Arena Football to Salem?
TMZ reports that Salem will host one of 16 teams in the league’s return next April
The details are extremely sketchy, but it appears that Salem will be the site of a team for the revived Arena Football League next April.
The sports section of the website TMZ shared today that Salem will have one of the 16 franchises for the league, which had to shut down due to financial struggles five years ago.
The league announced in February that it would be returning in 2024, but did not specify franchise locations. Officials say the league will have a ten game season in its return.
AFL officials released a Twitter video this morning that provided a list of 16 teams but did not specify some locations like Salem. The specifics were reported later in the morning by TMZ.
In addition to Salem, other West Coast teams reportedly includes Everett, Washington, Boise, Idaho, and Bakersfield, California, according to the TMZ posting.
Local government officials contacted by the Salem Statesman Journal newspaper say they have heard nothing about bringing a franchise to Salem. Many details remain up in the air, such as a team nickname, and the location to play the arena contests.
The AFL was originally established in 1987. A decline in revenue for the league resulted in its shutdown in 2009, but it returned in 2010 and stayed in operation until declaring bankruptcy in 2019.
Arena football received plenty of media attention in the 1990s, when one of its alums, NFL Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner—rose to prominence with the-then St. Louis Cardinals, guiding them to a Super Bowl victory in 2000 and another appearance in the 2002 Super Bowl.
Of local note, former South Salem football star Joe Douglass played eight years for five Arena different teams from 2000 to 2007. The University of Montana Hall of Famer recorded nearly 5500 yards and 105 touchdowns in his time as an arena pro—with a career best of 1287 yards and 26 touchdowns with the Chicago Rush in 2001, where he was the team’s top receiver that season.
Douglas was also an Arena League champion, scoring a touchdown for Orlando in the Predator’s win in Arena Bowl XIV in 2000. Douglass also has the distinction of playing in the original XFL for Birmingham (2001), and he was teammates for a season with Kurt Warner for the NFL-Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals in the late 1990s.
More details as they become available.
Photos courtesy of CFB-Twitter, Beckett.