The Arena Football League has filed for bankruptcy.
The indoor league was reduced to six teams before it suspended operations in October. Now, it’s declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
“We simply weren’t able to raise the capital necessary to grow the league, resolve the substantial legacy liabilities and make it financially viable,” AFL Commissioner Randall Boe said in a statement on Wednesday. “We’re all disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to move forward, and we wanted to thank our fans, our players, coaches, everyone who loved Arena League Football.”
The AFL dates back to 1987 and saw its heyday from 1996-2008 under then-Commissioner David Baker, now president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Several NFL team owners also owned Arena League franchises back then.
In 2019, the league had six franchises: Albany, New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Baltimore; Columbus, Ohio; Philadelphia; and Washington.
An October report by the Albany Times Union said the AFL was searching for different options to keep the league going, including a plan to have the league’s six teams train in a centralized location and fly to a different city each weekend for games.
The league stated it would be issuing refunds for tickets and other items, a process that should be completed in a few weeks.
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