Arena Football One

What Arena Football One does

Arena Football One (AF1) is a privately operated, for-profit professional arena football league headquartered in Albany, New York, that launched its debut season on March 8, 2025, with the Orlando Predators versus Southwest Kansas Storm as its first game. AF1 operates as a centralized league umbrella under which eight independently owned franchise teams compete in a spring season across eight U.S. states (New York, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee, California, Washington). Each franchise operates as its own small business in a local market and pays franchise-related fees to participate. The league runs a centralized digital platform at theaf1.com (powered by third-party vendor Football Shift), which aggregates news, transactions, stats, scores, schedules, standings, photos, and videos, and supports admin operations at admin.footballshift.com.

AF1 generates revenue through five streams: in-arena ticket sales at franchise venues (e.g., Angel of the Winds Arena, Amsoil Arena, MVP Arena), official merchandise commissions via a Royal Retros storefront partnership, broadcast and streaming rights distributed through VICE Sports (debut season television) and EvergreenNOW (streaming for non-televised games), franchise/membership fees, and sponsorships tied to broadcast, highlight, and digital content inventory. The league pursues a credibility-first, measured expansion strategy rather than rapid scaling, with each prospective franchise vetted for financial stability. Community engagement (Special Olympics Polar Plunge, school visits, open tryouts) and player development (Arena Football University) serve as both marketing channels and talent pipelines. AF1's leadership includes CEO Jerry Kurz and former NFL head coach Jeff Fisher as Commissioner; the league had nine teams at the start of the 2026 season before the Oregon Lightning was terminated mid-season, reducing active franchises to eight.

Name

Arena Football One

Legal name

Arena Football One

Website

https://theaf1.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Arena Football One (AF1) is a privately operated U.S. professional arena football league headquartered in Albany, NY, that runs a spring season across eight franchise teams in eight states. It serves local sports fans, professional players, franchise owners, and sponsors via ticketed games, broadcasts, merchandise, and community programming.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Sports League

NAICS

Spectator Sports (7112), Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997)

akta.pro primary industry

American Football Leagues (MPAKAAAB)

Keywords

• Professional arena football
• Indoor football league
• Live sports entertainment
• Sports broadcast streaming
• Franchise sports operations

Headquarters

HQ city

Arena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. In-Arena Ticket Sales: Revenue from fans attending games at team arenas (e.g., Angel of the Winds Arena, Amsoil Arena, MVP Arena). The Washington Wolfpack's June 20, 2026 game was 90% sold out, indicating strong local ticket demand.
2. Official Merchandise Sales: Official AF1 merchandise sold through a partnership with Royal Retros, accessible via theaf1.com navigation under 'Shop'.
3. Broadcast & Streaming Rights: Distribution rights for game broadcasts and live streaming, including partnerships with VICE Sports (debut 2025 season) and EvergreenNOW for non-broadcast games.
4. Franchise / Membership Fees: Each team operates as its own small business under the league umbrella; team ownership groups pay franchise-related fees to participate in the league.
5. Sponsorships & Advertising: League generates sponsorship and advertising revenue from content inventory created through game broadcasts, highlights, social media, and digital newsletters reaching highly engaged local and digital audiences.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Arena Football One (AF1) operates a spring professional arena football league with member franchises across the United States, delivering live in-arena game entertainment, regular-season and playoff competition, live streaming and broadcast distribution through media partners, and officially licensed merchandise. The league centralizes scheduling, stats, transactions, and content via its digital platform (theaf1.com) while supporting franchise operations, community engagement, and player development pathways.

