There have been numerous incarnations of the Baltimore Clippers hockey team dating back to the 1940’s. This FWiL entry covers the most prominent edition of the Clippers namesake – the American Hockey League franchise that took up residence at the brand-new Baltimore Civic Center upon the downtown arena’s opening in 1962.
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. In 2018, the Brigade played in Arena Bowl XXXI, a bizarre spectacle that somehow saw the Brigade lose the championship game to the Washington Valor, the league’s last place team that went 2-10 in the regular season.
American Hockey League (1995-1997) Born: April 11, 1995 – AHL expansion franchise Moved: 1997 (Cincinnati Mighty Ducks) First Game: October 6, 1995 (L 3-1 vs. Carolina
Baltimore has long been the most resilient outpost for the fading sport of indoor soccer. The city has enjoyed Blast soccer at the ancient Baltimore Arena for over 40 years now. At the peak of the indoor game’s popularity in the mid-80’s, the Blast packed 10,000 a night into the building. The Blast’s fortunes began a long steady decline in the late 1980’s. But the team has stubbornly soldiered on, surviving the rise and fall of countless leagues, rivals, rule changes and business model gimmicks. The one exception was a six-year stretch in the 1990’s, after the original Blast folded and a successor franchise, the Baltimore Spirit, took up residence at the Arena.
Arena Football League (1987, 1989-1990) Born: 1987 – Arena Football founding franchise Folded: Postseason 1990 First Game: June 19, 1987 (L 48-46 @ Pittsburgh Gladiators) Last Game:
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