PITTSBURGH, PA - Arena football is making a comeback in Pittsburgh. The American Arena League has awarded an expansion franchise to the city that has been christened the Burgh Defenders.
The Defenders will play in the AAL’s North Division along with the New Jersey Flight, the West Virginia Roughriders and the New England Bobcats, the league announced in a release. The team will begin play in March at the Robert Morris University Sports Center on Neville Island.
The franchise is owned by touring Antjuan ‘Tjuan Benefactor’ Washington, hip hop artist and CEO of the American Basketball Association’s media and entertainment division, and former arena player Arealius Lee.
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“We are extremely excited to join the American Arena League.We look forward to the level of competition this league is known for,” the pair said in a statement.
“We are also beyond excited to bring arena football back to the city of Pittsburgh. This city has some of the richest football traditions in the country and we are honored to join in on that tradition.”
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The city’s last arena football team, the Pittsburgh Power, played at PPG Paints Arena (then the Consol Energy Center) from 2011 through 2014. Another arena team, the Pittsburgh Gladiators, played at the old Civic Arena in the late 1980s.
Illustration via AAL.
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