Arena Football League

The Arena Football League (or AFL) is a defunct American football league in the United States that ran from 1987 to 2008, and 2010 to 2019. After it ended the first time, another league like it started in 2010, called Arena Football 1. Some, but not all, of the AFL teams joined Arena Football 1. The league later changed its name to the Arena Football League. There were 6 teams in 2019 when the league folded due to bankruptcy.

An Arena Football stadium

Unlike what people in this league call the outdoor league (the NFL), Arena football is played in an smaller arena. Arena Football is played with only 8 players on a team, not 11 like the NFL.

Teams

Timeline

The Arena Football League has had many teams join and leave the league. Every year, there has been at least one team which did not play with the same name as the year before.

Year	# of Teams	New 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. 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. Louis Stampede			Memphis → Portland Forest Dragons
1998	14		Anaheim Piranhas			Massachusetts Marauders → Grand Rapids Rampage (dormant for three years)	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			Nashville → Georgia Force[1]
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[2] Nashville Kats			Las Vegas → Cleveland Gladiators
2009	0		New Orleans VooDoo Los Angeles Avengers	Arizona Rattlers Chicago Rush Cleveland Gladiators Colorado Crush Columbus Destroyers Dallas Desperados Georgia Force Grand Rapids Rampage Kansas City Brigade New York Dragons Orlando Predators Philadelphia Soul San Jose SaberCats Tampa Bay Storm Utah Blaze
2010	15	Alabama Vipers* Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings* Dallas Vigilantes Iowa Barnstormers* Jacksonville Sharks Milwaukee Iron* Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz* Spokane Shock* Tulsa Talons* Utah Blaze** (* Former af2 team) (** Former AIFA team)			Arizona Rattlers Chicago Rush Cleveland Gladiators Orlando Predators Tampa Bay Storm
2011	18	Pittsburgh Power	Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz		Kansas City Command Philadelphia Soul San Jose SaberCats	Alabama Vipers → Georgia Force Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings → New Orleans VooDoo[3]	Kansas City Command (from Kansas City Brigade) Milwaukee Mustangs (from Milwaukee Iron)
2012	17			Dallas Vigilantes		Tulsa Talons → San Antonio Talons

References

1. The history of the Kats stayed in Nashville, similar to the agreement made between the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens of the NFL.
2. The Austin Wranglers changed leagues from the AFL to af2.
3. Hogan, Nakia. "The New Orleans VooDoo and the Arena Football League are returning". NOLA.com.

Other websites

• Official website of the Arena Football League Archived 2003-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
• Official website of Arena Football 1 Archived 2003-10-18 at the Wayback Machine