Chicago Rush

Arena Football League (2001-2008 & 2010-2013)

Background

The Chicago Rush was an Arena Football League (AFL) entry that played at the suburban Allstate Arena during the early 2000’s. During the peak of their popularity from 2004 to 2008, the Rush averaged over 14,000 fans per game each season at the suburban Allstate Arena.

Chicago Bears Hall-of-Famer Walter Payton bought a minority stake in the Rush in July 1999 shortly after the team was admitted to the AFL as an expansion franchise. However, Payton was already gravely ill with liver disease at the time. He died less than four months later at age 45, more than a year before the Rush made their debut in April 2001.

Prior to the Rush’s fifth season in 2005, Payton’s former Bears coach and fellow Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Mike Ditka became a minority owner of the team.

The team was consistently a top performer in the original AFL from 2001 to 2008, winning one Arena Bowl championship and four division titles.

Arena Bowl XX

Oddly, the Rush’s lone championship came at the conclusion of one of the team’s weakest seasons. At the end of April 2006, the Rush’s record sat a 5-9 with two games remaining. They won both and eeked into the playoff with a 7-9 record. The team then reeled off an improbable run of three consecutive road playoff victories to earn a spot in Arena Bowl XX in Las Vegas against the Orlando Predators. In Sin City, the Rush posted a fourth straight upset, knocking off the Predators 69-61.

Quarterback Matt D’Orazio was named Arena Bowl XX MVP after passing for six touchdowns and rushing for two more.  Despite a stellar follow-up season in 2007, the Rush released D’Orazio prior to the 2008 season. D’Orazio hooked on with the AFL’s Philadelphia Soul and led that team to victory in Arena Bowl XXII.  He earned his second Arena Bowl MVP award in three seasons and also earned the league’s overall MVP award for 2008.

End of the Original AFL

By the 2008 season, the Rush had emerged as one of the most popular draws in the Arena Football League. The team claimed a franchise-best attendance of 15,874 fans per game that season, reaching 98% average capacity at Allstate Arena for the season (Chicago Tribune 11/20/2009). The Rush also won their fourth division title in eight seasons under original Head Coach Mike Hohensee. But behind the scenes the AFL was in turmoil, as ownership tensions arose over the league’s business model and financial performance. The league ultimately cancelled its 2009 season altogether and filed for bankruptcy.

While the AFL sat dark in 2009, a number of Rush players suited up for the low-budget Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League. The Slaughter, playing at the smaller Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, went 14-0 and easily won the CIFL championship. Erstwhile Rush starting quarterback Russ Michna was named the league’s MVP.

Decline & Fall

In late 2009, a group of former AFL and AF2 owners re-grouped and purchased the league’s intellectual property from the bankruptcy court. A lower-budget re-boot resumed play in April 2010 after a 20-month layoff. The Rush returned to Allstate Arena under new ownership.

The revived Rush franchise soon became a costly embarrassment for the AFL. Mike Hohensee, the team’s original head coach and leader dating back to 2001, walked away after the 2010 season and joined the rival Philadelphia Soul.

The new owners went bankrupt following the 2011 season. The AFL’s clownish attempts to find new ownership for the Rush during the winter of 2012-13 exposed the advanced decay that had set in the league’s executive suite. First, the league announced a sale of the Rush to local PR executive Julee White in November 2012. The reported sale price of $1 million³Channick, Robert. “In beating odds, Rush up, running for new season”. The Tribune (Chicago, IL) March 22, 2013 was a humbling figure for a league where expansion fees fetched $16M – $18M as recently as 2005. White’s group evaporated three months later, leaving the team’s lease at Allstate Arena unrenewed for 2013.

Within days, the league sold the Rush to a self-described “private equity manager” named David Staral. In reality, Staral was a three-time felon on probation who had filed for personal bankruptcy only a month earlier. Staral used proceeds from the Rush’s 2013 ticket sales to buy groceries. When he bounced the team’s lease payment to Allstate Arena, his criminal and financial history finally emerged. AFL Commissioner Jerry Kurz never provided an adequate explanation why the league failed to uncover Staral’s background. Staral was sentenced to three-and-a-half-years in prison in 2017.

The owner-less Rush staggered to the finish line of the 2013 season and folded soon afterwards. The Arena Football League went out of business in November 2019.

Chicago Rush Shop

Rush Video

The Rush defeat the Orlando Predators 69-61 in Arena Bowl XX before a national TV audience on NBC. June 11, 2006.

Downloads

2013 Chicago Rush Media Guide

United States of America vs. David A. Staral, Jr. Criminal Complaint

Links

Arena Football League Media Guides

Arena Football League Programs

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