ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE

Formation of the League:

The Arena Football League was founded in the year 1987 by Mr. Jim Foster. The first AFL game was played in Rockford, Illinois at the Metro Centre between the Rockford metros and the Chicago politicians. Both these teams were the first ever teams to play arena football. Then, the team’s inaugural season started. It featured four teams, namely, the Chicago bruisers, Denver dynamite, Pittsburgh gladiators, and the Washington commandos. The teams played for a six game season. In the year 1990, Jim Foster was awarded with a patent fir arena football and the equipment that was unique to the game.

Early Days of the League:

In the early days, many people in the United States of America had only heard about the term “arena football”, but no one knew what exactly the Arena Football League was all about. The only exposure the league got was on television and that too, on selected channels. One of the early success stories of the league was the Detroit drive. The drive regularly started playing in front of packed crowds. Although, the drive left the league, the AFL still holds a number of teams on its ranks which are known as “dynasties”. Many of the teams in the league have until today earned a lot of success, but there are also few who failed due to lack of financial support.

Expansion of the League: