The Dayton Wolfpack were a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. As of the end of the 2024 season, the league consisted of five teams. A team's typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, but as of the 2022 ...

(NAL) in its inaugural 2017 season. Originally to be based in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

, the Wolfpack had announced their home venue as the

Nutter Center The Nutter Center is a multi-purpose arena located at Wright State University, in Fairborn, Ohio. It mainly serves as the home court of the Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball teams. It is also regularly used as a music venue for ...

but apparently failed to reach a lease agreement. The Wolfpack were then listed as a

traveling team In professional team sports, a traveling team (also called a road team) is a member of a professional league that never competes in a home arena or stadium. This differs from a barnstorming team as a barnstorming team competes in exhibition games ...

by the NAL. The Wolfpack would have been the sixth indoor football team to call Dayton home, following the

Dayton Skyhawks The Dayton Skyhawks were a professional indoor American football team based in Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in O ...

of the original

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(1999–2000), the Dayton Warbirds/Bulldogs of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

(2005–2006), The Marshals also of the NIFL (2007), the Dayton Silverbacks of the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor American football, indoor American football, football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as ...

(2011–2012) and finally the Dayton Sharks also of the CIFL (2013–2014).

History

On August 11, 2016, the Arena Developmental League (which then became the

) officially announced the Wolfpack as its fourth charter team, following the previously announced

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia, and are a member of the National Arena League (NAL). The Lions were founded in 2006 as an expansion team of the World Indoor Football League (WIFL). After th ...

, High Country Grizzlies and Lehigh Valley Steelhawks. The team was originally announced to be led by head coach Derrick Shepard and owners Jerome and Jesse Clark. Over social media, the owners of the Wolfpack announced they would be playing at the

and the NAL made the schedule listing the Nutter as their home venue. Due to the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team plays its home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. They were members of the Are ...

needing to fulfill their previous eight home contract with their arena from their time in 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 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

, the Wolfpack and

Corpus Christi Rage The Corpus Christi Rage was a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) that began play in its inaugural 2017 season. Based in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Rage played their home games at the Ameri ...

each were only scheduled for five home games, with four home games of the Wolfpack's falling on a Monday. However, by February 2017, several signed players reported over social media that they had all been released from their contracts due to lack of a home venue. By February 20, the NAL had removed their home games from the schedule, leaving the Wolfpack as a traveling team. Also over social media, Marcus Ray announced he would be operating the Wolfpack traveling team out of the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

area for the season. Later in the season, Erasmus Harvey announced his new team, the

Georgia Doom The Georgia Doom were a professional Indoor American football, indoor football team based out of Macon, Georgia. They played their home games at Macon Coliseum. They started as a midseason road team filling in for the folded Dayton Wolfpack in the ...

, would play the

Georgia Firebirds The Georgia Firebirds were a professional indoor football team based in Albany, Georgia, and played their home games at the Albany Civic Center. Previously, the Firebirds played as an outdoor football team in various semi-pro leagues before goin ...

as the Dayton Wolfpack for the April 29 game in Albany. The Wolfpack were not listed as members of the league after the NAL 2017 summer meetings concluded.

Season-by-season results

2017 season

Schedule

Key: ''All start times were local time''

Roster

References

External links

Dayton Wolfpack official website
{{2017 NAL season template, state=expanded American football teams in Dayton, Ohio Defunct American football teams in Ohio Defunct indoor American football teams National Arena League teams American football teams established in 2016 American football teams disestablished in 2017 2016 establishments in Ohio 2017 disestablishments in Ohio Traveling teams