Philadelphia Soul expected to return as the Arena Football League plans a 2024 relaunch
The ownership and home arena for the three-time ArenaBowl champions have not yet been been announced.
The Philadelphia Soul are expected to be one of the 16 teams that will participate in the Arena Football League’s planned relaunch in 2024, commissioner Lee Hutton told The Inquirer.
Philadelphia was on a list of 16 markets that the league announced Tuesday would host an AFL team. On Thursday, Hutton confirmed that the league would revive Philadelphia’s new AFL team under its old name.
“We’re bringing back Philly Soul,” Hutton said.
“We went back in our Rolodex, and we looked at past teams and communities that really supported and grew, not only a tradition, but an identity that was inseparable from the AFL brand. The Philly Soul was one of those teams. … It’s a little piece of history that we did not want to lose.”
The Soul were among the last teams standing when the AFL declared bankruptcy and ceased operations four years ago. An expansion team in 2004, the Soul played most of their games in the Wells Fargo Center and won ArenaBowl titles in 2008, 2016, and 2017. The team’s ownership groups in its history have included music legends Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, along with former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski.
Hutton said the Wells Fargo Center is under consideration to host the new iteration of the Soul, but the team’s home has not yet been finalized.
“We have a couple of venues that we’re looking at,” Hutton said. “It will be in [a venue] that No. 1, has a capacity of at least 10,000 or more fans. It will be an area that is within driving distance to people [in] downtown Philadelphia. So we’re not looking at a situation where individuals have to go to Atlantic City or other areas.”
The league has not yet revealed the owners for its 16 teams, but Hutton did disclose that a new ownership group would be taking over the Soul. The group includes individuals who are from the Philadelphia area and have connections to the NFL, Hutton said.
Jaworski is expected to be involved, either on the ownership side or as a consultant, according to Hutton.
“[Jaworski] bleeds AFL football [and] has been very supportive of the return,” Hutton said. “We’re just extremely, extremely excited with the possibilities of him being — and he’ll always be — a family member to the AFL.”
The AFL folded after its most recent season in 2019. In February, the league announced plans for a revival that would include a 10-game regular season, along with a postseason that culminates in the ArenaBowl championship. Kickoff is scheduled for April 2024.
» READ MORE: From 2019: Arena Football League goes bankrupt, so the Philadelphia Soul may be no more
Hutton confirmed that besides Philadelphia, the other cities that are expected to receive an AFL team include: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bakersfield, Calif.; Chicago; Denver; St. Paul, Minn.; Lake Charles, La.; Cincinnati; Orlando, Fla.; Salem, Ore.; St. Louis; Tallahassee, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; Everett, Wash.; and Odessa, Texas.
Notably, the list does not include Atlantic City, which had a franchise — the Blackjacks — that played as an expansion team in the old AFL’s final season.
Hutton said the league hopes to expand to 24 teams before its relaunch next spring, but Atlantic City is not under consideration.
“Atlantic City would be something that I would want to have a team,” Hutton said. “After we put some feelers out there, it just didn’t make financial sense. We were kind of rejected at bringing a team back to Atlantic City.”
Instead, the AFL is looking forward to returning to one of its flagship cities.
“Philly fans … they live, bleed, and breathe the support,” Hutton said. “The AFL coming back, I think [we] would be remiss not to have a Philly franchise.”
» READ MORE: Soul celebrate winning Arena Bowl championship with City Hall rally