Arena Football League approves Las Vegas expansion

Seven years since the Gladiators left, the Arena Football League will return to Las Vegas in 2015.

Arena Football is returning to the Las Vegas market–again.

There hasn’t made the formal announcement of the transaction, but three media outlets (ESPN, The Florida Times Union, and the Las Vegas Sun) report that Motley Crue singer Vince Neil has gotten approval from the AFL to “build a Las Vegas team from scratch.”

Last month, Neil bought a minority ownership in the Jacksonville Sharks. It was widely speculated that Neil was interested in owning an Arena Football team and that buying a share of the Sharks would give him an idea of what it would take to run a franchise. The message boards erupted with speculation that Neil would either be moving the Sharks to Las Vegas or that he would be approved to have an expansion team that would begin play in 2016. Instead, it’s looking like the new Vegas franchise will start in 2015.

The Las Vegas Sting played from 1994-1995, compiling an 11-14 overall record and averaged 5,733 fans a game.

This would be the league’s third attempt at a franchise in Vegas.

The first attempt lasted two seasons when the Las Vegas Sting played from 1994-1995. The Sting made the playoffs in their first season and compiled an 11-14 overall record before the franchise was relocated to Anaheim and became the Piranhas in 1996. Anaheim lasted two seasons, folding after the 1997 season, making the playoffs only once once and had an overall record of 11-18.

The second attempt at an AFL franchise came in the form of the Las Vegas Gladiators, which lasted from 2003-2007. The Gladiators began their first season in 1997 as the New Jersey Red Dogs. The team was sold to Miami lawyer Jim Ferraro before the 2001 season and promptly renamed the team the New Jersey Gladiators. The re-branded team struggled in its first season, but rebounded in 2002 by making the playoffs. New Jersey fans were looking forward to the 2003 season but were shocked to learn that the team was moving to Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Gladiators played from 2003-2007 before relocating to Cleveland in 2008. Note the “G” in the logo; this would eventually become a “C” when the team moved to Cleveland.

After moving to Las Vegas, the Gladiators would only manage an average record for their first three years, going 8-8 in each season. Their record slumped to 5-11 in 2006. The results didn’t bode well for the franchise and they were known as a franchise to reside in a major market yet didn’t spend enough money to win. The team would try to re-coop its losses by moving from the Thomas & Mack Center on the University of Las Vegas campus to Orleans Arena in an effort to gain a bigger fan base. The team even was fortunate to have former Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Shaun King fall into their laps prior to the 2007 season. King, who led the Bucs to the NFC Championship in the 1999 season, hoped that his stint in the AFL would be his ticket back to the NFL and show scouts that he still had what it took to play. He started out well–in his second game, King threw for 373 yards, 10 TDs and 0 INTs against the Grand Rapids Rampage. Afterward, King had his good games and his bad games and was eventually released by the team after a 1-5 start to the season (the Gladiators would finish the season 2-14). That season would be the final nail in the coffin for the team as the drama off the field was embarrassing. The team fired their head coach a month before the end of the season, but kept him because he was both the offensive and defensive coordinators as well as the special teams coach. To make matters worse, the Gladiators had to move their final regular season home game due to a conflict with the circus. And to sum up the team’s time in Vegas, one of the circus elephants reportedly left a present of its own dung on the team’s turf. The team would re-locate to Cleveland, leaving Las Vegas with a 31-50 overall record, including one playoff appearance in 2003.

It’s true! Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Shaun King played 6 games for the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2007.

Neil is reportedly seeking approval from the league offices in Chicago about naming the team the Las Vegas Outlaws.

Does the name sound familiar? It should. There was a team called the Las Vegas Outlaws that played one season in 2000. They were part of Vince McMahon’s ill fated XFL.

Hopefully Vince Neil won’t ask Vince McMahon to recycle the old Outlaws logo.

A franchise in Las Vegas would bring about an interesting rivalry, especially since a Los Angeles team was purchased by KISS band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Motley Crue versus KISS anyone?

The only question left will be what building “a Las Vegas team from scratch” entitles. Would it mean a new expansion team or would it mean a team who’s rights are purchased and then relocated and re-launched as a new franchise. Considering the AFL’s recent track record, it’s not impossible to think a former AFL franchise will be purchased and then moved. Last year, the rights to the Milwaukee Mustangs were sold to Emmert International founder Terry Emmert, who recycled the AFL field and launched the team as the Portland Thunder. Neil could possibly buy one of the two teams that folded last year (Chicago Rush, Utah Blaze) and move their field and equipment to Vegas for the expansion re-branding.

There also is the possibility that a team in financial trouble could be purchased and moved to Las Vegas. At the time of this writing, the San Antonio Talons are a league worst 1-12 and are currently possessed by the league. The Orlando Predators are also under league control and booth teams are in the process of “finding an owner.” Then there’s the rumblings on ArenaFan.com message boards that the New Orleans VooDoo aren’t likely to return, though there aren’t published sources to back this up.

How about it Las Vegas fans? Are you happy to have a team back again or are you guys going to let this one fade away like the Sting and the Gladiators? Sound off in the comments below.