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Arena Football is coming back to Austin in 2024
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Professional football is coming to Austin in 2024.
The Arena Football League, which went bankrupt for a second time in 2019, is making a return under new ownership and Austin was named one of the 16 locales to have teams on Tuesday.
F1 Sports and Entertainment bought the rights to AFL in 2022 and made the announcement on Feb. 1, 2023 that it would start playing games in April 2024. The embattled league with a unique spin on traditional football was founded in 1986 and had a roller coaster ride with bankruptcy and a canceled season in 2009, only to return in 2010 before running out of money again nine years later.
Austin had an AFL franchise from 2004-2008 under the nickname the Wranglers, but it's unclear if that will be the name of the new team. On the AFL's website, team and mascot names are slated to be some of the last details released.
The Wranglers played their games at the Frank Erwin Center but with demolition set for late 2024 to make way for a Dell Medical School expansion, the new team is unlikely to call it home again.
A spokesperson from the Moody Center said officials, "have had no conversations with the Arena Football League and there are currently no plans to host a team at the arena." KXAN has reached out to officials at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park to see if they'll host the team and this story will be updated when we hear back. KXAN has also asked the AFL front office for more details about the team.
There will be another Texas team along with Austin in the new AFL. The West Texas Warbirds, based in Odessa, said on their Facebook page that they'll be joining the league. The Warbirds currently play in the National Arena League. The Orlando Predators, once an AFL franchise and also playing in the NAL, said it will rejoin the AFL.
Bakersfield, California, Cincinnati, Ohio, Denver, Colorado, Everett, Washington, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Nashville, Tennessee and Salem, Oregon along with Odessa are cities that will have a franchise named after the state they're in. Boise, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Tallahassee were also awarded teams in the league.