Report: Minnesota to have Arena Football League team in 2024

The 2024 AFL season kicks off in April.
Report: Minnesota to have Arena Football League team in 2024
Report: Minnesota to have Arena Football League team in 2024 /

The Arena Football League is back and will be in Minnesota in 2024.

In what capacity hasn't been confirmed, but TMZ is reporting Minnesota will have a team in St. Paul that will be one of 16 teams included in the rebirth of the league. 

The league itself announced Tuesday 16 locations that will have something to do with the 2024 season. 

  • Minnesota
  • Boise, Idaho
  • Austin, Texas
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Orlando, Florida
  • Tallahassee, Florida
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • St. Louis, Missouri
  • California
  • Louisiana
  • Colorado
  • Ohio
  • Oregon
  • Tennessee
  • Washington
  • West Texas

What the Arena Football League didn't announce is specific locations for each team. That's where TMZ comes in, reporting that St. Paul will serve as the home of the Minnesota team. What the team will be called, where it will play, and who the ownership group is are all unknown. 

The only other detail announced about the 2024 season is that teams will play a 10-game schedule beginning in April. Beyond that, it's a mystery. 

A 16-team league would be a huge increase from the original four-team league in 1987, and will more than double the size of the six-team league that last played in 2019. The Arena Football League has gone bankrupt twice in its history, and the 2024 season will be the first since the second bankruptcy was filed after the 2019 season.

Minnesota previously had a team for one season in the AFL. They were known as the Minnesota Fighting Pike and played in 1996 before folding. 

More to come...  


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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.