Arena Football League
Current season or competition: 2008 Arena Football League season
Sport	Arena football
Founded	1987
No. The 2008 Arena Football League season was the 22nd season of the Arena Football League. This article is about the sport of Arena Football See Arena Football (video game for the EA Sports Video game of the same name Artistic Gymnastics World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Men's all-around champion Dmitry Bilozerchev, USSR of teams	17
Country(ies)	United States
Most recent champion(s)	San Jose SaberCats
Official website	Arena Football

The Arena Football League (AFL) was founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with This article is about the sport of Arena Football See Arena Football (video game for the EA Sports Video game of the same name The AFL's attendance has increased dramatically over the last few years, rising to an average of 12,415 people per game in 2007. [1] The AFL also maintains a minor league called af2. Minor leagues are professional Sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports af2 (short for arenafootball2) is the name of the Arena Football League 's Minor league, which started play in 2000.

Contents 1 History 1.1 "Playtest" 1.2 The AFL begins 1.3 Early years 1.4 The new millennium 2 Rules 3 Growth of the league 3.1 Television 3.2 Expanding the season 3.3 Video games 3.4 Literature 3.5 Sponsored divisions 4 Teams 5 Expansion 6 Postseason 7 Commissioners of Arena Football 8 Possible expansion 9 See also 10 References and notes 11 External links

History

"Playtest"

Eventual Arena Football League founder Jim Foster, a former National Football League and United States Football League executive, originally had a contract in 1983 to play an exhibition on the NBC television network. Jim Foster is the founder and first Commissioner of the Arena Football League. The National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. For the proposed "New USFL" see United States Football League (2010. The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's A television network is a distribution network for Television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many Television stations He abandoned the plan, though, when the USFL was formed and did not return to the new sport until 1986. For the proposed "New USFL" see United States Football League (2010. He set up a "playtest" in Rockford, Illinois at the MetroCentre. A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and improvements before bringing it to market Rockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois MetroCentre is a 10000-seat multi-purpose Arena in Rockford Illinois. He set up two teams, the "Rockford Metros" and the "Chicago Politicians", made up of semi-pro and former college football players to play against each other to see how his would work. College football is American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, Colleges and military academies The Metros defeated the Politicians 30-18.

The AFL begins

The AFL was founded in 1987 as an American football indoor league. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with This article is about the sport of Arena Football See Arena Football (video game for the EA Sports Video game of the same name The league's inaugural season featured four teams: the Chicago Bruisers, Denver Dynamite, Pittsburgh Gladiators, and Washington Commandos. The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The Washington Commandos was an Arena football team that operated from 1987 to 1990 The teams played a six-game season, culminating in Arena Bowl I, where Denver defeated Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh.

In 1990, Foster was awarded a patent for arena football and the equipment unique to it—the only known instance of a game being patented anywhere in the world. A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an This means that other indoor football leagues must play under significantly different rules; the patent, however, expired on September 30, 2007, opening the door to other indoor football leagues using such rules under Foster's old patent. Events 1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England. 1744 - France and Spain defeat the Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

Early years

From its inception, the AFL operated in a state of semi-obscurity; many Americans had heard the term "arena football" but knew little to nothing about the league itself.

From the 1987 season until the late 1990s, the most exposure the league would receive was on ESPN, which would air tape-delayed games, often well after midnight. ESPN, originally an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American Cable television network dedicated to The league would receive its first taste of wide exposure in 1998, when Arena Bowl XII was televised nationally as part of ABC's Wide World of Sports. The ArenaBowl is the Arena Football League 's championship game ABC's Wide World of Sports was a long-running Sports Anthology show on American Television that ran as a series from 1961 to 1998

