 the toronto phantoms were a professional arena football team based in toronto, ontario. the team was a member of the eastern division of the national conference of the arena football league (afl). the team also previously operated in new york city and hartford, connecticut. ==history== ===new york cityhawks (1997-1998)=== the team began in 1997 as the new york cityhawks. their name was a reference to the peregrine falcon, several of which make their nests on ledges high up on new york's skyscrapers. despite the failure of the new york knights in 1988, the afl decided once again to make an effort to establish a team in the nation's largest media market, and granted a franchise to the new york cityhawks prior to the 1997 season. the major circumstance that differentiated this situation from that of the knights was that the cityhawks were owned by madison square garden, while the knights had been tenants at the garden. ====background==== the arena football league had intended to re-enter the new york market in 1997 by putting an expansion team in the new jersey meadowlands, located just across the hudson river from new york city. among the ownership of the new new jersey red dogs were several ex-nfl players, most notably former new york giant joe morris. in response to the afl's placing a team in new jersey, the garden requested a team of their own for the garden. this request was granted by the league with only months to go before the beginning of the 1997 season, while the new jersey team had been granted several months earlier. the cityhawks thus had only half the preparation time that the red dogs had going into both teams' initial season of 1997. ====on the field==== the cityhawks played poorly, winning only two of 14 games during their first season, despite being led by head coach [[lary kuharic
American_football_teams_in_Toronto Arena_Football_League_in_New_England Arena_Football_League_in_New_York Defunct_Arena_Football_League_teams Sports_clubs_disestablished_in_2002 Sports_clubs_established_in_1997