The Florida Blacktips 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 ski ...

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, operating as a

traveling team Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

. 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 ...

, 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 ...

. They were to play their home games at

FIU Stadium Riccardo Silva Stadium is a college football and soccer stadium on the campus of Florida International University (FIU) in Westchester, Florida. It is home stadium of the FIU Panthers football team and the Miami FC soccer team from the USL Cha ...

in Miami, also the home to the

FIU Panthers football FIU Panthers football program represents Florida International University (FIU) in the sport of American football. The Panthers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the East Div ...

and track and field teams. However, it was announced on September 22, 2014, that the Blacktips would drop 'Florida' from its name and play a truncated road schedule of only three games. The Blacktips' inaugural season began on October 15, 2014. They finished the 2014 season in last place at 0–3. On September 18, 2014, the Blacktips announced the signing of former Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd, however Boyd never played for the Blacktips, moving to the

Boston Brawlers The Boston Brawlers were a professional American football team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The team was based at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Massachusetts as the Boston Brawlers, and were a charter member of the Fall Experimental Football L ...

before the season started. The team was initially expected to permanently settle in a market it will share with an unspecified

New York–Penn League The New York–Penn League (NYPL) was a Minor League Baseball league that operated in the northeastern United States from 1939 to 2020. Classified as a Class A Short Season league, its season started in June, after major-league teams signed th ...

baseball team for the 2015 season. However, a later announcement indicated the Blacktips would return in the same traveling-team status it held in 2014, solely owned and operated by the league. The team later quietly re-added the "Florida" portion back to its name. The Blacktips were unusual among FXFL teams in that it did not rely on NFL preseason castoffs for the majority of its roster (indeed, an article in ''The New York Times'' described the Blacktips as having "no set roster"). Its players were also paid significantly less than the other FXFL franchises, receiving only $300 for each of the two games that were played as opposed to the $1000 per game payout of the other teams.Setar, Cal (November 5, 2015)
Fall Experimental Football League: The NFL's First Sustainable Farm System?
Retrieved November 6, 2015. The FXFL, and thus the Blacktips as well, suspended operations on September 2, 2016. There are now rumblings going on at press time that former FXFL commissioner Brain Woods is considering bringing the Blacktips or the

Brooklyn Bolts The Brooklyn Bolts were a professional American football team based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. They were a charter member of the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL), which was trying to become the developmental league for the Natio ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

.Former FXFL teams to head indoors?
Derek Harper and Aaron Castete, ''Arena Football Talk'', December December 16, 2016 The team's logo, colors and shark motif were recycled for

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 ...

's fall 2020 season, albeit with the team rebranded as the "Blues."

Final roster

References

External links

Official FXFL website

Official Twitter page
{{FXFL 2014 establishments in Florida 2016 disestablishments in Florida