The Arena Football Association (AFA) was a professional indoor football league based in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

and

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, United States. The league began operation in June 2021 with five teams, known that season as the Lone Star Series. The league was founded by three

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

entrepreneurs and is "built upon the pillars of

diversity, equity, and inclusion In the United States, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject ...

," placing its teams in underserved markets with populations from 200,000 to two million people. As of 2023, the league's website was inactive and there have been no further developments.

History

2021 season

The league operated during 2021 as the Lone Star Series, after the West Texas Warbirds and Amarillo Venom, formerly of

Champions Indoor Football Champions Indoor Football (CIF) was 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 ...

(CIF), organized their own league. Five teams competed in the inaugural season: Amarillo Venom, Arlington Longhorns, San Antonio Valor, Texas Jets, and West Texas Warbirds. The Warbirds defeated the Venom in the championship game, 79–60, played on July 24.

2022 season

As of the league's 2022 season, there were six teams: four in Texas, and one each in

and

. The Amarillo Venom had also planned to play, before suspending operations in February 2022. After the first week, the North Texas Bulls were kicked from the league after their first home game for not meeting league standards. The league's regular season schedule ran from April through June, with playoffs in July and a championship game scheduled for July 23. North Texas Bulls joined from the

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional Indoor American football, indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Ca ...

but were expelled from the league after only one game. The league planned for the championship game to be played on board the USS ''Lexington'', an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

that is now a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

. This would not happen, as the AFA cited scheduling conflicts, and decided to hold a postseason "

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

" style matchup instead. The Wichita Force beat the Magnolia State Spartans, 52–6, at the Wichita Ice Center for the AFA Cup.

Standings

Teams

Source:

Former teams

* Amarillo Venom (

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

) — Played the 2021 pandemic-affected season in the Texas-based Lone Star Series and helped form the AFA, but went dormant before the start of the 2022 season after the owners put the team up for sale. * North Texas Bulls (

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

) — Joined from the

but were expelled from the AFA after one game. * West Texas Warbirds (

Odessa, Texas Odessa () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, Ector County with portions extending into Midland County, Texas, Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 ...

) — Left for 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 ...

after the 2022 season.

References

External links

* {{Professional gridiron football leagues in North America Professional sports leagues in the United States Indoor American football leagues in the United States 2021 establishments in Texas Sports leagues established in 2021