Grand Rapids Rampage

Arena Football League (1998-2008)

Tombstone

Born: October 9, 1997 – The inactive Massachusetts Marauders franchise is sold and relocated to Grand Rapids, MI¹
Folded: March 5, 2010

First Game: March 10, 1998 (L 66-58 vs. San Jose SaberCats)
Last Game: July 12, 2008 (L 81-55 @ San Jose SaberCats)

Arena Bowl Champions: 2001

Arena

Van Andel Arena (10,618)²
Opened: 1996

Marketing

Team Colors: Red, Black & Silver³

Cheerleaders: The Rage Dance Team

Radio:

1999 – 2001: WBBL (1340 AM)

Radio Broadcasters:

2001: Joe Parson & Tom Sullivan

Ownership

Owner: Dan DeVos

Best Seller

We earn commissions from purchases made through links in this post

Grand Rapids Rampage Logo T-Shirt
Available Today at American Retro Apparel!

Background

A small market mainstay in the Arena Football League for over a decade. The Grand Rapids Rampage lineage dates back to the Detroit Drive (1988-1993), who were a dynasty in the AFL’s early years. The Drive moved to Worcester, Massachusetts in 1994 and played one season as the Massachusetts Marauders before going bankrupt. Dan DeVos bought the carcass of the Marauders out of bankruptcy in 1997 and brought the team to Grand Rapids.

Dan DeVos was an heir to the Amway fortune and he also owned the Grand Rapids Griffins, the city’s minor league hockey team. Van Andel Arena, where both the Rampage and the Griffins played, was named for Jay Van Andel, who was the business partner of Dan’s father Rich DeVos in founding Amway. Dan DeVos gave some insights into the team’s finances in interviews with The Grand Rapids Press in 2008. He acknowledged that the team lost money in all of its seasons in Grand Rapids, but said he kept it going because he felt the Rampage was important to the fabric of the community.

Arena Bowl XV Victory

Sometimes referred to as “the Green Bay Packers of the Arena Football League”, the Grand Rapids Rampage were an anomaly in a league that increasingly focused on major markets from the late 1990’s onward. DeVos would have been justified in moving the Rampage into Arena Football 2. The AFL’s small-market developmental league launched in 2000 and featured similar mid/small market cities to Grand Rapids. To his credit, he kept the Rampage in the primary league and was rewarded with a championship in Arena Bowl XV in 2001.

Arena Bowl XV was the franchise’s finest hour. The Rampage hosted the Nashville Kats at a sold-out Van Andel Arena with 11,217 in attendance. ABC Sports televised the game nationwide with a first-rate broadcast team of Brent Musburger, Gary Danielson and Lynn Swann. Rampage quarterback Clint Dolezel connected with Offensive Specialist (and game MVP) Terrill Shaw for five touchdown passes and the Rampage defeated the Kats 64-42. It would be the Rampage’s only championship in their eleven seasons of play.

Demise

Following the 2008 season, the Arena Football League fell into a business model crisis, despite rising franchise valuations and increasing attendance. The league’s expenses still far outstripped revenues and with unionized labor, the player salary cap had risen to approximately $2 million per season. It was a sea change from the late 80’s and early 90’s when players earned just $500/game for a 12-game season. A planned $100 million recapitalization of the league via a sale to private equity firm Platinum Equity fell through in the fall of 2008.

In December 2008 the AFL cancelled its 2009 season. The Rampage entered a state of limbo for all of 2009 as the remaining AFL owners tried and failed to craft a new business model. The league eventually entered bankruptcy in August of 2009. A collection of former AFL and small market Arena Football 2 owners bought the league’s intellectual property out of bankruptcy in late 2009. They announced a new, low-budget version of the league to begin play in the spring of 2010. Rampage ownership decided not to participate in the new league. The team officially went out of business in March 2010, after 15 months of inactivity.