2023 National Arena League season

The 2023 National Arena League season was the sixth season of the National Arena League (NAL).^[1] The league started the season with seven teams following the additions of the expansion team, the Fayetteville Mustangs,^[2][3] and the West Texas Warbirds joining from the Arena Football Association, while the Columbus Lions left the league following the previous season.

2023 NAL season
League	National Arena League
Sport	Indoor American football
Duration	April 8 – August 12, 2023
Number of teams	7
Regular season
Season champions	Jacksonville Sharks
2023 NAL Championship
Champions	Jacksonville Sharks
Runners-up	Carolina Cobras

Teams

Teams	Location	Arena	Capacity	Founded	Joined	Head Coach
Albany Empire[lower-alpha 1]	Albany, New York	MVP Arena[4]	13,785[5]	2020	2021	Maurice Leggett
Carolina Cobras	Greensboro, North Carolina[6]	Greensboro Coliseum Complex[7][8]	5,000[7]	2017[8]	2018	James Fuller
Fayetteville Mustangs[lower-alpha 2]	Fayetteville, North Carolina	Crown Complex[2][9]	8,500	2022	2023	Charles Gunnings
Jacksonville Sharks	Jacksonville, Florida	VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena[10]	13,011	2009	2017	Jason Gibson
Orlando Predators	Orlando, Florida	Amway Center	17,192	2019	2019	Herkie Walls
San Antonio Gunslingers	San Antonio, Texas	Freeman Coliseum[11]	9,000	2020	2022[12]	Fred Shaw[13]
West Texas Warbirds[9]	Odessa, Texas[14]	Ector County Coliseum[15]	8,000[16][17]	2019[18]	2023	Tate Smith[19][20]

1. Albany was expelled from the league and NAL membership was terminated due to non-payment of league dues. Owner Antonio Brown was also fined for conduct detrimental to the league, a fine included with league dues, and Brown failed to pay that fine.
2. Fayetteville could not afford to keep the team running and folded after Week 12.

Standings

2023 National Arena League Standings

Team	Win	Loss	PCT	PF	PA	STK
z – Jacksonville Sharks	10	3	.769	810	555	L1
y – Carolina Cobras	10	4	.714	814	653	W5
x – San Antonio Gunslingers	8	4	.727	569	606	L3
x – Orlando Predators	4	8	.333	520	618	L3
e – West Texas Warbirds	3	11	.214	576	769	W1
DNF – Fayetteville Mustangs	4	4	.500	371	373	L1
DNF – Albany Empire	1	6	.142	257	339	L6

z – clinched home field advantage

y – clinched home playoff game

x - clinched playoff berth

e – eliminated from playoffs

DNF – Did not finish the season

Reference:^[2][21]

2023 NAL Playoffs

	Semifinal					2023 NAL Championship
	1	Jacksonville Sharks	62
	4	Orlando Predators	18
						1	Jacksonville Sharks	54
						2	Carolina Cobras	45
	2	Carolina Cobras	52
	3	San Antonio Gunslingers	36

