The Dayton Wolfpack were a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

(NAL) in its inaugural 2017 season. Originally to be based in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, the Wolfpack had announced their home venue as the

Nutter Center The Nutter Center is a multi-purpose arena located at Wright State University, in Fairborn, Ohio. It mainly serves as the home court of the Wright State Raiders men's and women's basketball teams. It is also regularly used as a music venue for ...

but apparently failed to reach a lease agreement. The Wolfpack were then listed as a traveling team by the NAL. The Wolfpack would have been the sixth indoor football team to call Dayton home, following the

Dayton Skyhawks The Dayton Skyhawks were a professional indoor American football team based in Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Gre ...

of the original

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a professional indoor American football league created in 2008 out of the merger between the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football. It has one of the largest number of currently active teams amon ...

(1999–2000), the Dayton Warbirds/Bulldogs of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...

(2005–2006),

The Marshals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

also of the NIFL (2007), the

Dayton Silverbacks The Dayton Silverbacks were a professional indoor football team based in Dayton, Ohio. The team was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The franchise started as the Miami Valley Silverbacks and joined the CIFL in 2007 afte ...

of the

Continental Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLIF ...

(2011–2012) and finally the

Dayton Sharks The Dayton Sharks were a professional indoor football team based in Dayton, Ohio. The team was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL). The franchise started as an expansion team in the CIFL during the 2013 season. The Sharks ...

also of the CIFL (2013–2014).

History

On August 11, 2016, the Arena Developmental League (which then became the

) officially announced the Wolfpack as its fourth charter team, following the previously announced

Columbus Lions The Columbus Lions are a professional indoor football team based in Columbus, Georgia and are a member of the American Indoor Football Alliance. The were a founding member of the National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season. The Lions were f ...

High Country Grizzlies The High Country Grizzlies were a professional indoor football team that began play in the 2017 season. Based in Boone, North Carolina, the Grizzlies played their home games at the George M. Holmes Convocation Center on the campus of Appalachi ...

and

Lehigh Valley Steelhawks The Lehigh Valley Steelhawks were a professional indoor football team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Steelhawks began play as an expansion team in the Indoor Football League (IFL) in 2011. The Steelhawks moved to the Professional Indoor ...

. The team was originally announced to be led by head coach Derrick Shepard and owners Jerome and Jesse Clark. Over social media, the owners of the Wolfpack announced they would be playing at the

and the NAL made the schedule listing the Nutter as their home venue. Due to the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

needing to fulfill their previous eight home contract with their arena from their time in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, the Wolfpack and

Corpus Christi Rage The Corpus Christi Rage was a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) that began play in its inaugural 2017 season. Based in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Rage played their home games at the America ...

each were only scheduled for five home games, with four home games of the Wolfpack's falling on a Monday. However, by February 2017, several signed players reported over social media that they had all been released from their contracts due to lack of a home venue. By February 20, the NAL had removed their home games from the schedule, leaving the Wolfpack as a traveling team. Also over social media, Marcus Ray announced he would be operating the Wolfpack traveling team out of the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

area for the season. Later in the season, Erasmus Harvey announced his new team, the

Georgia Doom The Georgia Doom were a professional indoor football team based out of Macon, Georgia. They play their home games at Macon Coliseum. They started as a midseason road team filling in for the folded Dayton Wolfpack in the National Arena League in 20 ...

, would play the

Georgia Firebirds The Georgia Firebirds were a professional indoor football team based in Albany, Georgia, and played their home games at the Albany Civic Center. Previously, the Firebirds played as an outdoor football team in various semi-pro leagues before going ...

as the Dayton Wolfpack for the April 29 game in Albany. The Wolfpack were not listed as members of the league after the NAL 2017 summer meetings concluded.

Season-by-season results

2017 season

Schedule

Key: ''All start times were local time''

Roster

References

External links

Dayton Wolfpack official website
{{2017 NAL season template, state=expanded American football teams in Dayton, Ohio Defunct American football teams in Ohio Defunct indoor American football teams National Arena League teams American football teams established in 2016 American football teams disestablished in 2017 2016 establishments in Ohio 2017 disestablishments in Ohio