MINNEAPOLIS — The Arena Football League is making a return and Minnesota will be part of the 16-team reboot.
The league announced its return Tuesday in a social media highlight video, unveiling a 2024 return date as well as the 16 locations for the teams. One of those teams will play in Minnesota, although the league has not released the exact location yet.
The new Arena Football League's local ties run even deeper, though. The league's commissioner, Lee Hutton, is a Twin Cities attorney, former Gopher football player, and frequent legal analyst for KARE 11.
"This has been a long, long developed process since 2021. I'm so excited to be in this situation as commissioner of the Arena Football League," Hutton said in an interview with KARE 11. "We're destined to give fans high-octane action that just happens to be indoors. Minnesotans should be used to that!"
Hutton is also making history, as the first Black commissioner of a professional sports league in the U.S.
"It's a remarkable responsibility. It's a remarkable path on where we went," Hutton said, "and now what we become."
Hutton said he's excited to share that the Minnesota team will be female-owned, although details about the team's name, home venue and uniforms won't be unveiled until the end of the summer. According to Hutton, the franchise is considering three locations in the Twin Cities, including St. Paul.
It's not the first time Minnesota has fielded a team in the Arena Football League. During the first generation of the league, the Minnesota Fighting Pike played at Target Center for one season in 1996.
"I think that the Arena Football League -- not just in Minnesota but all over the country -- is going to bring back that good, old, family atmosphere," Hutton said.
The Arena Football League first began in the late 1980s featuring an altered rulebook that promoted faster play and higher scoring. The fields are smaller, field goals are slimmer and there are barriers instead of out-of-bounds.
“We are elated to come out of hibernation and make this announcement official,” said league resident Anthony Rossi in a release. “Our objective when we acquired the AFL was to bring back a storied brand that deserved to be revived and showcased again, globally. We envisioned executing on the old saying ‘Bigger and Better,’ but this time, we want to incorporate the components of a modern-day business – streaming, betting, technology, virtual reality, and immerse fan engagement mixed with good old-fashioned iron-man football. The re-launch of the AFL first started with assembling a respected executive and advisory team. Each partner, member and business executive of today's AFL was meticulously hand-selected piece by piece. We believe we have assembled a world-class, operational team made up of C-Suite executives, expert sports trainers, football personnel, performance facilities, legal partners, professional team owners and former athletes.”
Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner played three seasons in the league with Iowa Barnstormers before returning to the NFL in 1999 with the St. Louis Rams. During Warner's season with the Rams, which ended with a Lombardi Trophy, arena football grew in popularity. In fact, the league signed a television contract worth more than $25 million weeks after Warner helped lead the Rams to a win in one of the most exciting Super Bowls in NFL history.
Warner's comeback story helped keep the league afloat for eight more years, but it eventually went bankrupt in 2008. The AFL returned in 2010 but again declared bankruptcy in 2019.
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