The Texas Revolution were an American professional indoor football team and a founding member 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). The Revolution were based in

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univ ...

and

Frisco, Texas Frisco is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Collin County, Texas, Collin and Denton County, Texas, Denton counties. It is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex (DFW) and about from both Dallas Love Field and Dallas/Fort Worth In ...

, within the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States, ...

. Founded in 2000 as the Arkansas Twisters, the

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

-based team played 10 seasons in

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...

before that league folded. The team jumped to the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

as the Arkansas Diamonds for the 2010 season. Remaining in the IFL, the team moved to Texas to become the Allen Wranglers for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. In 2012, former NFL standout and future hall of famer

Terrell Owens Terrell Eldorado Owens (; born December 7, 1973), also known by his initials "T.O.", is an American former professional football wide receiver who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Regarded as one of the greatest wide rec ...

played eight games for the Wranglers before being cut in late May. In 2012, the Wranglers franchise was transferred to a new ownership group and the team was renamed the Texas Revolution for the 2013 season. After five seasons in the IFL, the team moved to the

league for that circuit's inaugural season.

History

Arkansas Twisters

The franchise began play as the Arkansas Twisters in 2000 as the only professional football team in the state of

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. The team played 10 seasons as a charter member of

, the "developmental" league of the original

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 ...

. The Twisters played their home games at Verizon Arena in

North Little Rock, Arkansas North Little Rock (often abbreviated "NLR") is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States. Located on the north side of the Arkansas River, it is the Twin cities, twin city of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock. In the late nineteenth ce ...

. The team enjoyed success on the field, twice reaching the league's championship game. After the AFL took a season off and was forced into

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in 2009, the af2 was dissolved and the Twisters were announced as a planned charter member of Arena Football 1.

Arkansas Diamonds

Concerns for stability with Arena Football 1 lead to a November 2009 shift by Arkansas to the

. However, the rights to the Twisters name and logo belonged to Arena Football 1 so the Arkansas franchise held a "name the team" contest in late January and became the Arkansas Diamonds of the IFL's Intense Conference for the 2010 season. The new team colors for 2010 were Carolina blue, black, and gray. Arena football veteran Danton Barto took over as head coach, leading the team to an 11–3 regular season record and first place in the 2010 Lonestar East Division. The team's playoff run ended with a loss to the

Billings Outlaws The Billings Outlaws were a professional indoor football team based in Billings, Montana. They were a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL), of which they were the 2-time defending champions. They played their home games at Rimrock Auto A ...

in the Intense Conference Finals. With the team struggling financially, co-owners Jim Smith and Jeff Everetts announced in September 2009 that the franchise was relocating to

Allen, Texas Allen is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County in the U.S. state of Texas, and a northern suburb in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The population was 104,627 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and was estimated to be 111 ...

, a prosperous suburb of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Allen Wranglers

After a name-the-team contest, the team announced on September 29, 2010, it would be called the Allen Wranglers, starting with the 2011 Indoor Football League season. The relocated Intense Conference team would play their home games at the

Allen Event Center The Credit Union of Texas Event Center (formerly Allen Event Center) is an American 6,275 fixed-seat multi-purpose indoor arena located in Allen, Texas, a northern suburb of Dallas. The arena opened in 2009 under the name Allen Event Center. Co ...

. The team shared the name with a previous indoor football team in Allen, the Texas Wranglers, who played the 2009 and 2010 seasons in the

Independent Indoor Football Alliance The Independent Indoor Football Alliance (IIFA) was a professional indoor football league based in the state of Texas. The league played an abbreviated 2009 season punctuated by a number of forfeits. The league grew and had tighter restrictions ...

. In October 2010, the team announced that Chris MacKeown would be the Wranglers' head coach for the 2011 season. Former

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

player Drew Pearson was named

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the franchise in early December 2010. The team finished with a 10–4 regular season record and first place in the Lonestar Division. They advanced through two rounds of the IFL playoffs before losing the Intense Conference Championship to the

Tri-Cities Fever The Tri-Cities Fever was a professional indoor American football, indoor football franchise based in Kennewick, Washington. The Fever joined National Indoor Football League (NIFL) in 2005 as an expansion team. The Fever were owned by Teri Carr. ...

Kennewick, Washington Kennewick () is a city in Benton County, Washington, Benton County in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is located along the southwest bank of the Columbia River, just southeast of the confluence of the Columbia and Yakima ...

