Baltimore Brigade

Arena Football League (1999-2000)

Tombstone

Born: November 14, 2016 – AFL expansion franchise
Folded: October 29, 2019

First Game: April 7, 2017 (L 51-38 @ Washington Valor)
Last Game: August 3, 2019 (L 62-21 vs. Albany Empire)

Arena Bowl Championships: None

Arena

Royal Farms Arena (14,000)
Opened: 1962

Marketing

Team Colors: Brigade Blue, Brigade Light Blue & Brigade Silver

Ownership

Owner: Monumental Sports & Entertainment (Ted Leonsis, et al.)

Background

The Baltimore Brigade were a late-era entry in the now-defunct Arena Football League. The Brigade played during one the league’s darkest eras, when the once sprawling national league was reduced to a tiny cluster of survivors in the northeastern U.S.

During the AFL’s final three seasons, the league owed its existence largely to the patronage of Ted Leonsis, the billionaire owner the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals. Leonsis invested in the league in 2016, establishing two 2017 expansion teams – the Brigade and the Washington Valor – at a time when the AFL had just three other viable franchises. By the second season of Leonsis’ involvement in 2018, the AFL had been reduced to just four teams: Leonsis’ Baltimore and Washington teams, plus Albany and Philadelphia.

Arena Bowl XXXI: All in the Family

The Brigade’s best season was 2018. The team finished 7-5 under Head Coach Omarr Smith, who guided the team for all three seasons of its existence. Due to having just four active teams, the AFL concocted a bizarre playoff format. All four clubs made the postseason. The #1 seed played the #4 seed and the #2 seed played the #3 seed in a home-and-home series with the highest point scorer in the two-game set advancing to Arena Bowl XXXI. The #2 seed Brigade defeated the Philadelphia Soul in their half of the semi-finals. Preposterously, the Leonsis’ last place Washington Valor (2-10 record in regular season) ousted the top seed Albany Empire in the other semi-final series. This set up a contest between both of Leonsis’ teams in Arena Bowl XXXI.

Arena Bowl XXXI was supposed to be hosted by the semi-final winner with the highest attendance during the regular season. The Brigade finished last in the AFL in attendance every season from 2017 to 2019. But due to scheduling conflicts at Capital One Arena in Washington D.C., the Brigade ended up hosting Arena Bowl XXXI at Royal Farms Arena on July 28, 2018. The last place Valor continued their bizarre postseason run of luck, upsetting the Brigade 69-55 on the road to claim the AFL’s 2018 championship, despite an overall regular season and playoff record of 4-10.

The announced crowd of 8,183 was the smallest in the 32-year history of the Arena Bowl title game.

Demise

The Brigade played one final season in 2019. The AFL fielded six teams with the addition of expansion franchises in Atlantic City and Columbus. The Brigade finished 7-5, good enough for the lowest seed in the AFL’s four-team playoff. The Brigade’s final appearance was a 62-21 blowout playoff loss to the eventual champion Albany Empire at Royal Farms Arena on August 3, 2019.

In late October 2019, the Arena Football League announced the immediate closure of all six league franchises as the organization sought a way forward in the face of years of legacy liabilities and legal threats from creditors. On November 27, 2019 the league officially threw in the towel and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.