Absent from the city since 1990, Arena Football is coming back to the city of Pittsburgh, and the team will play home games at the Consol Energy Center.
The team, whose ownership group includes Lynn Swann, will rent the arena from the Penguins for home contests. Neither the Pens nor the Steelers will be a part of the ownership group.
More information will become available at a press conference on Friday, including the team's name, logo, and more ownership details. I'm going out on a limb and guessing that the franchise won't be called The Gladiators.
In addition to Pittsburgh, three teams have been added to the league for the 2011 season, including San Jose, Kansas City and Philadelphia. The AFL's 2010 season was its first since 2008, with the entire 2009 campaign lost due to financial issues within the league.
Pittsburgh's original Arena League team, the Gladiators, called the Civic Arena home from 1987-1990, qualifying for the championship game but losing both times. The '87 ArenaBowl, played at the Igloo, featured an open roof...and Denver winning in a 45-16 rout before 13,232.
After the 1990 season, the Pittsburgh franchise relocated to Tampa Bay, where it became known as the Storm. The Storm will go for their sixth AFL title Friday night in ArenaBowl XXIII in Spokane against the Spokane Shock. Sounds like a natural rival to me!
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5 comments:
I hope they wear black and gold. We even have a Cleveland Arena team to kick around
They should schedule their games during baseball season
I remember going to a few Gladiators games back in the day. It wasn't great football but it was cheap fun. I can see them doing very well the first season or two as long as the tickets are priced reasonably because with Pens tix being scarce and expensive people will go just to say they've been in Consol.
Now if we can just lure a Lingerie Football team to Pittsburgh...
I can't wait to watch them play, I haven't been in their new stadium. I'll definitely bring my wife with me.
the afl store
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