One of the league's early success stories was the Detroit Drive. History Detroit Drive ( 1988 - 1993) The Detroit Drive were a professional American football team A primary team for some of the AFL's most highly regarded players, including George LaFrance, Gary and Alvin Rettig, as well as being a second career chance for quarterback Art Schlichter, the Drive regularly played before sold out crowds at Joe Louis Arena, and went to the ArenaBowl every year of their existence (1988-1993). George Herbert LaFrance III (born September 24, 1965 in New Orleans Louisiana) is a former Arena Football League Offensive Specialist Arthur Ernest Schlichter (born April 25 1960 in Washington Court House Ohio) is a former college and professional American football Joe Louis Arena, nicknamed The Joe, and JLA, is a Hockey Arena located at 600 Civic Center Drive in Detroit Michigan. However, the AFL's first dynasty came to an end when their owner, Mike Ilitch (who also owned Little Caesar's Pizza) bought the Detroit Tigers, and sold the team. Michael "Mike" Ilitch, born Michael Iliev or Ilievski on July 20 1929 in Detroit Michigan is an The Detroit Tigers are a professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan, USA

Although the Drive left the league, the AFL still has a number of teams today which it considers "dynasties", including the Tampa Bay Storm (the only team that has existed in some form for all twenty seasons), their archrival the Orlando Predators, the San Jose Sabercats of the present decade, and their rivals the Arizona Rattlers. The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando Florida that was founded in 1991 The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team The Arizona Rattlers are an Arena Football League team based in Phoenix Arizona, that began play as a 1992 Expansion team.

In 1993 the league staged its first, and only to date, All-Star game in Des Moines, Iowa, the future home of the Iowa Barnstormers, as a fundraiser for flood victims in the area. The New York Dragons are an Arena Football League team who were formed in 1995 as the Iowa Barnstormers. The Great Flood of 1993 occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries from April to October The National Conference defeated the American Conference 64-40 in front of a crowd of 7,189.

While the aforementioned teams have enjoyed success, many teams in the history of the league have enjoyed little to no success. There are also a number of franchises which existed in the form of a number of unrelated teams under numerous management groups until they folded (an example is the New York CityHawks whose owners transferred the team from New York to Hartford to become the New England Sea Wolves after two seasons, then after another two seasons were sold and became the Toronto Phantoms, who lasted another two seasons until folding). The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in New York City and New England New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in New York City and New England The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in New York City and New England There are a number of reasons why these teams failed, including lack of financial support from owners, lack of media exposure, to the city's plain disinterest in the team. Today, this isn't seen as much of a problem, as team owners typically own other sports franchises as well, receive adequate media coverage from their home cities, and most teams have a sizeable fan base.

The new millennium

The year 2000 brought a heightened interest in the AFL. Then-St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, who was MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV, was first noticed because he played quarterback for the AFL's Iowa Barnstormers. The St Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St Quarterback ( QB) is a position in American and Canadian football. Kurtis Eugene "Kurt" Warner (born June 22 1971 in Burlington Iowa) is an American football Quarterback Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference (NFC champion St The New York Dragons are an Arena Football League team who were formed in 1995 as the Iowa Barnstormers. While many sports commentators and fans continued to ridicule the league, Warner's story gave the league positive exposure, and it brought the league a new television deal with TNN, who, unlike ESPN, would televise regular season games live. Spike (formerly called Spike TV) a division of MTV Networks, is an American cable network designed for an audience described While it was not financially lucrative, it helped set the stage for what the league would become in the new millennium. Also, the year 2000 brought a spin-off league, the af2, intended to be a developmental league. af2 (short for arenafootball2) is the name of the Arena Football League 's Minor league, which started play in 2000. There was a lot of expansion in the 2000s. Expansion teams include the Austin Wranglers, Carolina Cobras, Los Angeles Avengers, Chicago Rush, Detroit Fury, Dallas Desperados, Colorado Crush, New Orleans Voodoo, Philadelphia Soul, Nashville Katz, Kansas City Brigade, and Utah Blaze. The Wranglers, Cobras, Fury, and Katz no longer compete in the AFL. There were also a lot of rule changes. In 2003, the season expanded to 16 games. In 2005, players were no longer allowed to run out of bounds. The only way for a player to go out of bounds is if a player is tackled into the side boards. 2005 also marked the first year the Arena Bowl was played in a neutral site. In 2007, free substitution was allowed. And in 2008, the jack linbacker was allowed to go sideboard to sideboard.