Reference:^{[2][22][23][24]}

Players of the Week

Players of the Week throughout the 2023 NAL Season

Weeks	Offensive Player of the Week	Defensive Player of the Week	Special Team Player of the Week	Ironman Player of the Week
1	Rakeem Cato, Fayetteville Mustangs	Marvin Ross, Jacksonville Sharks	Kendrick Ings, Fayetteville Mustangs	Tre Long, Fayetteville Mustangs
2	Darius Prince, Albany Empire	Kenny Veal, Carolina Cobras	Marc Orozco, Albany Empire	Jalen Childress, West Texas Warbirds
3	Arvell Nelson, San Antonio Gunslingers	Sha-ki Holines, Jacksonville Sharks	Kevin Didio-Webber, Jacksonville Sharks	Phillip Barnett, San Antonio Gunslingers
4	Rakeem Cato, Fayetteville Mustangs	Freddie Booth-Lloyd, Orlando Predators	T. C. Stevens, Carolina Cobras	Jensen Stoshak, Jacksonville Sharks
5	Jalen Childress, West Texas Warbirds	Trevon Shorts, West Texas Warbirds	Kendrick Ings, Fayetteville Mustangs	Trevon Shorts, West Texas Warbirds
6	Zach Brown, Carolina Cobras	Mike Green, Carolina Cobras	Darius Prince, Orlando Predators	Zach Brown, Carolina Cobras
7	Sam Castronova, Jacksonville Sharks	Jabari Gorman, Jacksonville Sharks	Adam Smith, Carolina Cobras	Marquel Wade, Jacksonville Sharks
8	Sam Castronova, Jacksonville Sharks	Jabari Gorman, Jacksonville Sharks	Marc Orozco, Jacksonville Sharks	Jalen Wilson, West Texas Warbirds
9	Sam Castronova, Jacksonville Sharks	Sha-ki Holiness, Jacksonville Sharks	Kevin Didio-Weber, West Texas Warbirds	Devonte Baker, Fayetteville Mustangs
10	Malik Henry, Carolina Cobras	Joshua Jenkins, Orlando Predators	Marquel Wade, Jacksonville Sharks	Devonte Baker, Fayetteville Mustangs
11	Darius Prince, Orlando Predators	Dwayne Hollis, Orlando Predators	Kevin Didio-Weber, West Texas Warbirds	Trevon Shorts, West Texas Warbirds
12
13
14

Reference:^[25][26]

References

1. "About the NAL - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
2. Rubel, Abigail (2022-07-14). "National Arena League announces expansion team". Times Union. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
3. "National Arena League Announces Expansion Team for 2023". OurSports Central. 2022-07-14. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
4. Singelais, Mark (2021-12-22). "Albany Empire's 2022 schedule is announced". Times Union. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
5. "MVP Arena". www.albany.org. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
6. "Carolina Cobras - Indoor/Arena Football on OurSports Central". www.oursportscentral.com. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
7. "Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center". Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
8. "Carolina Cobras Arena Football". Greensboro Convention and Visitors Bureau. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
9. "News: Expansion Team Reveals Logo and Name - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
10. "Jacksonville Sharks". Downtown Jacksonville. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
11. Ramirez, Daniel Villanueva, Mark Mendez, Larry (2022-04-22). "The San Antonio Gunslingers are headed to Freeman Coliseum". KSAT. Retrieved 2022-07-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. Rachuk, Stephan (2021-11-11). "NAL Announces San Antonio Gunslingers as Expansion Franchise". XFL Newsroom. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
13. "Staff - San Antonio Gunslingers". www.sanantoniogunslingers.com. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
14. "HIGHLIGHTS: Warbirds finish another undefeated championship season". Yourbasin. 2022-07-17. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
15. Aguirre, Priscilla (2022-07-20). "VIDEO: Brawl at West Texas indoor football game spills into stands". mySA. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
16. "Ector County Coliseum". www.cvent.com. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
17. "Data view of Ector County Coliseum from United States - Sports Stadiums & Arenas dataset". rlist.io. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
18. "Professional Indoor Football Coming to West Texas in 2020". OurSports Central. 2019-10-02. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
19. "Coaching Staff | Warbirds Football". warbirdfootball.com. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
20. "Warbirds introduce Tate Smith as head coach". 2021-05-12. Archived from the original on 2021-05-12. Retrieved 2022-08-28.
21. "Stats - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
22. "Stats - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
23. "Stats - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
24. "Stats - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
25. "Players of the Week - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
26. "News: THE EMPIRE LEAVES JACKSONVILLE IN WEEK TWO WITH THEIR FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON - National Arena League". www.nationalarenaleague.com. Team for Rob Jones. Retrieved 2022-07-30.

See also

• 2023 Indoor Football League season