Product overview

Arena Football One (AF1) is a single professional sports league product — the spring arena football competition — composed of a platform-plus-modules architecture: a centralized league hub (theaf1.com) anchors nine member franchises (Albany Firebirds, Beaumont Renegades, Kentucky Barrels, Michigan Arsenal, Minnesota Monsters, Nashville Kats, Oceanside Bombers, Washington Wolfpack, and the previously operating Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Mavericks which has since withdrawn), supported by connected modules including AF1 Live Stream (broadcast/streaming), AF1 Shop (Royal Retros merchandise), the Stats/Scores/Standings/Leaders/Playoffs data hub, the Photos & Videos Fan Zone, and the Arena Football University player development program. The platform consolidates league news, transactions, schedules, results, and media, while broadcast integration with VICE Sports and EvergreenNOW extends game distribution to television and streaming audiences.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Arena Football One (AF1) League Competition The spring professional arena football league competition featuring a regular season and playoffs across multiple U.S. franchises, targeted at sports entertainment consumers and sold via ticket sales, broadcast rights, and sponsorship inventory.
• AF1 Live Stream Live game streaming and broadcast service for every AF1 game, distributed through official media partners (VICE Sports television broadcasts and EvergreenNOW streaming).
• AF1 Shop (Official Merchandise) Officially licensed AF1 apparel and merchandise storefront hosted and fulfilled by Royal Retros, providing fans with league and team-branded products.
• AF1 Stats / Scores / Standings / Leaders / Playoffs Hub Centralized league information and data product covering teams, schedule, scores, standings, playoff brackets, and league statistical leaders for each AF1 season.
• Arena Football University

Quantifiable outcome

• Michigan QB Malik Henry leads AF1 in passing yards (2,006) and touchdowns (42) during the 2026 season.
• +4 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, major, supporting and minor.

• Royal RetroscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRoyal Retros operates the official AF1 merchandise storefront at royalretros.com/collections/af1, accessible via a 'Shop' link in the league site's main navigation. The partnership enables fans to purchase officially licensed AF1 apparel and merchandise. Listed alongside News, Stats, and Fan Zone in primary navigation.
• VICE SportsmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVICE Sports was announced as a broadcast partner for AF1's debut 2025 season, with 'Sunday Nights in the Arena' on VICE Sports beginning March 16, 2025. The first VICE Sports broadcast featured the Corpus Christi Tritons hosting the Southwest Kansas Storm.
• EvergreenNOWsupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAll AF1 games not broadcast on VICE Sports are available to stream on EvergreenNOW, ensuring fans can watch every league game.
• Football ShiftcoreTechnology or IntegrationAF1's digital league platform at theaf1.com and admin operations at admin.footballshift.com are powered by Football Shift, providing stats, scores, news, transactions, schedules, photos, videos, and content publishing for the league and its franchises.
• Special OlympicsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerAF1 franchises (e.g., Albany Firebirds) participate in community events supporting Special Olympics, including the Special Olympics Polar Plunge on November 23, 2024.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Canadian Football League (CFL): The CFL is a larger, more established professional football league that competes for the same player pool and offers AF1 players a higher-tier career path. It is a destination league for breakout AF1 talent.
• National Women's Soccer League (NWSL): The NWSL is a privately operated professional sports league with a comparable centralized franchise model, broadcast partnerships, and sponsorship-driven growth playbook relevant to AF1's stage of development.
• XFL: The XFL (relaunched and folded into the UFL) represents a recent example of a well-capitalized spring football entrant that reshaped the competitive landscape. It serves as a comparable for the UFL's strategic threat to AF1.

Emerging players

• Premier Lacrosse League (PLL): The PLL is an alternative professional sports league model — privately operated, league-centralized, with multi-city tour format and broadcast partnerships. It represents a comparable business architecture for emerging non-big-four sports leagues.
• Major League Rugby (MLR): MLR is a privately operated North American professional rugby league with a comparable centralized-league-plus-franchise structure, broadcast distribution, and sponsorship-driven revenue model.
• BIG3 Basketball League: BIG3 is a privately operated professional sports league with a similar franchise-style model and broadcast distribution strategy. It provides a benchmark for league-level monetization outside of the major U.S. sports leagues.

Direct peers

• National Arena League (NAL): The NAL is a smaller arena football league operating in overlapping markets, competing directly with AF1 for the limited pool of arena football talent and indoor football fan mindshare.
• United Football League (UFL): The UFL is the most direct competitor to AF1 — a spring professional American football league targeting the same offseason window with overlapping player talent pool and audience. Both leagues compete for fan attention, broadcast distribution, and sponsorship dollars.
• Indoor Football League (IFL): The IFL is a competing indoor/arena American football league operating across multiple U.S. markets, directly competing with AF1 for players, coaches, sponsorships, and arena-based fan audiences.

Others

• Football Shift: Football Shift is AF1's digital platform and league operations technology partner. While not a peer in the sports competition sense, it is the infrastructure provider whose comparable league-tech platforms (used by other leagues) define the competitive technology baseline.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/af1football
• Facebookfacebook.com/af1football
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/arena-football-one

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Arena Football One