The Memphis Xplorers were a professional

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 ...

team. They were a 2001 expansion member of the af2. They played their home games at

DeSoto Civic Center The Landers Center is an 8,400-seat multi-purpose arena in Southaven, Mississippi. It is home to the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League, a minor league basketball team affiliated with the Memphis Grizzlies. History The center was built in 2000 ...

Southaven, Mississippi Southaven is a city in DeSoto County, Mississippi, United States. It is a principal city in Greater Memphis. The 2020 census reported a population of 54,648, making Southaven the third-largest city in Mississippi and the second most populous ...

(a suburb of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mo ...

). The team's logo featured the likeness of the namesake of both the venue and the team, Spanish explorer

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...

. On October 11, 2006, the team announced that they would not return for the 2007 season. In October 2007, local teacher Patrick Smith and a partner purchased the Memphis Xplorers for $100,000. There were plans to bring the team back for the 2009 season, with the possibility of the team's name being changed to the Midsouth Mafia. These plans never came to fruition.

Season-by-season

, - ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

, , 3 , , 13 , , 0 , , 7th NC South Central , , -- , - ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, , 5 , , 11 , , 0 , , 4th NC Central , , -- , - ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

, , 6 , , 10 , , 0 , , 3rd NC Central , , -- , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, , 10 , , 6 , , 0 , , 2nd AC Mid-South , , Lost Round 1 (

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

35, Memphis 33) , - ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st NC Midwest , , Won Round 2 (Memphis 71,

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

30)
Won National Conference Championship (Memphis 58,

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. ...

49)
Won

ArenaCup The ArenaCup was the af2's championship game. For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, the 2005 ArenaCup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana. The 2006 Ar ...

VI (Memphis 63,

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

41) , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, , 11 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd AC Southern , , Won Round 1 (Memphis 83,

61)
Lost Round 2 ( Green Bay 67, Memphis 50) , - !Totals , , 52 , , 50 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

References

External links

Memphis Xplorers on ArenaFan.com
Xplorers American football teams in Tennessee DeSoto County, Mississippi Defunct af2 teams Sports in Southaven, Mississippi American football teams established in 2001 American football teams disestablished in 2006 2001 establishments in Mississippi 2006 disestablishments in Mississippi {{Mississippi-sport-team-stub