The Wichita Force are a professional indoor football team based in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, with home games in Wichita Ice Center. The team was founded in 2014 as an expansion franchise in the

Champions Indoor Football Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team fr ...

league for the 2015 season. The Force's membership in the CIF was revoked prior to the 2022 season and the team joined the new

Arena Football Association The Arena Football Association (AFA) is 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 ...

History

For the inaugural 2015 season, the Force hired former

Wichita Wild The Wichita Wild were a professional indoor football team based in Wichita, Kansas. They were members of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL). The team was founded in 2006 as an independent indoor football franchise. In 2008, ...

head coach Paco Martinez. The Force opened the season with a home loss to the

Salina Bombers The Salina Bombers were a professional indoor football team based in Salina, Kansas. The team was founded by Chris Vercher, Jake Leighty and Jake Sharp in 2012 as charter member of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL). The Bo ...

, then regrouped to win four consecutive games in a five-week span. After that stretch, results have been mixed with road losses to the two teams that would end up playing in the Champions Bowl— Texas Revolution and

Sioux City Bandits The Sioux City Bandits are a professional indoor football team based in Sioux City, Iowa, and compete as a member of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). The team was founded in 1999 as the Sioux City Attack. In 2001, the team assumed their current ...

—then, a home win over the

, and a road win over the

Dodge City Law The Dodge City Law were a professional indoor football team based in Dodge City, Kansas, with home games at the United Wireless Arena. The team joined the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) in 2013 as an expansion member for th ...

. In 2017, the Force underwent an ownership change and head coach Martinez was fired after three seasons with the team. He was replaced by Morris Lolar as the head coach and Stuart Schake was named general manager for the 2018 season. Brian Turner was named general manager for the 2019 season, but head coach Lolar left for a position with

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

of the Canadian Football League and Rick Lee and Jerry Taylor were named co-coaches in March 2019. For the 2020 season, the Force hired Pat Pimmel as head coach. The team also moved from the larger

Intrust Bank Arena Intrust Bank Arena is a 15,004-seat multi-purpose arena in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located on the northeast corner of Emporia and Waterman streets in downtown Wichita. The arena is the second largest indoor arena in the state of K ...

, where the team had played for the first five season, to the smaller

Hartman Arena Hartman Arena is a privately managed 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Park City, Kansas, United States. It is located northwest of I-135 and 77th Street North in the north Wichita metro area. History Ground was broken on March 25, 2008, and th ...

, where the

used to play. However, the 2020 season never began and was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

closing arenas. The following 2021 season, the season was shortened and delayed as the pandemic restrictions continued. Pat Pimmel left the team and was replaced by Ene Akpan. On April 1, 2021, the Force announced they would play the season out of the

Kansas Star Arena The Kansas Star Casino is a casino and hotel in western Mulvane, Kansas, United States, owned and managed by Boyd Gaming. It is located on the west side of the I-35 (Kansas Turnpike). The resort includes the Kansas Star Arena, a multipurpose en ...

in Mulvane. The facility was criticized by some players and was notable for using inflatable walls (this would carry over to the AFA). In January 2022, the Force were removed from the CIF for not meeting the league's minimum operating requirements. On February 7, 2022, the Force announced they had joined the new

, a league established by former CIF teams, the Amarillo Venom and West Texas Warbirds. The Force also announced they would play 2022 games at the Wichita Ice Center instead of the Kansas Star Center.

Season-by-season results

References

External links

* {{Kansas Sports 2014 establishments in Kansas