The Tampa Bay Tornadoes look to bring Arena Football back to the Bay Area. After the folding of the once 5 time Arena Bowl champion Tampa Bay Storm, the Bay Area as been missing an alternate to the standard NFL and XFL products. Although the AFL is not defunct as of 2019, a new league called the AAL ( American Arena League) has given Tampa Bay it’s newest franchise.
I recall the storm being pretty popular around the area, with their gear being sold at Champs Sports a sponsor of the AFL at the time. Everyone loves football and along with the Vipers I feel the area will be able to handle a new area football product in the area. Arena football has a different rule set than traditional football. The field is only 50 yards and a wall surrounds the perimeter, allowing for harder hits and a faster paced game.
The inaugural season for the Tornadoes will be played at the Florida Fair Grounds Expo Hall on Saturday Nights during the summer starting at 7 p.m. The 11 week regular season will pit the Tornadoes against some of the toughest competition in the AAL like the Pennsylvania Copperheads and the Maryland Warriors. Players in the league have prior experience in the AFL as well as other arena league the IFL (Indoor Football League). As of now the QB is Brion Carnes out of the University of Northern Iowa. The coaching staff features Stevie Thomas a former Storm and other former Arena League players and coaches giving the franchise a little experience. Team owner Alton Walker seems like he is up for the challenge of running a first class organization.
As of now season tickets start at $50 and that’s for the nose bleeds. I am definitely interested in wall seats so I can be as close to the action as possible. A cool perk of being a season ticket holder is the inaugural season ring each ticket holder receives adding to the fan experience. If the team can get a few good years under their belt who knows maybe they can advance to the IFL, brining even tougher competition to Tampa when the 2020 inaugural season kicks off 4/11 against the Warriors.