Arena/Indoor Previous Football Leagues

Arena/Indoor football is football designed to be played indoors, the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink. The game features between six and eight players for each team, depending on the league. The game moves fast with higher scores than traditional football games. The sport was invented in 1981 and a number of leagues have formed only to later be purchased, folded or merged into another league. Arena/Indoor Football Leagues History of Arena/Indoor Football Leagues

Arena/Indoor Previous Football Leagues History

The Arena Football League kicked off in 1987 with four teams playing on the fledgling ESPN cable network. AFL squads competed on a 50-yard field, roughly one-fourth the size of its full-size counterpart, and employed giant rebound nets on either side of the field goal posts to keep the ball in play. After a tumultuous period in 1988 and 1989, which nearly saw the league fold several times, the AFL grew steadily to a national league with regularly televised games and millions of fans. Outside of the National Football League, it was the longest running professional football league in the nation before declaring bankruptcy in 2009. The league was re-established with 15 teams in 2010 after its assets were purchased out of bankruptcy. .

The Arena Football League (AFL - 2024) was a professional arena football league founded in 2023 with their first, and only, season beginning in 2024. This AFL reboot took its identity, history, some of the rulebook and some team names from, but is not directly connected to, the previous iteration of the Arena Football League founded by Jim Foster in 1986. On February 1, 2023, G6 Sports Group (a Delaware corporation operating as the American arm of Toronto, Ontario-based hedge fund ForceOne Capital), a new ownership group that had acquired the league's trademarks and social media accounts, announced the league's launch, as a revival of the previous Arena Football League. The season was marked with multiple controversies throughout the first few weeks, with unpaid bills, players getting kicked out of hotels, replacement teams and players refusing to come out of the home locker room until they were paid. Those issues, stemming from alledged misconduct by the league commissioner, caused five teams to suspend operations and cancelling the broadcast agreement with the NFL Network.

In 1998, semipro football administrator Dick Suess, noting the success of the AFL, launched the Professional Indoor Football League, the first indoor alternative to the Arena League. The PIFL struggled through its first season but survived. The league changed its name to the Indoor Professional Football League (IPFL) in 1999 under new commissioner Mike Storen. Because the Arena Football League patented its game system, the league and all its indoor successors were prohibited from using the endzone rebound nets. In 1999, the PIFL split into two leagues, forming the Indoor Football League and on January 4, 1999, the remaining teams of the PIFL renamed the league to the Indoor Professional Football League.

One casualty of the PIFL's inaugural season was Keary Ecklund, co-owner of the Green Bay Bombers and Madison Mad Dogs franchises. Reasoning that he could run a league better than the PIFL had been operated, he took his teams and formed his own Midwest league - the Indoor Football League. It lasted for two seasons and grew from eight original franchises to 20 teams. Ecklund owned most of the teams, with only the Lincoln Lightning and half the Topeka franchise having outside ownership. Disagreements with how the Topeka team was being run eventually resulted in Ecklund taking full control of that franchise as well.

Next to announce its formation was the Xtreme Football League. Birmingham sports entrepreneur Art Clarkson recruited owners from East Coast Hockey League teams in the Southeast to fill what was planned to be a 10-12 team league. The idea was to cut costs by sharing front office staffs with the hockey franchises. On July 29, 1999 the nine XFL teams joined forces with the fledgling arenafootball2, spelling the end of Clarkson's venture. He didn't leave the business, however, as he remained the owner of af2's Tennessee Valley Vipers of Huntsville, Alabama.

The AFL saw the growth of the indoor game in mid-sized markets and countered with its own minor league, arenafootball2. With the growing AFL behind it, af2 bought out the upstart Southeast-based Xtreme Football League (no relation to the WWE outdoor league) and launched in 2000 with 16 teams. Like its parent league, af2 used the endzone rebound nets, a patented feature of Arena Football play. Orlando Predators Entertainment bought out the IFL in 2001, and af2 absorbed a handful of IFL markets. When the Arena Football League declared bankruptcy in 2009, af2 owners elected not to continue the league, with surviving teams joining the new AFL and the Indoor Football League.


Meanwhile, some IPFL team owners, including original member Carolyn Shiver, became disenchanted with the league and struck off on their own to form the National Indoor Football League in 2000. Its lineup changed frequently through the years, and it both absorbed teams from and lost teams to other leagues. Rocked by mass defections in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the NIFL attempted to play a 2007 season with a handful of returning teams and more than a dozen league-owned franchises. The disastrous campaign proved to be its last.

