OUR HISTORY

Arena football began with a single moment of inspiration. In 1981, Jim Foster — an NFL promotions manager who had also worked in the USFL — was watching an indoor soccer match at Madison Square Garden when he imagined a fast, high-scoring brand of football played indoors on a compact field. He sketched the concept, including the field dimensions and rules, on a 9×12 manila envelope.

Foster spent the next several years refining the game. On April 27, 1986, the first test game was played at the Rockford MetroCentre in Illinois, followed by a nationally showcased exhibition in Chicago that drew ESPN's attention. The new sport was ready for its debut.

The Arena Football League launched its inaugural season in 1987 with four teams: the Pittsburgh Gladiators, Denver Dynamite, Washington Commandos, and Chicago Bruisers. The first official game was played on June 19, 1987, drawing 12,117 fans, and the Denver Dynamite captured ArenaBowl I.

Foster protected his invention, filing a patent on the arena football system of play that was granted in 1990. From the very beginning, the league was built around an exciting, made-for-television product — and around the players who made it possible.

Through the 1990s and 2000s the league steadily grew, expanding to as many as 19 teams by 2007 and launching the af2 developmental league in 2000. The Detroit Drive became the league's first dynasty, reaching every ArenaBowl from 1988 to 1993.

This era produced the franchises that would define championship football: the Tampa Bay Storm and Arizona Rattlers each won five ArenaBowls, while the San Jose SaberCats and Orlando Predators built championship traditions of their own. As the stakes and the salaries grew, so did the need for players to have a unified voice — and the AFLPU was there to provide it.

The league hit turbulent waters in 2008. A planned major investment fell through, and to protect the league's future, ownership voted to suspend the entire 2009 season — making the AFL only the second major U.S. professional sports league to cancel a full season. The league subsequently entered bankruptcy.

Arena football refused to die. In late 2009 a new ownership group, operating as Arena Football 1, purchased the league's assets for $6.1 million and relaunched the AFL in 2010. The reborn league even attracted celebrity owners, including KISS members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley with the LA KISS.

As the league rebuilt, the AFLPU fought to make sure players shared in its future. On opening night in 2012, the union went on strike for better wages — leading to a new collective bargaining agreement that June.

In 2014, following a unanimous vote of its Board of Player Representatives, the AFLPU affiliated with the AFL-CIO, joining the largest federation of unions in the United States. The union's bargaining power culminated in the 2018 CBA, which nearly doubled player compensation and expanded health insurance benefits at a critical moment for the league.

After contracting to a handful of teams, the original Arena Football League played its final season in 2019. The Albany Empire defeated the Philadelphia Soul 45–27 to win ArenaBowl XXXII on August 11, 2019 — the 32nd and last championship of the league's original run. On November 27, 2019, the league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

A 2024 revival under new ownership lasted a single season before its teams departed to form a successor league. Through it all, the AFLPU has remained active in Atlanta, Georgia — continuing to fight for former players' medical rights, financial security, and the recognition every athlete who took the arena floor has earned.