. The Wranglers started the 2012 season strong under new head coach Pat Pimmell but after consecutive losses dropped their record to 5–3 in April, Pimmel was let go and the team's offensive and defensive coordinators shared the title "co-interim head coach" through the end of the season. The team finished with a 9–5 regular season record and reached the IFL playoffs but lost in the Intense Conference semi-finals to the Wichita Wild. National attention was focused on the Wranglers in 2012 when

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

veteran

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

joined the team. Recovering from surgery and receiving no offers from NFL teams, Owens accepted a generous contract and partial ownership in the franchise to play in Allen. He swelled attendance at Wranglers home games. His debut drew a crowd of 5,711 people, larger than the Wranglers' home attendance for the entire 2011 season, but his contract allowed him to skip many away dates. Owens was released by the Wranglers on May 29, 2012, with three games left in the season, for his "lack of effort both on and off the field", failure to show up for a scheduled appearance at a children's hospital, and refusal to play in two upcoming road games, Along with his release, Owens also relinquished his ownership stake in the team.

Texas Revolution

In June 2012, Wranglers owner Jon Frankel ceased operations of the team. The IFL then transferred franchise ownership to a new ownership group called Championship Sports Group led by CEO Tommy Benizio, the former IFL commissioner, with co-owners in Tim Brown and

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

. On September 19, 2012, the team unveiled its new name and colors as the Texas Revolution. After three seasons in the Intense Conference, the team was realigned to the United Conference for the 2013 season. In November 2012, the team named Billy Back as head coach for the 2013 season. After a disappointing 5–9 campaign, the Revolution released head coach Billy Back and hired Chris Williams from the New Mexico Stars. The league released its 2014 schedule in late October 2013 with the Revolution staying in the United Conference but the Chicago franchise replaced by the Bemidji Axemen in the 9-team IFL. The team re-signed several key players for 2014 and, in mid-January, announced the signing of running back Jennifer Welter as the first female professional football player for a position other than kicker. In late August 2014, the team hired former

cornerback Wendell Davis as head coach and director of football operations. Days later, the team announced it was leaving the

for the new

. The team's 2015 schedule began with a pre-season home game on February 27 and two regular season road games before the home opener on March 20. On March 30, after just four regular season games, the team released Wendell Davis and promoted defensive coordinator Devin Wyman to head coach. The team made its best playoff run since moving to Allen, advancing to Champions Bowl I but falling to the

Sioux City Bandits The Sioux City Bandits are a professional indoor football team based in Sioux City, Iowa, and compete as a member of National Arena League (NAL). The team was founded in 1999 as the Sioux City Attack. In 2001, the team assumed their current nam ...

, 76–61. Later that year, a team and potential regional rival called the Mesquite Marshals were launched in nearby

Mesquite Mesquite is a common name for some plants in the genera ''Neltuma'' and '' Strombocarpa'', which contain over 50 species of spiny, deep-rooted leguminous shrubs and small trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. Until 2022, these ge ...

for the 2016 season. In 2017, the Revolution won Champions Bowl III. The team then relocated to

, and the Dr Pepper Arena for the 2018 season. On April 9, 2018, Victor Mann returned as head coach. The team finished the 2018 season 5–7 but advanced as far as the conference championship, where they lost to the eventual league champion Duke City Gladiators 41–28. For the 2019 season, the Revolution again moved to a new arena in the Ford Center at The Star, the

' practice facility, on a three-year lease. Sometime just prior to the start of the season, a new ownership group called Owner's Box Inc obtained the majority ownership of the team, keeping Benizio as the CEO. However, after three home games into the 2019 season, the Revolution cancelled their home game scheduled for May 4. The remainder of the team's home games were then cancelled as well and the Ford Center stated that the team's games would no longer be played there. On May 9, the team announced it had ceased operations after the new ownership failed to back its financial obligations.

Season-by-season results

Players

All-IFL players

The following Revolution players have been named to All-IFL Teams: * RB Darius Fudge (1) * WR Clinton Solomon (1) * DL Demario Dixon (1) * LB James Lancaster (1) * LB/DB Javicz Jones (1) * DB Joey Longoria (1), Frankie Solomon Jr. (3)

Notable players

* WR

* RB Jennifer Welter

References

External links

Texas Revolution official website
{{Af2 Defunct 2013 establishments in Texas 2019 disestablishments in Texas American football teams established in 2013 American football teams disestablished in 2019