Rules

• The Field: An indoor padded surface 85 feet (26 m) wide and 50 yards (46 m) long with eight-yard (7 m) endzones. Goal posts are nine-feet wide with a crossbar height of 15 feet (NFL goalposts are 18 1/2 wide with the crossbar at 10 feet). The goalside rebound nets are 30 feet (9. 1 m) wide by 32 feet (9. 8 m) high. The bottom of the nets are eight feet above the ground. Sideline barriers are 48 inches (1,200 mm) high and made of high density foam rubber.

• The Equipment: The official football is the same size and weight as the National Football League ball. Each ball is manufactured by Spalding Sporting Goods. Spalding is a sporting goods company started in Chicago by Albert Spalding in 1876

• The Players and Formations: Eight players on the field; 20-man active roster; four-man inactive roster.

• Substitution:
  • play both sides of the ball.

• • 2007 season and future: The AFL now allows free substitution, the new rule greatly limits the ironman concept of the game, but some players play both ways by either choice, or to step in because of injury. Injury or bodily injury is Damage or Harm caused to the Structure or function of the Body caused by an outside agent or

• Formation: Four (4) offensive players must line up on the line of scrimmage. Three (3) defensive players must be down linemen (in a three or four-point stance). Only the "Mac Linebacker" may blitz on either side of the center. Alignment is two (2) or more yards off the line of scrimmage. No stunting or twisting. Offensive motion in the backfield: One receiver may go in a forward motion before the snap.

• Timing: Four 15 minute quarters with a 15-minute halftime. The clock stops for out-of-bounds plays or incomplete passes only in the last minute of each half or when the referee deems it necessary for penalties, injuries or timeouts. Each team is allowed three (3) time-outs per half.

• Movement of the Ball and Scoring: Four (4) downs are allowed to advance the ball ten (10) yards for a first down, or to score. Six (6) points for a touchdown. One (1) point for a conversion by place kick after a touchdown, two (2) points for a conversion by drop kick and two (2) points for successful run or pass after a touchdown. Three (3) points for a field goal by placement or four (4) points for a field goal by drop kick. Two (2) points for a safety.

• The Kicking: Kickoffs are from the goal line. Kickers may use a one-inch tee. Punting is illegal. On fourth down, a team may go for a first down, touchdown or field goal. The receiving team may field any kickoff or missed field goal that rebounds off the net. Any kickoff untouched which is out of bounds will be placed at the 20-yard (18 m) line or the place where it went out of bounds, whichever is more advantageous to the receiving team. If a kickoff goes beyond the end zone and stays in bounds (such as kicking it into the field goal "slack net" or if the ball goes under the net), the ball will come out to the 5-yard (4. 6 m) line. The same is true if a missed field goal attempt goes beyond the end zone and under the net. If the receiving player chooses not to take the ball out of the endzone (takes a knee) or is tackled in the endzone, the ball is placed on the 2 1/2-yard line.

• Passing: Passing rules in Arena Football are the same as outdoor NCAA Football in which receivers must have one foot inbounds. A unique exception involves the rebound nets. A forward pass that rebounds off of the endzone net is a live ball and is in play until it touches the playing surface.

• Overtime Rules: Overtime periods are 15 minutes during the regular season and the playoffs. Each team gets one possession to score. If, after each team has had one possession and one team is ahead, that team wins. If the teams are tied after each has had a possession, the next team to score wins.

