# Salina Liberty

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.

## History

Indoor football in Salina started in 2012 as the Salina Bombers, an expansion franchise for the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL), were announced for the 2013 season. The Bombers then joined Champions Indoor Football (CIF) due to a merger between the CPIFL and the Lone Star Football League for 2015. However, during their first season in the CIF, the league ejected the Bombers for a "business violation" on May 28 and they would cease operations later that month. In July 2015, the CIF announced it had replaced the Bombers with a new expansion team in Salina called the Salina Liberty.
The Liberty began play in the Champions Indoor Football League in 2016 finishing last in the Northern Division and failing to qualify for the playoffs. In 2017 Salina Liberty received their first win on the road against Bloomington Edge 47-34 after promoting Offensive Coordinator Mike Bonner to Head Coach. The team finished 1-4 under Coach Bonner.
General Manager Ricky Bertz decided to go in another direction after the 2017 season. After hiring Herron O’Neal The Liberty finished first in the CIF's North Conference regular season in 2018 and 2019. They won the conference playoff championship in 2019 and played in the Champions Bowl for the league title, but lost to the Duke City Gladiators 29–35.
On September 25, 2023, the Liberty were implicitly announced to be joining the Arena Football League after the AFL announced it would be absorbing CIF's remaining franchises. Then nearly one year later on September 4, 2024, the Liberty announced their move to the new Arena Football One following the collapse of the AFL. They will play in the league's new Central Division along with the Corpus Christi Tritons and Southwest Kansas Storm with the Wichita Regulators going dormant for 2025.

## Season-by-season results

| League Champions | Conference Champions | Division Champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | League | Conference | Division | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Postseason results |
| Season | League | Conference | Division | Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | Postseason results |
| 2016 | CIF | | Northern | 6th | 2 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2017 | CIF | North | | 7th | 1 | 11 | 0 | |
| 2018 | CIF | North | | 1st | 9 | 3 | 0 | Won Conference Semifinal (Bismarck) 81–51 Lost Conference Championship (Sioux City) 39–45 |
| 2019 | CIF | North | | 1st | 8 | 4 | 0 | Won Conference Championship (Omaha) 44–42 Lost Champions Bowl (Duke City) 29–35 |
| 2020 | CIF | North | | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | CIF | | | 1st | 9 | 1 | 0 | Won Semifinal (Dodge City) 55–31 Lost Champions Bowl (Omaha) 39–40 |
| 2022 | CIF | | | 2nd | 7 | 3 | 0 | Won Semifinal (Billings) 26–14 Won Champions Bowl (Omaha) 38–34 |
| 2023 | CIF | | | 2nd | 8 | 2 | 0 | Won Semifinal (Gillette) 37–30 Lost Champions Bowl (Omaha) 30–50 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 44 | 34 | 0 | All-time regular season record (2016–2023) |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 6 | 4 | — | All-time postseason record (2016–2023) |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 50 | 38 | 0 | All-time regular season and postseason record (2016–2023) |