The Brooklyn Bolts were a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and sk ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. They were a charter member of the

Fall Experimental Football League The Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL) was a professional football minor league that played two seasons in 2014 and 2015. This league's stated goal was to become a professional feeder-system for the National Football League (NFL). The lea ...

(FXFL), which was trying to become the developmental league for the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

. They played their home games at MCU Park.

History

In August 2014, it was announced that Brooklyn was awarded a franchise for the upcoming 2014 season of the

(FXFL). All of the teams in the league are owned by the FXFL, but local Minor League Baseball franchises are responsible for the operations of each team. The Bolts worked in conjunction with the

Brooklyn Cyclones The Brooklyn Cyclones are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the New York Mets. They are based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and play at Maimonides Park, just off the Coney Islan ...

who play at MCU Park on Coney Island. By playing its games in Brooklyn, the Bolts became the first outdoor professional football team to play in New York City proper since 1983, when the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

left

Shea Stadium Shea Stadium (), formally known as William A. Shea Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, Queens, New York City.

. (Two short-lived

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

teams, the

Knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

in 1988 and the CityHawks in 1997 and 1998, also played in the city; otherwise, all professional teams claiming to represent the city have played in either New Jersey or Long Island.) On July 10, 2015, the league confirmed the Bolts would return for the 2015 season. Former NFL quarterback

Josh Freeman Joshua Tyler Freeman (born January 13, 1988) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Kansas State University, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Freeman became t ...

played for the Bolts for the 2015 season and then signed with the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

and started the Colts' final regular season game of 2015. In early August 2016, ''Brooklyn Baseball Banter'', a site that covers the Brooklyn Cyclones, reported that the Cyclones' front office was about to pull the plug on the Bolts and the FXFL at MCU Park, as the league had not contacted the Cyclones regarding a third season (the Cyclones were prepared to bring back the Bolts if the league was prepared to play). A few weeks later the site reported that Cyclones' management had stated that the league had canceled the 2016 season and that the Bolts had folded and put remaining fan merchandise on discount clearance. In the spring of 2017, former FXFL commissioner Brain Woods re-emerged as CEO of a new circuit called

The Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

; its business model was different from the FXFL's, as the teams no longer have set home cities or distinctive identities. In December 2016, Woods was reported to be considering bringing the Bolts or Blacktips back to play in an indoor league and is eyeing the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

, Champions Indoor Football and

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams am ...

Coaches

For the 2014 season, veteran NFL player

John Bock John Bock (born 1965 in Schenefeld, Germany) is a German artist. He studied in Hamburg, Germany and lives and works in Berlin. Work Bock is a multi-media artist primarily known for his performances. Since 1991, he creates environments hand cr ...

was named as head coach of Bolts. Joining Bock on the Brooklyn Bolts staff were former NFL players Marvin Jones,

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the hono ...

, Nate Poole, Deon Dyer, Kelvin Kinney and defensive coordinator Joey Smith. Former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator Rod Rust served as a consultant to the Bolts. Also serving as coaching consultants were Don Strock, Danny Hope and Fred O’ Connor. Offensive coordinator Wayne Anderson Jr. is the former assistant head coach of the

SoCal Coyotes Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

, a developmental team located near

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...

. For the 2015 season,

Terry Shea Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Am ...

, who had spent the previous season as head coach of the Boston Brawlers, was installed as head coach.

Final roster

References

External links

Official FXFL website

Official Twitter page

Official Brooklyn Bolts website
{{NewYorksports 2014 establishments in New York City 2014 establishments in New York (state) 2016 disestablishments in New York (state)