Arena Football League returns to Columbus

Columbus will be home to an Arena Football League team beginning this spring, the league announced on Thursday.

The team, as yet unnamed, will play in Nationwide Arena, the same site that the Columbus Destroyers used from 2004 to ’08.

“We’re very pleased to launch a team in a great market like Columbus,” AFL commissioner Randall Boe said in a statement. “The league’s plan was to expand to six teams for the 2019 season, and the addition of the Columbus team accomplishes that goal.”

The Arena league, which was formed in 1987 and fielded as many as 19 teams in the early 2000s, also announced on Jan. 22 a new franchise in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The other AFL teams are in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and Albany, New York.

The AFL first came to Columbus in 1991 when the city was awarded an expansion franchise, the Thunderbolts. The team played in the Fairgrounds Coliseum, was coached by former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce and left for Cleveland after going 0-10.

The Destroyers came to town in 2004 from Buffalo, where they had played for five seasons beginning in 1999. Bruce coached that team, as well, as the Destroyers finished 6-10. The next season, former OSU linebacker Chris Spielman coached the team to a 2-14 record.

Doug Kay took over as coach in 2006 and a year later led the Destroyers to the championship game despite a 7-9 record in the regular season. Columbus lost the title game to San Jose.

The AFL went bankrupt and folded before the 2009 season but returned with a 15-team league in 2010. Since 2012, however, the league has shrunk from 18 teams to four last season, its lowest total since the inaugural 1987 campaign.

In its release, the league said it would announce the team name and coaching staff in the coming weeks. The 2019 schedule will be released next week.