Welcome the Oregon Blackbears: Arena Football confirmed for Salem
The AFL franchise is the first for Salem; will be played at the Salem Pavilion
Last July, it started as a rumor through the tabloid TMZ network. City officials were caught off guard, saying that had heard nothing about the idea of pro football in Salem.
Now in October, it is confirmed that Arena League Football is coming to Salem as part of an effort to revive the league—which folded in 2019. Tryouts are coming in less than two weeks locally.
Announced Wednesday by the League as one of 16 teams helping to make the AFL comeback, the Oregon Blackbears are being run by an ownership group led by former University of Oregon star and current New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Longtime AFL player and coach Chuck Jones will direct the team on the field. Jones—a former player at the University of Kansas and pro indoor football player for over a decade, last was a coach in the American West Football Conference for the Oregon High Desert Storm—located in the Bend-Redmond area.
As suggested in July, the arena games will be played at the Salem (Oregon) Pavilion Arena—located on the State Fairgrounds. The Pavilion is routinely used as a graduation venue for local high schools.
Tryouts for the team are slated for November fourth at the Capitol Indoor Soccer Facility off Portland Road in Salem—a time has not been announced. Coach Jones told OregonLive that he has already been impressed with the enthusiasm for the team—and has been out recruiting players—including former college players, players from other Arena League teams, and even individuals cut from an NFL team.
Arena football got a boost in the early 2000s when Kurt Warner of the then-St. Louis Rams became a star for the team, leading them to a Super Bowl title. Warner was an arena league star in Iowa.
The spring league begins its season in April. Jones says the team has scheduled its first game against the Everett Hawks on April 11th.
Other franchises already announced by the AFL include the Iowa Rampage, Wichita (KS) Regulators, Salina (TX) Liberty, Southwest Kansas Storm, Rapid City (SD) Marshals, Albany (NY) Firebirds, Orlando (FL) Predators, Billings (MT) Outlaws and the West Texas Desert Hawks.
Two previous Arena Football League franchises in Oregon were located in Portland. The Portland Forest Dragons competed in the AFL from 1997 to 1999, and the Portland Thunder—later the Portland Steel—competed at the Moda Center from 2014 until 2016.