Growth of the league

Average attendance for AFL games were around 10,000-11,000 per game in the 1990s, though during the recession connected to the dot-com bubble and the September 11, 2001 attacks average attendance dropped below 10,000 for several years. The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando Florida that was founded in 1991 The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The Utah Blaze is an Arena Football League team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Dallas Desperados are a professional Arena Football team in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League. The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans The Georgia Force is in no way related to the San Antonio Force, which was an Arena Football League team that played only in the 1992 season before disbanding The Kansas City Brigade is a team from the Arena Football League. The Grand Rapids Rampage is an Arena Football League team that began playing as a 1998 expansion team The Columbus Destroyers are an Arena Football League team The Destroyers franchise was founded in Buffalo New York in 1999, and have played in Columbus The New York Dragons are an Arena Football League team who were formed in 1995 as the Iowa Barnstormers. For the American arena football team see Philadelphia Soul. Philadelphia (or Philly soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound or Sweet Philly The Chicago Rush is a team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 2001 expansion team Colorado Crush is an Arena Football League team that began play as a 2003 expansion team The Arizona Rattlers are an Arena Football League team based in Phoenix Arizona, that began play as a 1992 Expansion team. The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team The Los Angeles Avengers is an Arena Football League (AFL team based in Los Angeles California and they began play as a 2000 expansion team For the past four seasons, average attendance has been above 12,000, with 12,392 in 2007. ^[1]. 11 of the current 17 teams had average attendance figures over 13,000 in 2007.

Television

Main article: AFL on NBC

Main article: Arena Football League on ESPN

Beginning with the 2003 season, the AFL made a deal with NBC to televise league games, which was renewed for another two years in 2005. This page is about the Arena Football League's AFL on NBC program that started in 2003 Russell Athletic ESPN Arena Football is a presentation of the Arena Football League on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Radio and The National Broadcasting Company ( NBC) is an American Television network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's 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 National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. professional American football, the Super Bowl is the Championship game of the National Football League (NFL In 2006, because of the XX Winter Olympic Games, the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Daytona 500, NBC scaled back from weekly coverage to scattered coverage during the regular season, but committed to a full playoff schedule ending with the 20th ArenaBowl. The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, were a Winter Multi-sport event which was celebrated in The Stanley Cup (La Coupe Stanley is an Ice hockey club championship Trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL playoffs champion The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach Florida. The ArenaBowl is the Arena Football League 's championship game NBC and the Arena Football League officially severed ties on June 30, 2006, having failed to reach a new broadcast deal. Events 350 - Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, is defeated and killed by troops of the Usurper Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Las Vegas owner Jim Ferraro stated during a radio interview that the reason why a deal failed is because ESPN refused to show highlights or even mention a product being broadcast on NBC. The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. ESPN, originally an acronym for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is an American Cable television network dedicated to

For the 2006 season only, the AFL added a national cable deal with OLN (now Versus) for eleven regular-season games and one playoff game. Versus is a Cable television sports channel owned by Comcast and shown in the United States.

On December 19, 2006, ESPN announced the purchase of a minority stake in the AFL. Events 324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor. This deal includes television rights for the ESPN family of networks. ESPN will televise a minimum of 17 regular season games, most on Monday Nights, and 9 playoff games, including ArenaBowl XXI on ABC. ArenaBowl XXI was the 2007 championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL and was played at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, [2] The deal resulted in added exposure on ESPN's SportsCenter. SportsCenter is a daily Sports news Television show and the flagship program of American Cable network ESPN since the network

The AFL also has a regional-cable deal with FSN, where FSN regional affiliates in AFL markets carry local team games. The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net (FSN are a collection of cable TV Regional sports networks owned and operated by News

See also: List of ArenaBowl broadcasters

Expanding the season

The practice of playing one or two preseason exhibition games by each team before the start of the regular season was discontinued when the NBC contract was initiated, and the regular season was extended from 14 games, the length that it had been since 1996, to 16. The following is a list of the Television networks and announcers that have broadcast the ArenaBowl over the years

