History of the Arena Football League in New York City

In 1988, the New York Knights played for one season as part of the Arena Football League, and then ceased operations. In 1997, the AFL added two expansion franchises, the New York CityHawks, who played at Madison Square Garden, and the New Jersey Red Dogs, who played in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The CityHawks moved to Hartford, Connecticut and were renamed the New England Sea Wolves in 1999, and then relocated to Toronto in 2001, and renamed the Toronto Phantoms. The Red Dogs were renamed the New Jersey Gladiators in 2001, then relocated and became the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2003, before relocating again and being renamed the Cleveland Gladiators. When the Sea Wolves, who were owned by the Madison Square Garden Company and had their games televised in New York City on MSG Network, relocated to Toronto, the AFL's Iowa Barnstormers relocated to Long Island and were renamed the New York Dragons. The Dragons played in New York until 2008, when the league suspended operations; no team from New York (either the city or the state) played in the league from its 2010 revival until the Albany Empire, based in the state's capital, joined the AFL in 2018.

New York Knights (1988)

The Knights became an expansion team of the Arena Football League in 1988.[1] The team announced Jim Valek as the first coach in franchise history.[1] The team featured a couple of players from the 1987 New York Giants replacement team, including starting quarterback Jim Crocicchia and his primary receiver Edwin Lovelady, but its desire to fans was questioned before the team began playing games.[2] The Knights won their first game in franchise history, 60–52 over the Los Angeles Cobras.[1] During the Knights home opener, fight erumped in the stands, and items were thrown on the field.[3] After winning the season opener, the Knights lost 4 straight games before returning home to a smaller crowd, losing 22–36 to the Cobras.[4] The Knights would lose 8 straight games before they defeated the Cobras 40–30 in Los Angeles.[5] The team folded after a disappointing 2–8 season.[6][7]

New York CityHawks (1997–1998)

Their name was a reference to the peregrine falcon, several of which make their nests on ledges high up on New York's skyscrapers.

Despite the failure of the New York Knights in 1988, the AFL decided once again to make an effort to establish a team in the nation's largest media market, and granted a franchise to the New York CityHawks prior to the 1997 season. The major circumstance that differentiated this situation from that of the Knights was that the CityHawks were owned by Madison Square Garden, while the Knights had been tenants at the Garden.

The Arena Football League had intended to re-enter the New York market in 1997 by putting an expansion team in the New Jersey Meadowlands, located just across the Hudson River from New York City. Among the ownership of the new New Jersey Red Dogs were several ex-NFL players, most notably former New York Giant Joe Morris.

In response to the AFL's placing a team in New Jersey, the Madison Square Garden ownership requested a team of its own. This request was granted by the league with only months to go before the beginning of the 1997 season, while the New Jersey team had been founded several months earlier. The CityHawks thus had only half the preparation time that the Red Dogs had going into both teams' initial season of 1997.

The CityHawks played poorly, winning only two of 14 games during their first season, despite being led by Head Coach Lary Kuharich, who had coached the Tampa Bay Storm to the league championship by winning ArenaBowl VII in 1993. Meanwhile, the cross-river Red Dogs, under Head Coach John Hufnagel, had charged out of the gate, winning 8 of their first 9 games, and setting a (then) league record by scoring 91 points in one game against the Texas Terror (a record which was surpassed in 2001 when the New York Dragons scored 99 against the Carolina Cobras). To illustrate the contrasting fortunes of the two teams: during the weekend of games that included June 20–21, the Red Dogs scored 91 points against Texas; the CityHawks scored only nine points in a loss to Tampa Bay.

The Garden announced that the club would be transferred to Hartford, Connecticut for the 1999 season, would be renamed the New England Sea Wolves, and would play at the Hartford Civic Center, an arena also managed (although not owned) by Garden management.

New York Dragons (2001–2008)

The franchise played in Des Moines, Iowa from 1995 to 2000, as the Iowa Barnstormers. The team had been successful in Iowa, having reached the ArenaBowl in 1996 and 1997. From 1995 to 1997, the team's starting quarterback was Kurt Warner, who moved up to the National Football League in 1998 and became an NFL MVP and Super Bowl winning quarterback.

The need for a more modern venue as well as the league's desire for a larger market led to the move to the New York City area, despite two failed past attempts in the region: the New York Knights (1988) and the New York CityHawks (1997–1998), both of which played at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The team was purchased by Charles Wang, who was also the Islanders' majority owner.

The Arena Football organization did award an af2 franchise to Iowa for the 2001 season also called the Barnstormers, but that team folded after that season (only to be brought back in 2008). The Barnstormers were noted for their unique uniforms, which in keeping with the aviation theme included the depiction of goggles on the helmets, wings on the shoulders of the jerseys, and propellers on the pants legs. The primary figures in the original Iowa organization were Jim Foster, the inventor of Arena Football, and Kurt Warner, the quarterback who went on to play for the St. Louis Rams and win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl XXXIV MVP.

Aside from the league's desire to re-enter the New York market, another major reason cited for the team's relocation was the inadequacy of their Des Moines venue, the Iowa Veterans Memorial Auditorium, also known as "The Barn". Most of the seats in this venue were located directly along the sidelines as is typical of high school sports venues. The Barnstormers organization constantly lobbied for the construction of a better facility during their time in Des Moines, to no avail.

On November 1, 2000, it was announced that the Iowa Barnstormers had relocated to New York as the Dragons.[8] The Dragons' logo and uniforms were designed by Chris Trevas who is a full-time Star Wars artist. Nassau Coliseum, where the franchise relocated, is generally regarded as one of the most marginal venues currently used in major American professional sports, and is often proposed for replacement, so the improvement of the situation with regards to a venue has been fairly minimal to this point. In late September 2004, Islanders' ownership announced an ambitious project to renovate the Coliseum, surrounding it with housing units and construction of an adjacent tower, resembling a lighthouse, at a total cost of over $200 million (US). Since then, the lighthouse has been taken out of the design plan.

On July 8, 2008 a group of investors, led by Steve Silva, announced they are buying the team from Charles Wang. With the purchase the team would change its uniforms, logo, and colors. The team also announced that the Dragons will continue to play in the Nassau Coliseum despite rumors that the Dragons would move to Manhattan and play their games at Madison Square Garden.

On September 23, 2008, the Dragons announced their new logo and color scheme. The old colors of red and yellow were replaced by green and grey.[9]

The Dragons official mascot was a dragon named Sparky,[10] who is also the mascot of the NHL's New York Islanders.

See also

References
  1. William N. Wallace (May 9, 1988). "Improvisation Lies at the Heart of Arena Football". The New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  2. Damian Becker (May 10, 1988). "Any arena football fans here?". The Evening News. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  3. "In New York, arena football mirrors NHL". Record-Journal. May 12, 1988. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  4. William N. Wallace (June 7, 1988). "Knights Lose, 36-22; Slip to Last Place". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  5. Lonnie White (July 3, 1988). "Arena Football League Knights Follow Bouncing Ball to Victory Over Cobras". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  6. Tarik El-Bashir (April 7, 1997). "Arena Team Is Returning to the Garden". The New York Times. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  7. "Arena Football may be sacked". The Bulletin. December 9, 1988. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  8. "New York Dragons join AFL". www.oursportscentral.com. OurSports Central. November 1, 2000. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
  9. "New York Dragons Unveil New Logo - newyorkdragons.com". newyorkdragons.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  10. Sparky The Dragon
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