Tombstone
Born: 2003 – Arena Football 2 expansion franchise
Folded: November 20041NO BYLINE. “Sports Briefs: Af2: Laredo Law not playing in 2005”. The Monitor (McAllen, TX), November 9, 2004
First Game: April 3, 2004 (L 37-6 @ Rio Grande Valley Dorados)
Last Game: July 31, 2004 (L 76-28 @ Tulsa Talons)
ArenaCup Championships: None
Arena
Laredo Entertainment Center (8,000)22004 Laredo Law Media Guide
Opened: 2002
Marketing
Team Colors: Black, Branding Iron Red & Tan Suede32004 Laredo Law Media Guide
Ownership
Owners: Kiki DeAyala, et al.
Trophy Case
AF2 Defensive Player of the Year
- 2004: Traco Rachal
Background
The Laredo Law were a South Texas arena football team that played a single last-place campaign at the 8,000-seat Laredo Entertainment Center during the spring and summer of 2004. Laredo was an expansion team for the fifth season of Arena Football 2, a small-market developmental offshoot of the Arena Football League.
Though AF2 had a sprawling, nationwide presence at the time, Laredo’s schedule primarily consisted of games against regional opponents that could be accessed by bus travel. The Law played twelve of their sixteen games against four divisional opponents from Hidalgo (TX), Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Wichita. The other four games were against non-divisional opponents, including a 1,400 mile road trip to Estero on the southwest edge of Florida in mid-July, where the Law were slaughtered 67-17 by the eventual champions of the 2004 AF2 season, the Florida Firecats.
The Law finished their only season with a 3-13 record, which was good for last place in AF2’s Southwest Division and tied for the worst won-loss ledger in the 25-team league. One bright spot was the play of Defensive Specialist Traco Rachal, who earned the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award.
South Texas Is Hockey Country
The Law were owned and operated by the investment group behind the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League. At the time, the Bucks were an unlikely success story in the lower tiers of minor league hockey. The team claimed an average of 6,683 fans per night at the newly opened $36.5 million Laredo Entertainment Center during the winter of 2002-03. The Bucks investor group added the Law to their portfolio as the hockey team entered its sophomore season in the fall of 2023. The hockey team’s sales & administrative staff pulled double duty for both franchises.
The Law maintained a South Texas rivalry with the Hidalgo-based Rio Grande Valley Dorados, who also entered AF2 as an expansion team in 2004. Like the Law, the Dorados were an extension of a popular Central Hockey League franchise, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. Laredo won once and lost twice against the Dorados in what would turn out to be the only season of the rivalry.
Demise & Aftermath
Bucks/Law part-owner and CEO Kiki DeAyala was a football guy. As a linebacker at the University of Texas in the early 1980’s, he set the university record for career sacks. In the pros, he was an All-USFL performer for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football league and later played two NFL seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.
In November 2004, DeAyala announced that the Law would not return for the 2005 Arena Football 2 season. The Bucks had more staying power. The hockey team went on to play 10 seasons and won two Central Hockey League championship before disbanding in 2012.
The Laredo Entertainment Center got a new indoor football franchise in 2006, the Laredo Lobos of the Intense Football League. For the 2007 season, the Lobos joined Arena Football 2. The Lobos were dreadful, posting a combined 3-27 record over two seasons and disbanded following the 2007 season.
Downloads
2004 Laredo Law Media Guide
2004 Laredo Law Media Guide
Links
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