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.

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

|style="width:15%; background:white"|Team|style="width:15%; background:white"|City|style="width:19%; background:white"|Arena|style="width:9%; background:white"|Founded|style="width:9%; background:white"|Joined|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|**Albany Empire**|Albany, New York|Times Union Center|colspan=2 align=center|2018||||||
|**Atlantic City Blackjacks**|Atlantic City, New Jersey|Boardwalk Hall|colspan=2 align=center|2019||||||
|**Baltimore Brigade**|Baltimore|Royal Farms Arena|colspan=2 align=center|2017||||||
|**Cleveland Gladiators**|Cleveland, Ohio|Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse|colspan=2 align=center|1997||||||
|**Columbus Destroyers**|Columbus, Ohio|Nationwide Arena|colspan=2 align=center|1999||||||
|**Philadelphia Soul**|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Wells Fargo Center|colspan=2 align=center|2004||||||
|**Washington Valor**|Washington, D.C.|Capital One Arena|colspan=2 align=center|2017||||||

### 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|ALIGN=CENTER|4|VALIGN=TOP|Chicago Bruisers Denver Dynamite Pittsburgh Gladiators||||||||||
|1988|ALIGN=CENTER|6|VALIGN=TOP|Detroit Drive Los Angeles Cobras New York Knights||VALIGN=TOP|Denver Dynamite|||||||
|1989|ALIGN=CENTER|5||VALIGN=TOP|Los Angeles Cobras New York Knights||VALIGN=TOP|Denver Dynamite||||||
|1990|ALIGN=CENTER|6|VALIGN=TOP|Albany Firebirds Dallas Texans|VALIGN=TOP|Chicago Bruisers||||VALIGN=TOP|Washington Commandos (from Maryland)|||
|1991|ALIGN=CENTER|8|VALIGN=TOP|Columbus Thunderbolts New Orleans Night Orlando Predators|VALIGN=TOP|Washington Commandos|||VALIGN=TOP|Pittsburgh → Tampa Bay Storm||||
|1992|ALIGN=CENTER|12|VALIGN=TOP|Arizona Rattlers Charlotte Rage Cincinnati Rockers Sacramento Attack San Antonio Force|VALIGN=TOP|Denver Dynamite|||VALIGN=TOP|Columbus → Cleveland Thunderbolts||||
|1993|ALIGN=CENTER|10||VALIGN=TOP|New Orleans Night San Antonio Force|||VALIGN=TOP|Sacramento → Miami Hooters|||||
|1994|ALIGN=CENTER|11|VALIGN=TOP|Fort Worth Cavalry Las Vegas Sting Milwaukee Mustangs|VALIGN=TOP|Cincinnati Rockers Dallas Texans|||VALIGN=TOP|Detroit → Massachusetts Marauders||||
|1995|ALIGN=CENTER|13|VALIGN=TOP|Connecticut Coyotes Iowa Barnstormers Memphis Pharaohs St. Louis Stampede San Jose SaberCats|VALIGN=TOP||VALIGN=TOP|Fort Worth Cavalry||||||
|1996|ALIGN=CENTER|15|VALIGN=TOP|Texas Terror||||VALIGN=TOP|Las Vegas → Anaheim Piranhas Fort Worth → Minnesota Fighting Pike (dormant from 1995)|VALIGN=TOP|Florida Bobcats (from Miami Hooters)|||
|1997|ALIGN=CENTER|14|VALIGN=TOP|Nashville Kats New Jersey Red Dogs New York CityHawks|VALIGN=TOP|Charlotte Rage Connecticut Coyotes St. Louis Stampede|||VALIGN=TOP|Memphis → Portland Forest Dragons||||
|1998|ALIGN=CENTER|14||VALIGN=TOP|Anaheim Piranhas|||VALIGN=TOP|Massachusetts Marauders → Grand Rapids Rampage (dormant for three years)|VALIGN=TOP|Houston Thunderbears (from Texas Terror)|||
|1999|ALIGN=CENTER|15|VALIGN=TOP|Buffalo Destroyers||||VALIGN=TOP|New York → New England Sea Wolves|||||
|2000|ALIGN=CENTER|17|VALIGN=TOP|Carolina Cobras||||VALIGN=TOP|Portland → Oklahoma Wranglers|||||
|2001|ALIGN=CENTER|19|VALIGN=TOP|Chicago Rush Detroit Fury||||VALIGN=TOP|Albany → Indiana Firebirds Iowa → New York Dragons New England → Toronto Phantoms|VALIGN=TOP|New Jersey Gladiators (from New Jersey Red Dogs)|||
|2002|ALIGN=CENTER|16|VALIGN=TOP|Dallas Desperados|VALIGN=TOP|Florida Bobcats Milwaukee Mustangs Oklahoma Wranglers|||VALIGN=TOP|Nashville → Georgia Force||||
|2003|ALIGN=CENTER|16|VALIGN=TOP|Colorado Crush||VALIGN=TOP|Toronto Phantoms||VALIGN=TOP|New Jersey → Las Vegas Gladiators||||
|2004|ALIGN=CENTER|19|VALIGN=TOP|Austin Wranglers New Orleans VooDoo Philadelphia Soul||||VALIGN=TOP|Buffalo → Columbus Destroyers|||||
|2005|ALIGN=CENTER|17|VALIGN=TOP|Nashville Kats|VALIGN=TOP|Carolina Cobras Detroit Fury Indiana Firebirds||||||||
|2006|ALIGN=CENTER|18|VALIGN=TOP|Kansas City Brigade Utah Blaze||VALIGN=TOP|New Orleans VooDoo|||||||
|2007|ALIGN=CENTER|19||||VALIGN=TOP|New Orleans VooDoo|||||||
|2008|ALIGN=CENTER|17||VALIGN=TOP|Austin Wranglers Nashville Kats|||VALIGN=TOP|Las Vegas → Cleveland Gladiators|||||
|2009|ALIGN=CENTER|0||VALIGN=TOP|New Orleans VooDoo Los Angeles Avengers|VALIGN=TOP|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|ALIGN=CENTER|15|VALIGN=TOP|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|ALIGN=CENTER|18|VALIGN=TOP|Pittsburgh Power|VALIGN=TOP|Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz||VALIGN=TOP|Kansas City Command Philadelphia Soul San Jose SaberCats|VALIGN=TOP|Alabama Vipers → Georgia Force Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings → New Orleans VooDoo|VALIGN=TOP|Kansas City Command (from Kansas City Brigade) Milwaukee Mustangs (from Milwaukee Iron)|
|2012|ALIGN=CENTER|17|||VALIGN=TOP|Dallas Vigilantes||VALIGN=TOP|Tulsa Talons → San Antonio Talons|||||

## Other websites

- Official website of the _Arena Football League_
- Official website of _Arena Football 1_