Arizona Bandits
| Arizona Bandits | |
|---|---|
| Established 2023 Play in Phoenix, Arizona AZBanditsAFL.com | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Burnt Orange, Black & Silver |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Matthew Mason, David Glynn and Tim Carbajal |
| General manager | Darren Arbet |
| Head coach | Darren Arbet |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (0) | |
| Conference championships (0) | |
| Division championships (0) | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
The Arizona Bandits are a future professional indoor football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They were announced as one of the inaugural teams for the revived Arena Football League (AFL), but after that league's collapse, they are likely to join the new Arena Football One that will begin play in 2025.[1]
History
[edit]The Bandits were slated to be the second official Arizona-based team to play in the AFL and the first since the Arizona Rattlers (now of the Indoor Football League) who played in the original AFL from 1992 to 2008 and again from 2010 to 2016.
Birth of the Bandits and future
[edit]Four years after the AFL folded for the second time, it was announced on February 1, 2023, that the league intended on relaunching in 2024.[2] On July 18, the 16 intended market cities were announced, but Arizona wasn't among said markets.[3]
On September 6, 2023, the Bandits launched their Facebook and Instagram pages with new logos and news about the ownership group, which is led by local businessmen Matthew Mason and David Glynn, along with Bakersfield, California-based semi-professional team owner Tim Carbajal. Carbajal had originally been in line to own the California Grizzlies (California was one the markets announced by the league), but was unable to secure a lease with Bakersfield's Mechanics Bank Arena.[4] Their head coach and general manager is former San Jose SaberCats and Bay Area Panthers head coach Darren Arbet, who won four ArenaBowl championships with the SaberCats before that franchise abruptly folded in 2015.[5][6] On November 16, 2023, the Bandits were among the team that attended a special AFL Launch Party in New York City. However, as of press time, the Bandits are on hiatus until 2025 and have yet to announce where they will play.
In an interview with KTVK 3TV and KPHO CBS 5, co-owner Matthew Mason announced that the Bandits will be playing in a new state-of-the-art arena in either Phoenix or Scottsdale that could also host a potential revival of the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League.[7] In May 2024, the Arizona State Land Department blocked the sale of the land upon which the arena would have been built,[8] effectively ending efforts to build the new arena and the Coyotes themselves.[9]
On May 14, 2024, the league fired commissioner Lee Hutton and contracted to 10 teams, leaving the Bandits' future existence in doubt.[10] However, with the positive changes in the league led by interim commissioner Jeff Fisher, the Bandits continue to plan to join the league for 2025 and beyond.
A New Beginning (2025-future)
[edit]On September 4, 2024, concurrent with the other eight surviving AFL teams, the Bandits posted a teaser video, but the Bandits' teaser did not match that of the other teams (whereas the other teams' message read "A new era begins today",[11] the Bandits' instead read "Something big is coming.")[12] The Bandits were not included among the eight teams that are expected to be included in Arena Football One, a successor league being formed by the surviving AFL members by leaving the current AFL and forming a new league.[13] AF1 did indicate that there would be expansion teams joining before 2025, possibly including the Bandits.[14] In late September, the owner of another AF1 team, the Albany Firebirds, Mike Kwarta confirmed that the twelfth AF1 team would be Arizona and would be announced the last week of that month.[1] The league issued a statement that week that did not announce any expansion teams, but warned against any prospective teams making premature announcements before the league thoroughly vetted and approved any expansion bids (this was not targeted specifically at the Bandits; another prospective franchise, the Las Vegas Kings, had repeatedly made false claims about being invited to join the league).[15] The Bandits were among the organizations who were identified at the league's "Arena Football University" clinic that week along with other prospective bidders, an invitation the league stated "should not be taken as a guarantee of admission to AF1."[16] In late October, AF1 indicated a final decision on the Bandits' and other teams' bids for expansion would come in early November after the application deadline was extended to October 31.[17]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Kelly, Mike (September 23, 2024). "Arena Football One, Firebirds' new league, continues to take shape". Times Union. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
Firebirds co-owner Mike Kwarta referenced a yet-to-be-announced Arizona team during his franchise's "Flock U" show, which aired Saturday on Facebook Live.
- ^ Thompson, Jaylon (February 1, 2023). "Arena Football League announces it's returning for 2024 season with 16 teams". USA Today. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ David Griswold, Danny Spewak (July 18, 2023). "Arena Football League announces Minnesota will have one of 16 teams in 2024 return". KARE. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
- ^ McKenna, Dave (August 1, 2023). "Arena Football League Relaunch Comes As Surprise To Cities That Will Allegedly Have Teams". Defector. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
- ^ Bandits staff (September 6, 2023). "Arizona Bandits". Facebook. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
- ^ Arizona Bandits Instagram reel, November 17, 2023
- ^ Extra Point Podcast: Does the Valley have room for 2 indoor football teams, AZ Family/Arizona News YouTube, April 22, 2024
- ^ Wyshynski, Greg (2024-06-25). "Coyotes slam cancellation of June 27 Arizona land auction". NHL. ESPN. Retrieved 2024-06-25.
- ^ "Arizona Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo giving up pursuit of NHL arena, report says". Coyotes. Arizona Republic. Gannett. 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-25 – via USA Today.
- ^ FISHER IN AS AFL COMMISSIONER. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
- ^ Kelly, Michael (September 4, 2024). "Albany Firebirds leaving Arena Football League". Times Union. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
- ^ Social media post from the Arizona Bandits, via X, retrieved September 5, 2024
- ^ Carter, Anthony (2024-09-04). "All remaining teams separate from Arena Football League to form 'Arena Football One'". Arena Insider. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
- ^ AF1 Press Release, AFL X page, September 6, 2024
- ^ offthewallfbpod (2024-10-22). "So how about this Las Vegas Kings situation, huh?". OffTheWallFB. Retrieved 2024-10-22.
- ^ Arena Football One Statement on Expansion. Press release. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
- ^ "Arena Football One Expansion and Scheduling Update". Arena Football One. 2024-10-18. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
External links
[edit]- Official Website (coming soon)
