On Tuesday, the Arena Football League announced the league will return in 2024. Thus ending a five year hiatus with a new ownership group and a new commissioner. The league shut down in 2019 after having serious financial problems, in hopes of someday making a comeback.
Making history
In this comeback, the AFL will be making American sports history, becoming the very first American sports league with a black commissioner. The new head man Lee A. Hutton III is an attorney who has worked on major cases for the NFL and even the NCAA, and is also part of the league’s new ownership group.
The league announced there will be 16 teams who will play 10 regular season games and a full playoff schedule, ending with the annual Arena Bowl where their champion will be crowned. In the financially troubled 2019 season there were only six teams, so it is great news to see 16 teams will be back on the indoor gridiron.
As of this writing, no cities have been announced as having teams in the AFL revival, however I would look for some historic AFL teams like the Philadelphia Soul , New Orleans Voodoo, and Arizona Diamondbacks to possibly make a comeback.
Will Cleveland get a team
The real question is will Cleveland and Northeast Ohio have a team? Cleveland has had teams in the AFL on two separate occasions in the past. The Cleveland Thunderbolts started in 1991 playing at the old Richfield Coliseum. They played until the team relocated to Columbus in 1994. Also the Cleveland Gladiators, owned by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, played from 2008 until they folded in 2019. The Gladiators originally stopped playing because of upcoming renovations at their arena. The renovations took place in mostly the summer, which is mid-season for the Arena League, but the team never took the field again. I have reached out to the Gladiators and the league for comment, but have not heard back as of this writing.
Would you want another AFL team here in The Land? Would you want the Gladiators to come back, or would you want a brand new team? Could be some exciting times ahead!
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Mark Seminatore
March 13, 2023 at 4:49 pm
Hell yes I would love another afl team. I would love an xfl team.
Dee
October 6, 2023 at 12:51 pm
I would also love for Cleveland to have had a XFL team but with all that’s going on now that looks like wishful thinking. But I loved the Gladiators use to take my nephews to the games all the time. Then the league shutdown. So Even if they made a new team I’m for it.