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Arena football has been pronounced dead many times since the original Arena Football League kicked off in 1987, but the sport has never really gone away. Instead, it has splintered into a layered ecosystem of professional, mid-tier and developmental leagues that continue to fight for relevancy, revenue and respect.
Today, the United States hosts a patchwork of competing circuits — most notably the Indoor Football League, Arena Football One, the National Arena League and The Arena League — all operating with different budgets, rules, expectations and long-term visions. What unifies them is the same obstacle that has trailed the game for decades: the difficulty of making a 50-yard version of football financially sustainable.
The business case has rarely been kind. Arena teams do not receive national television revenue. Most arena leases require up-front payments. Travel remains a significant burden, especially for organizations without nearby opponents, and sponsorship dollars in mid-sized markets are thinly spread among hockey, minor league baseball and other community staples. For arena teams, every home date must be sold, every small-business sponsor matters and every travel weekend is a balancing act.
Teams at the top of the market have weathered these realities better than most. The Indoor Football League, launched in 2008, has slowly built a reputation for sturdiness by insisting on higher-caliber ownership groups, maintaining strict business rules and keeping a largely consistent footprint. The IFL has shown that arena football can function at a professional level — but only with realistic financial planning and well-capitalized owners willing to absorb early losses before a fan base matures.
Even in the IFL, the calculus remains tight. Travel costs routinely exceed projections, particularly for teams in remote markets. Some clubs have withdrawn or relocated when yearly budgets could not support multi-state road swings. League officials acknowledge those challenges but say the IFL’s long-term viability comes from stable ownership, player safety standards and a deliberate expansion strategy.
The next major entrant, Arena Football One, is attempting to revive the recognizable elements of the old AFL — including the 50-yard field, off-the-wall rebounds and a faster-paced pace game. AF1 debuted in 2025 with eight teams and a public promise: that it had learned the lessons that toppled previous arena leagues.
Officials inside AF1 repeatedly point to structural and financial reforms that they say separate the league from earlier attempts, especially the final years of the original AFL and several short-lived successor leagues.
First, AF1 teams are required to meet higher capitalization thresholds long before they take the field. The league reviews ownership funding months in advance, reducing the risk of midseason withdrawals — a problem that crippled past arena leagues when teams ran out of money during long road stretches.
Second, AF1 has adopted a more conservative national footprint. The league has avoided cross-country scheduling in its early years, grouping teams regionally and minimizing air travel. Officials say more than half of a typical arena team’s expenses are tied to transportation, hotels and logistics, and that reducing those costs is central to the league’s survival.
Third, AF1 executives say they have worked aggressively to rebuild the brand’s reputation with arenas. The collapse of the original AFL left behind a trail of unpaid bills and strained partnerships. AF1’s new model prioritizes favorable lease terms, multi-year commitments and revenue-sharing agreements that reduce the financial load on individual teams.
Finally, league leaders say AF1 is not chasing the national media ambitions that helped sink its predecessors. Instead, the league is focusing on local markets, community engagement and digital broadcast strategies that match the sport’s scale. Owners have been told that the league must be built “city by city,” not with promises of fast national exposure.
Whether those adjustments will be enough is unclear. Industry analysts note that arena football has always struggled to escape the perception of instability, and that fans in many markets have already lived through the disappearance of teams they once supported.
Below the top tier, the landscape grows more volatile. The National Arena League, formed in 2017, continues to operate in mid-sized markets, though membership turnover remains a constant challenge. The NAL has survived in part by locating teams within drivable distances of one another, reducing travel costs and fostering regional rivalries.
The Arena League, which began in 2024, has followed a similar model, focusing on small and mid-sized markets where community events drive attendance. Teams often rely on volunteers, lean front offices and partnerships with local venues. Financial margins are tight, and the league acknowledges that teams succeed only when they secure strong local sponsors.
Meanwhile, the American Arena League and several regional developmental circuits run seasons with consistently changing membership. Some teams operate on semi-professional budgets, paying stipends rather than salaries and traveling primarily by bus. These leagues provide opportunities for players to get film and exposure, but financial fragility is built into the model. Dozens of franchises have come and gone over the past decade.
Despite the headwinds, arena football retains a dedicated following — a niche audience that values the intimate environment, rapid gameplay and community accessibility that outdoor leagues cannot replicate. Some markets, such as Sioux Falls, Green Bay and Jacksonville, have supported teams for more than a decade. In those cities, arena football has become part of the local sports identity.
For every stable outpost, however, there is a cautionary tale of teams that folded after one or two seasons under the weight of travel costs, venue expenses or sponsor fatigue. Coaches and executives say the sport’s sustainability depends not on rule changes or marketing slogans, but on economic discipline and honest expectations.
Arena football’s future remains tied to a simple equation: can teams find enough local fans and sponsors to offset rising operational costs in a landscape where few leagues have ever found long-term stability?
AF1, the IFL and the mid-tier leagues all say the answer is yes — if they avoid the mistakes that doomed so many of their predecessors. The next several seasons will offer a clearer test of whether indoor football’s new era can finally outlast its history.
Howie, 71, is a veteran Duluth print journalist and publisher of HowieHanson.com, which he has operated for 21 years. He is the region’s first and only full-time online daily columnist, covering local news, politics, business, healthcare, education and sports with an independent, community-centered voice. Hanson has spent more than five decades reporting on issues that shape the Northland.
