Arena Football League (1997-1998)
Tombstone
Born: November 6, 1996 – Arena Football League expansion franchise1Leonard, Tim. “Arena Football Lands in Garden”. Newsday (Hempstead, NY). November 7, 1996
Moved: October 13, 1998 (New England Sea Wolves)2Heuschkel, David. “MSG Giving City Second Chance”. The Courant (Hartford, CT). October 14, 1998
First Game: May 5, 1997 (L 50-42 vs. Orlando Predators)
Last Game: July 31, 1998 (L 77-36 vs. Albany Firebirds)
Arena Bowl Championships: None
Arena
Madison Square Garden (18,000)31997 Arena Football League Record & Fact Book
Marketing
Team Colors: Purple, Gold & Black41997 Arena Football League Record & Fact Book
Ownership
Owner: Madison Square Garden (James L. Dolan)
Best Seller
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New York Cityhawks Logo T-Shirt
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Background
The New York CityHawks enjoyed a brief two-year fling in the Arena Football League. The team performed quite poorly both on the field and at the box office. The CityHawks were 2-12 in 1997 and 3-11 in 1998. In both seasons, announced attendance hovered near the 6,500 mark, nearly 40% below the league average.
The CityHawks marked the Arena Football League’s second failed attempt to establish a franchise in the nation’s biggest media market. An earlier club – the New York Knights – played a single summer at the Garden in 1988 before vanishing.
The Cablevision-owned Madison Square Garden operated the CityHawks. After the team’s disappointing second season in 1998, MSG moved the franchise to Connecticut into the MSG-controlled Hartford Civic Center. The club was renamed the New England Sea Wolves and played two seasons in Connecticut (1999-2000) before new owners acquired the team and moved it to Toronto where the well-travelled franchise finally died in 2002.
New York Cityhawks Shop
Links
Arena Football League Media Guides
Arena Football League Programs
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2 Responses
Thanks for this article.
But I would like to point out a couple of things. First, the spelling of the team’s name is “CityHawks”, with a capital H. (As an aside, I will mention that the name was an allusion to the peregrine falcons that perch on many New York City buildings.)
Also, while you correctly mention in the body of the article that, when the CityHawks moved to Hartford, they became the New England Sea Wolves, you say at the top of the article that they became the Connecticut Coyotes. In fact the Coyotes were a different franchise, one that played in Hartford in 1995 and 1996 before folding.
Thanks for catching those errors Ferdinand! Corrected now.