In 2004, the new six-team Intense Football League set up shop in the Texas cities of Amarillo, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Lubbock, Odessa and San Angelo. Following the season, the Amarillo Dusters left for af2, and the NIFL absorbed four of the remaining teams, seemingly spelling the end of the IFL. After one season, the IFL was re-formed with Corpus Christi, San Angelo and Odessa joining one other NIFL franchise and new teams in Texas and Louisiana. In 2008, the Intense League merged with United Indoor Football to form the new Indoor Football League.


The following season, another upstart, the Atlantic Indoor Football League (renamed the American Indoor Football League following their first season), took the field with six teams, including two traveling squads. The circuit expanded to 16 teams in its second year, but several franchises were wracked with financial instability. Several teams left for alternate leagues following the season, including the upstart World Indoor Football League and Continental Indoor Football League, and the American Indoor Football Association was formed from the remaining squads.

Also in 2005, a group of 10 owners from the National Indoor Football League and two from arenafootball2 broke away from their respective leagues to form their own circuit, United Indoor Football. Dayton, the only new franchise in the league, was dropped just prior to the season opener and rejoined the NIFL, giving UIF 11 teams for its inaugural season. The league added a pair of Illinois franchises in 2006 and two more NIFL defectors for 2007. Following the 2008 campaign, UIF joined with the Intense Football League to form the new Indoor Football League.


The Great Lakes Indoor Football League announced its formation the 2006 season, targeting smaller markets in the Midwest. Starting with six teams, including one traveling squad, the league announced plans to grow to 14 teams in 2007. The circuit's expanded geographic footprint, now stretching from Illinois to the East Coast necessitated a name change, and the GLIFL became the Continental Indoor Football League for 2007.


Former AIFL and NIFL team owners formed the World Indoor Football League for the 2007 season. Originally slated to have as many as eight member teams, the Huntington Heroes and Charleston instead rejoined the AIFA and the owner of the Rome (Georgia) and Raleigh (NC) frachises bowed out, leaving the WIFL with four for its first and only season. When the Daytona Beach membership left for arenafootball2, the league dissolved.


The new Indoor Football League, largely a product of a merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football along with three former CIFL teams, began play in 2009 with 17 teams. The following season the league expanded to 25 teams stretching coast to coast and up to Alaska, making it the largest of the indoor circuits.



The owner of the Louisiana Swashbucklers, an Intense Football League team which briefly joined the Indoor Football League, established the Southern Indoor Football League for the 2009 season. With teams concentrated in Texas and Louisiana in 2009, the league branched out in the South in 2010, adding franchises in South Carolina and Georgia. In September 2011, the majority of teams in the SIFL broke off to join two new leagues, the Texas-based Lone Star Football League and the Southeast-based Professional Indoor Football League. The remaining three teams were claimed by the revived American Indoor Football Association, resulting in the demise of the league.

 

The American Indoor Football Alliance (AIFA) was a minor-professional American indoor football league in the United States. After the 2021 American Arena League season concluded, four members of the East Division (Carolina Predators, Tampa Bay Tornadoes, Pennsylvania Union and Mississippi Raiders) announced that they would leave the AAL to form a new league. The AIFA league played its first season in 2022, when the Mississippi Raiders defeated the Las Vegas Kings 55–12 to claim the Inaugural AIFA Championship. For the 2023 season, AIFA had an inter-league scheduling agreement with the American West Football Conference. The Columbus Lions won the league championship after completing an undefeated season and beating Mississippi Raiders 55 to 10 in AIFA Championship. In late 2023 most of the teams left to join different leagues and the AIFA was shut down.

 

The American West Football Conference (AWFC) was a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2018 by Platinum Events & Security, LLC, the owners of the Idaho Horsemen. The league's inaugural season was in 2019. The league was created to fill the void of a lack of west coast teams and leagues and to decrease travel costs of operating the regional teams. On March 13, 2020, the AWFC announced that the 2020 season would be postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On July 31, 2020, the AWFC announced the cancellation of the 2020 season. On November 22, 2022, league champions Tri-City Rush announced they were folding after their home arena in Pasco shut down for the 2023 season and not meeting their financial goals. With only three teams for the 2023 season, the AWFC announced they would play non-league games with four teams from the American Indoor Football Alliance, and the Cali Gold (San Francisco Bay area) from the American Arena League 2. On September 21, 2023, the Horsemen announced that they were joining the National Arena League for the 2024 season. As the league's flagship franchise, this effectively forced the two remaining teams to suspend or fold, with the league folding.

