Los Angeles Cobras

Arena Football League (1988)

Tombstone

Born: February 12, 1988 – Arena Football League expansion franchise¹
Folded: Postseason 1988

First Game: April 30, 1988 (L 60-52 vs. New York Knights)
Last Game: July 23, 1988 (L 29-16 @ Chicago Bruisers)

Arena Bowl Championships: None

Arena

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (14,100)²
Opened: 1959
Demolished: 2016

Marketing

Team Colors: Navy Blue & Gold³

Ownership

Owners: Byron Lasky & Irving Zeiger

Cobra Wear

L.A Cobras Logo T-Shirt

The Cobras were L.A.’s first experience with the sport of Arena Football, but the team vanished after only six home dates during the summer of ’88 at the old Memorial Sports Arena.

This eye-catching 100% cotton design is available from American Retro Apparel in a variety of colors and in sizes running from Small to 5XL.

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Background

The Los Angeles Cobras were an expansion franchise that entered the Arena Football League for the start-up’s second year of operations in the summer of 1988. This was also the first season that Arena Football experimented with a restrictive form of franchise ownership, or “limited partnerships” as league founder Jim Foster preferred to call it. The 1987 season had essentially been a demonstration year, with four league-owned franchises playing six-game schedule with TV broadcasts on ESPN. The entire 1987 season consisted of just thirteen games, including Arena Bowl I.

For 1988, the AFL expanded to six franchises, five of whom had new local investors. Real estate developer Byron Lasky owned the Cobras, along with minority partner Irving Zeiger. The 1988 season also saw a dramatically expanded schedule, with each club playing 12 games, compared to six in 1987.

Raiders Connections

The Cobras hired former Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders assistant Ray Willsey as Head Coach. The Cobras’ big name was former Raiders All-Pro wide receiver Cliff Branch, coaxed out of a three-year retirement from pro football. At 39 years old, Branch was the oldest player in the league. He caught 25 passes for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns during his lone season in the indoor game. Like all wide receivers in the Arena league at the time, Branch played both ways, playing at defensive back when the Cobras were on defense. He earned $1,000 per game plus incentives, which was the standard pay in the league for all players in 1988.

The Cobras debuted on April 30, 1988 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. An announced crowd of 10,157 watch the Cobras lose to the New York Knights 60-52. Los Angeles finished the season with a 5-6-1 record, which was just good enough to slip into the playoffs. They lost to the Chicago Bruisers in the semi-final round on July 23, 1988. This would prove to be the franchise’s final game.

“The Terrible Investment In Which We Were Blindly Participating”

Attendance dipped after the novelty of the first game and the Cobras finished out at 7,507 for six home dates. Irving Zeiger, who was a co-owner of the Cobras, recounted his experiences as an investor in the early days of Arena Football in his self-published memoir How To Succeed In Business By Busting Your Ass, which came out shortly before his death in 2007:

“It was a not-to-be-repeated experience where a band of hard-nosed businessmen disregarded all their business experience and savvy because they were so enamored with their desire to own a football team. I recall one meeting in a luxurious New York office suite where these highly successful owners spent time tossing a football around with former All-Pro Chicago <Bears> linebacker Doug Buffone, oblivious to the terrible investment in which we were blindly participating.”

Following the season, Arena Football founder Jim Foster and the limited partners who bought into the league in 1988 got into a power struggle over owners’ rights and direction of the league. This resulted in three of the six active franchises folding during the winter of 1988-89, including the Cobras.

Aftermath

The league was barely able to survive, staging another short demonstration schedule in 1989 before re-working its franchise model and starting to attract new investors again in 1990. Arena Football returned to Los Angeles in 2000 with the formation of the Los Angeles Avengers who played for nine seasons (2000-2008) until the Arena Football League’s bankruptcy in 2009.