Video games

The first video game based on the AFL was Arena Football for C-64 released in 1988. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Arena Football is a 1988 Commodore 64 Computer game coded by Chris R On May 18, 2000, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed was released by Midway Games for the Playstation game console. Events 1152 - Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. Kurt Warner 's Arena Football Unleashed is a Sports game developed and published by Midway for the Sony PlayStation Midway Games ( (formerly Midway Manufacturing) is an American Video game publisher. The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console On February 7, 2006 EA Sports released Arena Football for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Events 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the Prince Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts since 1993 to distribute games based on Sports Formerly a gimmick inside Electronic Arts sports Arena Football is a PlayStation 2 and Xbox Videogame developed by Electronic Arts (under their EA Sports brand The Xbox is a sixth-generation Video game console produced by Microsoft Corporation. EA Sports released another AFL video game, titled Arena Football: Road to Glory, on February 21, 2007, for PlayStation 2. EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts since 1993 to distribute games based on Sports Formerly a gimmick inside Electronic Arts sports Events 362 - Athanasius returns to Alexandria. 1245 - Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. [3]

Literature

In 2001, Jeff Foley published War on the Floor: An Average Guy Plays in the Arena Football League and Lives to Write About It. The book details a journalist's two preseasons (1999 and 2000) as an offensive specialist/writer with the now-defunct Albany Firebirds. The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The 5-foot-6 (170 cm), self-described "unathletic writer" played in three preseason games and had one catch for -2 yards.

Sponsored divisions

In perhaps one of the most unusual sponsorship deals ever assembled by an American sports league, the AFL renamed all four of its divisions after Mitsubishi Motors as of the 2008 season. is the sixth largest Automaker in Japan and the seventeenth largest in the world by global unit sales [4]

Teams

National Conference
Division	Team	Arena	City/Area
Eastern	Cleveland Gladiators	Quicken Loans Arena	Cleveland, Ohio
	Columbus Destroyers	Nationwide Arena	Columbus, Ohio
	Dallas Desperados	American Airlines Center	Dallas, Texas
	New York Dragons	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	Uniondale, New York (Long Island)
	Philadelphia Soul	Wachovia Center	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Southern	Georgia Force	The Arena at Gwinnett Center	Duluth, Georgia (Atlanta area)
	New Orleans VooDoo	New Orleans Arena	New Orleans, Louisiana
	Orlando Predators	Amway Arena	Orlando, Florida
	Tampa Bay Storm	St. Pete Times Forum	Tampa, Florida
American Conference
Division	Team	Arena	City/Area
Central	Chicago Rush	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois (Chicago area)
	Colorado Crush	Pepsi Center	Denver, Colorado
	Grand Rapids Rampage	Van Andel Arena	Grand Rapids, Michigan
	Kansas City Brigade	Sprint Center	Kansas City, Missouri
Western	Arizona Rattlers	US Airways Center	Phoenix, Arizona
	Los Angeles Avengers	Staples Center	Los Angeles, California
	San Jose SaberCats	HP Pavilion	San Jose, California
	Utah Blaze	EnergySolutions Arena	Salt Lake City, Utah

