The Arena Football League is back!

Last year the Arena Football League (AFL) filed for bankruptcy following the suspension of the 2009 season. This also meant the end of the AFL's development league, AF2. Many of AF2's board of directors, however, continued to meet and decided to form a league to replace the void left by the AFL that would also keep many of their teams active. The league was originally titled Arena Football One and bought the AFL's assets, including team names and logos for both the AFL and AF2. On February 17th, 2010 the AF1 officially announce that the league would change its name to the Arena Football League.

The new league will be made up of a combination of old AFL and AF2 teams, many of which will continue to use their original names and logos. Consisting of 15 teams, the league will divided into 2 conferences, each with 2 divisions. League lineup for 2010:

American Conference

Southern Division

Alabama Vipers (AF2)

Jacksonville Sharks (new)

Orlando Predators (AFL)

Tampa Bay Storm (AFL)

Southwest Division

Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings (AF2)

Dallas Vigilantes (new)

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz (AF2)

Tulsa Talons (AF2)

National Conference

Midwest Conference

Chicago Rush (AFL)

Cleveland Gladiators (AFL)

Iowa Barnstormers (AF2)

Milwaukee Iron (AF2)

Western Conference

Arizona Rattlers (AFL)

Spokane Shock (AF2)

Utah Blaze (AFL)

Note 0n the Dallas Vigilantes: Originally was the Dallas Desperados from the AFL but decided to reform under a new team name.

The 2010 season will officially kick off on April 2nd, 2010. Every week of the 2010 season NFL Network will be showing a national AFL game of the week. The official NFL Network schedule for 2010 is (all games at 8pm EST):

April 2nd: Chicago Rush at Iowa Barnstormers

April 9th: Cleveland Gladiators at Chicago Rush

April 16th: Orlando Predators at Jacksonville Sharks

April 25th: Utah Blaze at Chicago Rush

April 30th: Iowa Barnstormers at Orlando Predators

May 7th: Jacksonville Sharks at Tampa Bay Storm

May 14th: Utah Blaze at Milwaukee Iron

May 21st: Arizona Rattlers at Iowa Barnstormers

May 28th: Tampa Bay Storm at Orlando Predators

June 4th: Jacksonville Sharks at Chicago Rush

June 11th: Tulsa Talons at Dallas Vigilantes

June 18th: Jacksonville Sharks at Chicago Rush

June 25th: Bossier-Shreveport Battlewings at Tampa Bay Storm

July 2nd: Chicago Rush at Tampa Bay Storm

July 9th: Tampa Bay Storm at Dallas Vigilantes

July 16th: Spokane Shock at Iowa Barnstormers

July 23rd: Chicago Rush at Spokane Shock

July 30th: Tulsa Talons at Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

Be sure to check back here throughout the season for coverage of the season and insights.