American Professional Football League

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The American Professional Football League (APFL) is an indoor football league based in the midwestern United States that began play in 2003. The league's flagship team is the Kansas Koyotes, who have captured the first four league championships and weren't beaten in the league's first three seasons. They were finally beaten by the Wichita Aviators in the 2006 season opener. [1]

1 League Membership
- 1.1 Former Teams
2 League Champions
3 2006 Championship Game Controvesy
4 2007 Season and the Future
5 External links

[edit] League Membership

These are the teams participating in the 2007 season:

Iowa Blackhawks (2004) [2]
Kansas Koyotes (2003) [3]
Missouri Minutemen (2003) [4]
Conroe Storm (2007) [5]
Springfield Wolfpack (2007) [6]
Fort Worth Regulators (2007) [7]
Omaha Extreme (2006, limited basis) [8]

[edit] Former Teams

St. Joseph Explorers (2003)
Texas Thunder (2004)
Wisconsin Locomotives (2004, never played)
Colorado Stars (2004, never played)[9]
Nebraska Bears (2005)
Overland Park/St. Joseph Storm (2005)²
Wichita Aviators (2005-2006) [10]
Nebraska Wildcats (2006)¹

Team info here taken from articles listed on Topeka Capitol Journal Koyotes articles
Teams confirmed also from Koyote's www site: 2003 Schedule 2004 Schedule 2005 Schedule

1. These teams only played road games and a reduced schedule.
2. St. Joseph Storm was suspended from the league before the season began. Kansas City Thunderstorm and Columbia Outlaws played in their place.

[edit] League Champions

[edit] 2006 Championship Game Controvesy

In 2006, the APFL had their most competitive season to date. The Kansas Koyotes got their first loss during the first week of the season. At the end of the season, Kansas Koyotes and Wichita Aviators had the same record, but with Wichita winning 2 of the 3 games, they were the regular season champions. During the last week of the regular season, there was a fight on the field after the game between the Koyotes and Aviators. The league suspended both coaches (1 game each) and one player (1 year) for things that happened during the fight.[15]

During the playoffs, the league announced the Championship game would be played on Aug 5, 2006 instead of July 29, 2006 and the game would be moved from Wichita to Topeka. In response, the Wichita team members at a team meeting voted to refuse to play claiming they should host the game instead of the game being held in Topeka. Having refused to play, the Aviators earned a forfeit and the Koyotes were the postseason champs again. During the postseason, the Wichita Aviators ownership and GM McCoy were fined by the league for not fielding a team for the Championship game.[16] [17]

[edit] 2007 Season and the Future

Despite the tumultuous ending to the 2006 season, things are looking bright for the future of the league. The league's owners met in January 2007 and the league begins play again in April.

A primary goal for 2007 was to eliminate road teams and semi-pro replacement teams, since such teams are rarely competitive. This year the only road-only team is the Omaha Extreme, who only play one game and are a league member on a limited basis. An older version of the APFL homepage suggested playing games with other leagues, namely the Intense Football League.