Arena Football 2 (2004-2009)
Arena Football League (2010)
Tombstone
Born: November 4, 2003 – AF2 expansion franchise1Hersom, Bob. “Switzer excited about involvement with new Arena 2 team”. The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK). November 5, 2003
Folded: October 25, 20102Aber, Ryan. “AFL out, but IFL team coming to OKC”. The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK). October 26, 2010
First Game: April 3, 2004 (W 70-63 @ Tulsa Talons)
Last Game: July 30, 2010 (L 74-61 vs. Tulsa Talons)
ArenaCup Championships: None
Arena Bowl Championships: None
Arenas
2004-2008: Ford Center
Opened: 2001
2009-2010: Cox Convention Center
Opened: 1972
Closed: 2020 (converted to film studio)
Marketing
Team Colors: Brick, Black & Silver32009 Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz Program
Radio:
- 2009: ESPN Deportes* (105.3 FM)
Radio Broadcaster:
- 2009: Brandon Rush
*Games broadcast in English
Mascot: Diezel Dawg
Ownership
Background
The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an indoor football league that competed for seven seasons in Arena Football 2 (AF2) and the Arena Football League (AFL). The Dawgz formed as an AF2 expansion team in November 2003. AF2 formed in 2000 as a small market offshoot of the original Arena Football League and typically featured smaller budget and more regionalized play than the AFL.
OKC actually had a franchise in the top-flight AFL just a couple of years earlier – the Oklahoma Wranglers. The Wranglers played two seasons at the aging Myriad Convention Center in 2000 and 2001, with an eye toward moving to the brand new $89 million Ford Center upon its opening in 2002. But owner Ed Gatlin disbanded the Wranglers in November 2001, just seven months before the Ford Center opened its doors.
The Yard Dawgz made their debut at the now two-year own Ford Center in April 2004. This created a somewhat unusual dynamic where the top tier Wranglers played at the city’s long-time minor league hockey and basketball arena, while the lower division Yard Dawgz played in a sparkling new palace, one that would soon attract a National Basketball Association franchise.
In Competition
The Yard Dawgz were strong regular season performers, at least at first. The team reeled off three consecutive winning seasons in AF2 from 2004 through 2006 and qualified for the playoffs following their first four campaigns. But the ‘Dawgz were utterly toothless in the postseason, posting an all-time record of 0-5 in the playoffs, including three home losses to lower-seeded foes.
Notable players included Quarterback Tommy Grady (’09-’10) and WR-DB Al Hunt (’04-’10). Grady, a former Oklahoma Sooner who transferred to the University of Utah in search of more playing time, made his pro debut with the Yard Dawgz in 2009 in AF2. After two seasons in OKC, Grady would go on to stardom in the Arena Football League, winning three Most Valuable Player awards and setting the sport’s all-time record for passing yards in a season (5,870) with the Utah Blaze in 2012.
Hunt was a warrior who endured for all seven seasons with the Yard Dawgz. He finished his career as AF2’s all-time touchdown leader (224), a mark which will never be broken as the league has now disbanded.
End of the Road
The Yard Dawgz’ original owners included veteran minor league sports investors Jeff Lund and Horn Chen, along with former OU and Dallas Cowboys head coach Barry Switzer. The team claimed strong crowds at first. OKC’s announced attendance of 9,472 fans per game in 2004 was tops among AF2’s 25 franchises.
But by the end of the 2006 season, Lund had put the team up for sale. It took the better part of a year for Lund to unload the Dawgz to one of the team’s season ticket holders, a first-time sports investor Phil Miller.
Miller would steward the Yard Dawgz for their final three seasons in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2009, the team would moved from the Ford Center to the old Myriad Convention Center, known by this time as the Cox Convention Center.
Miller’s ownership coincided with the devastating Great Recession and an overall existential crisis for the sport of Arena Football. The original Arena Football League cancelled its 2009 season entirely amidst labor strife and investor panic. The AFL later declared bankruptcy and disbanded in August 2009. The Yard Dawgz and AF2 managed to complete a final season in 2009, but that league also closed its doors in late 2009.
AF2’s stronger owners purchased the intellectual property rights to the now-defunct Arena Football League from the bankruptcy court and moved their former AF2 franchises to a restored but much lower budget version of the Arena Football League in 2010. Phil Miller brought the Yard Dawgz along for the transition to the new Arena Football League. But after one final season in 2010, Miller threw in the towel and disbanded his team in October 2010.
Oklahoma Yard Dawgz Video
The Yard Dawgz visit the Iowa Barnstormers. Final season of the team. April 24, 2010
Links
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