 

The Independent Indoor Football Alliance (IIFA) was a professional indoor football league based in the state of Texas. The league played an abbreviated 2009 season punctuated by a number of forfeits. The league grew and had tighter restrictions for 2010 in hopes of better football action. For the 2011 season, the IIFA joined forces with several independent teams. It did not operate beyond 2011.

 

Arena Pro Football (APF) was originally announced as the National Arena Football League in 2016 following the dissolution of American Indoor Football (AIF). The league changed its name to Arena Pro Football (APF) in September 2016, playing one season (2017),
The Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am) was also formed from the remnants of the AIF, for the 2017 season. The Can AM league and the Arena Pro Football league merged after one year of operation forming the American Arena League in 2018. The AAL only claimed the APF history after the Can-Am founder left the league.

 

The Supreme Indoor Football (SIF) league was originally the creation of the Cape Fear Heroes ownership. During the league's initial launch in 2015, it was to be part of the Indoor Football Alliance, which would have also included a revived Continental Indoor Football League, beginning play in 2016. When the CIFL revival never materialized, and the league had difficulties in finding teams to join the league, the Heroes suspended operations, effectively suspending the league as well. The league launched on its second attempt in April 2017. It played one season before its members joined the newly formed American Arena League. Commissioner Barbara Springer then announced she wanted to turn the SIF into a developmental summer league which did not occur.

 

The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Football League (five former SIFL teams and one expansion team in total). Despite the name, this PIFL had no connections to the original Professional Indoor Football League.

 

The Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL) was a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011[1] as the Ultimate Indoor Football League before playing as the United Indoor Football League in 2012, then switched back to "Ultimate" for the 2013 season. After the 2014 season, the league merged with X-League Indoor Football.

 

The Great Lakes Arena Football (GLAF) was a professional American indoor football minor league based in the Great Lakes region in the United States. The GLAF was designed to be a regional "bus league" with minimal travel, while league member West Michigan Ironmen having direct control over league operations and membership. The Ironmen joined American Indoor Football on December 25, 2024. In June 2026, GLAF merged with American Indoor Football.

 

X-League Indoor Football (X-League) was a professional indoor American football minor league that began play in 2014 in the United States. On September 19, 2015, the league announced a merger with the future "North American Indoor Football" but later stated the merger would not go forward as announced and then disbanded. The league was originally going to be known as the Xtreme Indoor Football League, but re-branded themselves as the X-League. Three of the six inaugural teams were from the UIFL.

 

The Fan Controlled Football (FCF) was a professional indoor football league that played two seasons 2021 and 2022. The league used Internet streaming as its main television platform and was streamed on Twitch and VENN on Saturdays. The league championship was carried on the digital subchannel network LX. The FCF saw a steady increase in its viewership through its first five weeks, from 735,000 in the first week to 2.1 million for the playoffs. The Fan Controlled Football League's (FCFL) first season's initial start date was set for 2018 but was postponed. It was then slated to start in summer 2020 in Las Vegas with eight teams, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league shortened its name to Fan Controlled Football (FCF) and announced it would play with four teams in February 2021 in a bubble environment at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth, Georgia.The league played a four-game schedule in 2021. The league was unique in that the league leaned heavily on fan interaction to make important decisions, such as play-calling, drafts, rules, team names and seasonal awards. Voting was done through a mobile app.

 

The World Indoor Football League (WIFL) was an indoor football league founded by Harry Pierce, owner of the Rome Renegades and Raleigh Rebels of the American Indoor Football League. The league was a splinter league that formed after disgruntled ownership in the AIFL, caused significant turmoil and resulted in several teams leaving the league. Both the Rebels and Renegades were to play in the league, with the Rebels to be renamed as the Carolina Bombers. However, on October 16, 2006, Pierce folded both franchises. The league folded after one (2007) season.

 

The Arena Football Association (AFA) was a professional indoor football league based in Texas, Kansas and Mississippi, United States. The league began operation in June 2021 with five teams, known that season as the Lone Star Series. The league played one additional season under the Arena Football Association(AFA) before going dormant.

 

Elite Indoor Football (EIF) was an indoor football league based in the southeastern United States. Elite Indoor Football, played a cross-league schedule for 2017 with the Supreme Indoor League.. The EIF was founded by the Savannah Steam for the 2017 season, after the demise of the AIF, ceasing operations in 2024.