Expansion

The Arena Football League has expanded and contracted many times throughout its history. The Eastern Division is one of the four divisions of the American Arena Football League. The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. Quicken Loans Arena (also referred to as "The Q") is a multipurpose Arena in downtown Cleveland Ohio, USA Cleveland is a City in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state The Columbus Destroyers are an Arena Football League team The Destroyers franchise was founded in Buffalo New York in 1999, and have played in Columbus Nationwide Arena is a Sports and entertainment arena in Columbus Ohio. Columbus is the Capital and the largest city of the US state of Ohio. The Dallas Desperados are a professional Arena Football team in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League. The American Airlines Center is an Arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood near downtown Dallas, Texas that is used for The New York Dragons are an Arena Football League team who were formed in 1995 as the Iowa Barnstormers. } The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as Nassau Coliseum (or simply The Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale New York Uniondale is a hamlet (and Census-designated place) as well as a suburb of New York City in Nassau County, New York, United States For the American arena football team see Philadelphia Soul. Philadelphia (or Philly soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound or Sweet Philly The Wachovia Center, formerly known as the CoreStates Center and the First Union Center, is an indoor arena located in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Philadelphia (ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə The Southern Division is one of four divisions of the Arena Football League. The Georgia Force is in no way related to the San Antonio Force, which was an Arena Football League team that played only in the 1992 season before disbanding The Arena at Gwinnett Center is an indoor arena located in the Atlanta suburb of Duluth Georgia. Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County Georgia, and a suburb of Atlanta located in the Metro Atlanta area The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans The New Orleans Arena is an indoor arena in New Orleans Louisiana. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando Florida that was founded in 1991 Amway Arena (formerly known as the Orlando Arena, TD Waterhouse Centre, and The Arena in Orlando, and colloquially known by the nickname of O-Rena Orlando is a major City in central Florida, USA and is the County seat of Orange County Florida. The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The St Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida, that is used for hockey games Basketball games Arena football The Central Division is one of four divisions that make up the Arena Football League. The Chicago Rush is a team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 2001 expansion team The Allstate Arena is a Sports Arena in Rosemont Illinois, which is home to the Chicago Wolves hockey club DePaul University See also the Rosemont Convention Center Rosemont is a village in Cook County Illinois, that is a suburb of Chicago and is in the midst of a huge metropolitan Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. Colorado Crush is an Arena Football League team that began play as a 2003 expansion team Pepsi Center (aka The Can) is an Arena located in Denver Colorado, USA. The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States The Grand Rapids Rampage is an Arena Football League team that began playing as a 1998 expansion team The Van Andel Arena is a 10834-seat multi-purpose Arena in Grand Rapids Michigan. The Kansas City Brigade is a team from the Arena Football League. Sprint Center Sprint Center without "the" --> is a large multi-use indoor Arena in downtown Kansas City, Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages The Western Division is one of four divisions that make up the Arena Football League. The Arizona Rattlers are an Arena Football League team based in Phoenix Arizona, that began play as a 1992 Expansion team. US Airways Center (formerly America West Arena) is a sports and entertainment Arena located in Phoenix Arizona. Phoenix (ˈfiːˌnɪks O'odham Skikik, Yavapai Wasinka, Western Apache Fiinigis, Navajo Hoozdo, The Los Angeles Avengers is an Arena Football League (AFL team based in Los Angeles California and they began play as a 2000 expansion team Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports Arena in Downtown Los Angeles California adjacent to the L Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team The HP Pavilion at San Jose, formerly known as Compaq Center at San Jose and San Jose Arena is an Indoor arena located at 525 West Santa Clara Street in The Utah Blaze is an Arena Football League team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The EnergySolutions Arena is an indoor arena in Salt Lake City Utah, United States owned by Larry H Salt Lake City is the Capital and the most populous city of the U Every year in the AFL there has been at least one team who did not play the previous season with the same name. The AFL has expanded to 19 franchises for the 2006 season. The league conducted an expansion draft in September 2005 in order to stock the Utah Blaze. A draft is a process used in the United States, Canada, and Australia to allocate certain players to Sports teams The Utah Blaze is an Arena Football League team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Because of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans VooDoo announced that they would suspend operations for 2006. Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans Players under contract to the VooDoo were transferred to the expansion Kansas City Brigade franchise. The Kansas City Brigade is a team from the Arena Football League. The 2007 season saw the return of arena football to New Orleans. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana The Cleveland Gladiators relocated from Las Vegas in 2008. The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio.

