season beginning in 2024. The recent AFL took 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.
Arena Football One is a future professional indoor football league based in Nashville, Tennessee, set to play in 2025. The league was founded by the eight teams who had survived the 2024 Arena Football League season, effectively serving as a reorganization of the 2024 revival of the Arena Football League.