Arena Football League

   

Arena Football League logo

Arena Football League logo

The Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. Attendance at AFL games in 2004 averaged about 12,000 people per game. The Arena Football League also maintains a minor league called af2.

The AFL was founded by Jim Foster, a former NFL and USFL executive. In fact, he had a contract in hand in 1983 to play an exhibition game on NBC, 20 years before the first regular season games appeared on that network. He abandoned the plan, though, when the USFL was formed, and did not return to his newly created sport until 1986, when he staged a "playtest game" in Rockford, Illinois between the Rockford Metros and the Chicago Politicians.

Beginning with the 2003 season, the Arena Football League made a deal with the NBC television network to televise league games. In conjunction with this, the league moved the beginning of the season from May to February (the week after the NFL's Super Bowl) and scheduled most of its games on Sunday instead of Friday or Saturday as it had in the past. The practice of playing one or two preseason exhibition games by each team prior to the start of the regular season was also discontinued at this time, and the regular season was extended from fourteen games, the length that it had been since 1996, to sixteen. The Arena Football League's championship game is called the ArenaBowl.

The league conducted an expansion draft on September 29, 2004 in order to stock the new Nashville team. This procedure was completed in a relatively rapid fashion, as Nashville traded several of its draft picks and passed on others, apparently preferring the talent available in the free agent market and, potentially, the upcoming dispersal draft. (On September 20, 2004, the league announced a tenative 2005 realignment and the termination of three teams, whose players were made available in a dispersal draft, which was conducted on October 14. The announced tenative realignment will apparently be the one used for the 2005 season). The league also announced that the ownership group of the Utah Warriors of the National Indoor Football League had been awarded a franchise for Salt Lake City to begin play in 2006.

In an effort to raise the league's profile further, it was also announced that the ArenaBowl championship game will be conducted in Las Vegas for at least the next three years.

The Rules of the Game can be found on the Arena Football page.

2005 Teams


NATIONAL CONFERENCE


Eastern Division
Nashville Kats
Dallas Desperados
New York Dragons (previously the Iowa Barnstormers)
Philadelphia Soul

Southern Division
Austin Wranglers
Georgia Force (previously the Nashville Kats)
New Orleans VooDoo
Orlando Predators
Tampa Bay Storm (previously the Pittsburgh Gladiators)


AMERICAN CONFERENCE

Central Division
Chicago Rush
Colorado Crush
Columbus Destroyers
Grand Rapids Rampage

Western Division
Arizona Rattlers
Las Vegas Gladiators (formerly of New Jersey)
Los Angeles Avengers
San Jose SaberCats

Expansion
Utah Warriors (2006)

Defunct teams


Albany Firebirds (1990-2000) (later, Indiana Firebirds) (2001-2004)
Anaheim Piranhas (1996-1997)
Charlotte Rage (1992-1996)
Carolina Cobras (2000-2004)
Chicago Bruisers (1987-1989)
Chicago Politicians (1986 "test game" only)
Cincinnati Rockers (1992-1993)
Columbus Thunderbolts (1991) (later, Cleveland Thunderbolts) (1992-1994)
Connecticut Coyotes (1995-1996)
Dallas Texans (1990-1993)
Denver Dynamite (1987, 1989-1991)
Detroit Drive (1988-1993)
Detroit Fury (2001-2004)
Florida Bobcats (1996-2001)
Fort Worth Cavalry (1994)
Houston Thunderbears (1998-2001)
Las Vegas Sting (1994-1995)
Los Angeles Cobras (1988)
Massachusetts Marauders (1994)
Miami Hooters (1993-1995)
Milwaukee Mustangs (1994-2001)
Minnesota Fighting Pike (1996)
Memphis Pharaohs (1995-1996)
New England Steamrollers (1988)
New Orleans Night (1991-1992)
New York Knights (1988)
New York CityHawks (1997-1998) (later, New England Sea Wolves)(1999-2000)
Oklahoma Wranglers (2001-2002)
Pittsburgh Gladiators (1987-1990; no affiliation with current Las Vegas club)
Portland Forest Dragons (1997-2000)
Rockford Metros (1986 "test game" only)
Sacramento Attack (1992)
San Antonio Force (1992)
St. Louis Stampede (1995-1996)
Texas Terror (1996-1997)
Toronto Phantoms (2001-2002)
Washington Commandos (1987, 1989-1990; also known as Maryland Commandos)

See: List of leagues of American football

External links


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