Year	# of Teams	Expansion Teams	Folded Teams	Suspended Teams	Returning Teams	Relocated Teams	Name Changes
1987	4	Chicago Bruisers Denver Dynamite Pittsburgh Gladiators Washington Commandos
1988	6	Detroit Drive Los Angeles Cobras New England Steamrollers New York Knights		Denver Dynamite Washington Commandos
1989	5		Los Angeles Cobras New England Steamrollers New York Knights		Denver Dynamite Maryland Commandos
1990	6	Albany Firebirds Dallas Texans	Chicago Bruisers				Washington Commandos (from Maryland)
1991	8	Columbus Thunderbolts New Orleans Night Orlando Predators	Washington Commandos			Pittsburgh → Tampa Bay Storm
1992	12	Arizona Rattlers Charlotte Rage Cincinnati Rockers Sacramento Attack San Antonio Force	Denver Dynamite			Columbus → Cleveland Thunderbolts
1993	10		New Orleans Night San Antonio Force			Sacramento → Miami Hooters
1994	11	Fort Worth Cavalry Las Vegas Sting Milwaukee Mustangs	Cincinnati Rockers Dallas Texans			Detroit → Massachusetts Marauders
1995	13	Connecticut Coyotes Iowa Barnstormers Memphis Pharaohs St. The Chicago Bruisers were a charter member of the Arena Football League, playing in the four-team "demonstration season" of 1987. The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The Washington Commandos was an Arena football team that operated from 1987 to 1990 History Detroit Drive ( 1988 - 1993) The Detroit Drive were a professional American football team History The Los Angeles Cobras played in the 1988 Arena Football League season only History The New England Steamrollers were a professional American football team that played in the Arena Football League during the 1988 This page is about the Arena Football League team For the team that played in the World League of American Football (now NFL Europa) see New York/New The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando Florida that was founded in 1991 The Tampa Bay Storm are a member franchise of the Arena Football League. The Arizona Rattlers are an Arena Football League team based in Phoenix Arizona, that began play as a 1992 Expansion team. Louis Stampede San Jose SaberCats	Cleveland Thunderbolts	Massachusetts Marauders Fort Worth Cavalry
1996	15	Texas Terror				Las Vegas → Anaheim Piranhas Fort Worth → Minnesota Fighting Pike (dormant from 1995)	Florida Bobcats (from Miami Hooters)
1997	14	Nashville Kats New Jersey Red Dogs New York CityHawks	Charlotte Rage Connecticut Coyotes Minnesota Fighting Pike St. The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team Louis Stampede			Memphis → Portland Forest Dragons
1998	14		Anaheim Piranhas			Massachusetts Marauders→Grand Rapids Rampage (dormant from 1995)	Houston Thunderbears (from Texas Terror)
1999	15	Buffalo Destroyers				New York → New England Sea Wolves
2000	17	Carolina Cobras Los Angeles Avengers				Portland → Oklahoma Wranglers
2001	19	Chicago Rush Detroit Fury			Albany → Indiana Firebirds Iowa → New York Dragons New England → Toronto Phantoms		New Jersey Gladiators (from New Jersey Red Dogs)
2002	16	Dallas Desperados	Florida Bobcats Houston Thunderbears Milwaukee Mustangs Oklahoma Wranglers (all four were contracted)			Nashville → Georgia Force[2]
2003	16	Colorado Crush		Toronto Phantoms		New Jersey → Las Vegas Gladiators
2004	19	Austin Wranglers New Orleans VooDoo Philadelphia Soul				Buffalo → Columbus Destroyers
2005	17	Nashville Kats	Carolina Cobras Detroit Fury Indiana Firebirds
2006	18	Kansas City Brigade Utah Blaze		New Orleans VooDoo
2007	19				New Orleans VooDoo
2008	17		Austin Wranglers[3] Nashville Kats			Las Vegas → Cleveland Gladiators

