The Charlotte Thunder were a professional

indoor American football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American football, American or Canadian football, Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standa ...

team based out of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, and played their home games at the

Bojangles' Coliseum Bojangles Coliseum, originally Charlotte Coliseum and formerly Independence Arena and Cricket Arena, is a 10,829-seat multi-purpose arena located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, which al ...

. The team was formed prior to the 2018 season as the Carolina Energy as members of 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 ...

(AAL) and was co-owned by Daniel Rudmann and head coach Ervin Bryson. They are the fourth team to play in Charlotte behind the

Charlotte Rage The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and t ...

and

Carolina Cobras The Carolina Cobras were an expansion franchise in the Arena Football League. The team was formed prior to the 2000 season, which endured a player strike. The team was originally based in Raleigh, North Carolina, but moved to Charlotte followin ...

, both formerly of 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 ...

, and the Carolina Speed of the

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) is a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

. In 2020, the team was sold to an ownership group led by former NFL players,

Ted Ginn Jr. Theodore Ginn Jr. (born April 12, 1985) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Car ...

and Thomas Davis Sr. and rebranded as the Charlotte Thunder. The team also has several other minority owners including former players Jeff Reed and Frank Garcia. The team left the AAL following the 2021 season and founded the Arena Professional Football League, recruiting several other team teams from the AAL while it was on hiatus. The Thunder scheduled games against the West Michigan Ironmen, Alabama Empire, Carolina Predators, and Maryland Warriors. On October 21, 2022, the team announced on their Facebook page that the team would not be playing in the 2023 season.

Season-by-season results

References

External links

Official website
{{North Carolina Sports American football teams in Charlotte, North Carolina American Arena League American football teams established in 2017 2017 establishments in North Carolina American football teams in North Carolina