New England Sea Wolves The Toronto Phantoms was the final name of a team in the Arena Football League , that also operated in New York City and New England . History . New York CityHawks ( 1997 - 1998 ) . The New York CityHawks were a team in the Arena Football League . 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 ' owners were also the owners of their home arena Madison Square Garden , whereas the Knights had been tenants there . 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 team 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 Madison Square Garden owners 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 New Jersey team , the New Jersey Red Dogs , thus had twice the preparation time as did the CityHawks 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 Kuharich , who had coached the Tampa Bay Storm to the league championship by winning ArenaBowl VII in 1993 . Meanwhile , the cross - river Red Dogs , under Head Coach John Hufnagel , had charged out of the gate , winning 8 of their first 9 games , and setting a ( then ) league record by scoring 91 points in one game against the Texas Terror ( a record which was surpassed in 2001 when the New York Dragons scored 99 against the Carolina Cobras ) . To illustrate the contrasting fortunes of the two teams : during the weekend of games that included June 20 – 21 , the Red Dogs scored 91 points against Texas ; the CityHawks scored only nine points in a loss to Tampa Bay . In 1998 , the CityHawks replaced Kuharich with veteran NCAA coach Chuck Shelton , who was taking his first Arena Football job . However , the team fared almost as poorly as they had done the first season , winning only 3 of 14 games . Attendance and media coverage . The team drew very few fans in each of its two seasons at the Garden , and the coverage in the New York media ranged from nonexistent ( at best ) to derisive ( at worst ) . On one occasion , then - Garden President Dave Checketts appeared as a guest on all - sports radio station WFAN , and he attempted to turn the conversation ( which had been about the NBA ' s New York Knicks , which also were owned by the Garden ' s owners ) towards the subject of the CityHawks . Upon hearing this suggestion , hosts Mike Francesa and Chris Russo laughed openly at Checketts , and refused to let him continue speaking about the CityHawks . The hosts did not stop their on - air mockery until Checketts returned to the subject of the Knicks . However , Checketts and the Garden management were themselves largely responsible for the CityHawks ' status as laughing stocks . First , they had applied for the team with very little time remaining for preparation before the opening of the 1997 season . Then , in their second season , they replaced a career AFL coach with a coach who had no experience with the Arena game . The WNBA factor . But , the biggest failing on the part of Garden management was the lack of promotion — no billboards , no ads on television or radio , nor in the local newspapers . Indeed , both the unwillingness to promote the club and the inattention to the on - field product can be attributed to the same cause : the debut in 1997 of the WNBA ( Women ' s National Basketball Association ) and the Garden ' s team , the New York Liberty . The Garden ' s management put extraordinary effort into promoting the new basketball team , blanketing the media with ads for it immediately from its inception . In comparison , Garden management put very little effort into promoting , or even running , the team . CityHawks fly away . The Garden owners announced that the club would be transferred to Hartford , Connecticut for the 1999 season , would be renamed the New England Sea Wolves , and would play at the Hartford Civic Center , an arena also managed ( although not owned ) by Garden management . After two seasons in Hartford , the club was sold to new owners who transferred it to Toronto , Ontario , Canada , and gave it the new name Toronto Phantoms . The league folded the team after the 2002 season . Legacy . The CityHawks had several individual players of outstanding quality , most notably quarterback Mike Perez , kicker Mike Black , defensive specialist / kick returner Ron Carpenter , and all - around threat Connell Maynor . Maynor , a very interesting case , was primarily a quarterback by trade , but played wide receiver / linebacker for the CityHawks . One week in 1997 , he won the award for the league ' s top " ironman " ( player who plays both on offense and defense , as six of eight players must do in Arena Football ) . As a quarterback , Maynor would later lead the Orlando Predators to a league championship by winning ArenaBowl XIV . In addition , the CityHawks were the first AFL team to have different helmets for home and road games . In 1997 , they wore their gold helmets at home , with black jerseys and gold pants ; and wore the reverse on the road : black helmets , gold jerseys , black pants . In 1998 , they adopted a one - color scheme , dressing in all black at home , and in all gold on the road . New England Sea Wolves ( 1999 - 2000 ) . The New England Sea Wolves were in Hartford for two seasons , and were coached by Mike Hohensee , the former Albany Firebirds coach who has been the head coach of the Chicago Rush since that team ' s inception in 2001 . In 2000 , the Sea Wolves posted the first winning record in franchise history ( 8 - 6 ) . That season also saw the debut of offensive specialist Damian Harrell , who went on to blossom after the team moved on to Toronto , and has continued his fine career into the 2006 season with several outstanding years for the Colorado Crush . The team did little better financially in New England than it had in New York , and was sold to new owners , who relocated it to Toronto after the 2000 season . The Sea Wolves played out of the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford , Connecticut . Toronto Phantoms ( 2001 - 2002 ) . The Toronto Phantoms marked an abortive attempt by the Arena Football League to enter the Canadian market . The team was purchased by a group led by TD Securities Inc . investment banker , Rob Godfrey . The majority share of the team , owned by Rogers Communications , played the 2001 and 2002 Arena seasons in Toronto , and were then disbanded . All home games were played at the Air Canada Centre , also the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League , the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association , and the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League . The team ' s primary rival was the Buffalo Destroyers , located 80 miles south in Buffalo . The Phantoms ' logo included a Grim Reaper character whose scythe carried the word " Toronto " with the word " Phantoms " appearing over it . The name came from " The Phantom of the Opera " , the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that played at the Canon Theatre ( then Pantages Theatre ) in Toronto for nine years . ( It has also been suggested that Phantom Industries , a women ' s hosiery company , was also an inspiration for the name . ) In 2001 , the Phantoms posted a reasonable 8 - 6 record , winning the AFL Eastern Division Championship , and making the playoffs . They would beat the New York Dragons in the first round of the playoffs ; however , they would lose to the Nashville Kats in the second round . In 2002 , they went 5 - 9 , missing the playoffs . Following the season , Rogers announced that they were suspending operations of the franchise . The Phantoms drew an average of just 6 , 976 fans per game over their two seasons at Air Canada Centre . Six years later , Rogers entered into a five - year sharing agreement with Ralph Wilson to lease Wilson ' s Buffalo Bills to Rogers for an annual regular season game in exchange for cash . Among the notable Phantoms players were Offensive Specialist Damian Harrell , fullback / linebacker Jermaine Younger , as well as defensive back / wide receiver Ty Law ( unrelated to the NFL player of the same name ) . During their time in Toronto , these players were not widely recognized in an already congested sports market .