Postseason

See also: ArenaBowl

From the league's inception through ArenaBowl XVIII, the championship game was played at the home highest-seeded remaining team. The Grand Rapids Rampage is an Arena Football League team that began playing as a 1998 expansion team The Columbus Destroyers are an Arena Football League team The Destroyers franchise was founded in Buffalo New York in 1999, and have played in Columbus The Los Angeles Avengers is an Arena Football League (AFL team based in Los Angeles California and they began play as a 2000 expansion team The Chicago Rush is a team in the Arena Football League. They began play as a 2001 expansion team The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The New York Dragons are an Arena Football League team who were formed in 1995 as the Iowa Barnstormers. The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in New York City and New England The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. The Dallas Desperados are a professional Arena Football team in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League. History Sacramento Attack (1992 The Sacramento Attack was an Arena Football League team that competed under that The Houston ThunderBears were a team in the Arena Football League that operated from 1996-2001 History The Milwaukee Mustangs were an Arena Football League team The Oklahoma Wranglers was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in Memphis Tennessee, and Portland Oregon. The Georgia Force is in no way related to the San Antonio Force, which was an Arena Football League team that played only in the 1992 season before disbanding Colorado Crush is an Arena Football League team that began play as a 2003 expansion team The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League, that also operated in New York City and New England The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. The Austin Wranglers are an American football team from Austin Texas in the Arenafootball2. The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans For the American arena football team see Philadelphia Soul. Philadelphia (or Philly soul, sometimes called the Philadelphia Sound or Sweet Philly The Columbus Destroyers are an Arena Football League team The Destroyers franchise was founded in Buffalo New York in 1999, and have played in Columbus This page is for the second Nashville Kats franchise which began play in the Arena Football League in 2005 Not to be confused with the Los Angeles Cobras, who played in the 1988 AFL season The Detroit Fury were an Arena Football League team The team began play in 2001 and was based in Auburn Hills Michigan, a suburb of Detroit The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The Kansas City Brigade is a team from the Arena Football League. The Utah Blaze is an Arena Football League team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans The New Orleans VooDoo is a team in the Arena Football League, and is owned in part by Tom Benson, who also owns the National Football League New Orleans The Austin Wranglers are an American football team from Austin Texas in the Arenafootball2. This page is for the second Nashville Kats franchise which began play in the Arena Football League in 2005 The Cleveland Gladiators are an Arena Football League franchise based in Cleveland Ohio. The ArenaBowl is the Arena Football League 's championship game The AFL then switched to a neutral-site championship, with ArenaBowls XIX and XX in Las Vegas. New Orleans Arena, home of the New Orleans VooDoo, served as the site of ArenaBowl XXI on July 29, 2007. The New Orleans Arena is an indoor arena in New Orleans Louisiana. ArenaBowl XXI was the 2007 championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL and was played at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Events 1014 - Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat This was the first professional sports championship to be staged in the city since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest in the history of the United States ^[4] The San Jose SaberCats earned their third championship in six years by defeating the Columbus Destroyers 55-33. The San Jose SaberCats are an Arena Football League team that began play as a 1995 expansion team The Columbus Destroyers are an Arena Football League team The Destroyers franchise was founded in Buffalo New York in 1999, and have played in Columbus ^[5] Arena Bowl XXI in New Orleans was deemed a success, and the city was chosen to host Arena Bowl XXII. ^[6]

Commissioners of Arena Football

• C. David Baker - 1996-Current
• Jim Drucker - 1994-1996
• Joe O'Hara - 1992-1994
• Jim Foster - 1987-1992

Possible expansion

The following cities were publicly speculated by the AFL as possible future expansion sites during the Commissioner's conference call before ArenaBowl XX. David Baker is the former commissioner of the Arena Football League, having been the fourth person to hold the position Jim Foster is the founder and first Commissioner of the Arena Football League. ^[7]

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Houston, Texas
• Miami, Florida
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• St. Louis, Missouri

The following markets have potential owners with expansion rights^[8]:

• Sacramento or San Francisco, California (rights owned by Denise DeBartolo York)
• Washington, D.C. (rights were owned by Daniel Snyder, revoked by league)

See also

• Arena Football for league rules
• ArenaBowl for information on the AFL's championship game
• Defunct Arena Football League teams
• Index of Professional Sports teams in the United States and Canada
• List of leagues of American football
• List of Arena Football League seasons
• List of Arena Football League Venues
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues — the AFL's attendance in a worldwide context

References and notes

External links

• AFL Official Website
• Arena Football League on ArenaFan.com

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