 the alabama vipers were a professional arena football team, that played in the arena football league. for most of their history, the vipers played as the tennessee valley vipers in the now-defunct af2, the minor league for the original arena football league, where they won the 2008 arenacup championship. they played their home games at the von braun center. they were coached by dean cokinos. the team moved to gwinnett county, georgia for the 2011 afl season and became a new incarnation of the georgia force. ==team history== ===af2=== the team played in af2 for five seasons, from 2000â2004, and during that period was one of the league's most competitive teams. the then owner and operator of the team was art clarkson. then following the 2004 season the team left the af2 and joined the united indoor football (uif) league. ===united indoor football (uif)=== the team joined the united indoor football league as the tennessee valley pythons. but after legal threats from the af2 for using the "snake" motif, the team changed its name again, this time to the tennessee valley raptors. the raptors, after an attendance decline in huntsville, moved operations to rockford, illinois in 2005 and became the rock river raptors. ===return to af2=== left|thumb|150px|logo used by the vipers during their second stint in the af2 meanwhile, the af2 returned to huntsville in 2006. the new team, owned by hsv sports, llc (who also owns the local hockey team), was granted the rights to the vipers name, trademarks, and history that had been vacated by the previous ownership. prior to the 2007 season, controlling interest in the team was sold to texas af2 holdings, llc. the team still operated in conjunction with hsv sports, llc, now a minority partner with the team. ===alabama vipers of the arena football league=== for the 2010 season, the vipers played in the new arena football league and changed their name to the alabama vipers. after the season the team's owners announced it was leaving huntsville and moving to duluth, georgia, becoming the new georgia force.{{cite news |first=bill |last=bryant |work=the huntsville times |title=it's official: vipers have left the building |url=http://www.al.co
American_football_teams_in_Alabama Defunct_AF2_teams Defunct_Arena_Football_League_teams Professional_football_in_Huntsville,_Alabama Sports_clubs_disestablished_in_2010 Sports_clubs_established_in_2000