The Florida Tarpons were a professional indoor football team based in Lakeland, Florida, out of the RP Funding Center. Originally established in Estero, Florida, and playing out of Germain Arena, they began play in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

of the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL). The Tarpons joined the X-League Indoor Football (X-League) during the 2015 season when the UIFL merged with the X-League. They played in the

Arena Pro Football The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL on ...

(APF) league in 2017 before the league became the American Arena League (AAL) for 2018. For 2019, there was an ownership transition that formed their own Florida-based league, called the A-League, and the team rebranded as the Lakeland Tarpons. The team was removed from the A-League schedule at the start of the 2019 season. The Tarpons were Estero's second indoor football team; their first since arenafootball2's Florida Firecats which played from 2001 until the af2's demise in 2009. In addition, they are the fourth indoor football team in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area, with them and the Firecats joining the unrelated

Fort Myers Tarpons The Fort Myers Tarpons was a 2007 expansion team from the National Indoor Football League. They played their home games at the Lee County Civic Arena in Fort Myers, Florida. They won both of their games, one at home and one on the road, before ...

which played in the National Indoor Football League's final season of 2007 and the

Florida Stingrays The Florida Stingrays were an amateur football team in the American Indoor Football Association and United Football Federation of America. They were once a 2008 expansion team of the American Indoor Football Association, where they played their h ...

which played the 2008

American Indoor Football Association American Indoor Football (AIF) was a professional indoor football league, one of the several regional professional indoor football leagues in North America. The AIFL began as a regional league with six franchises on the East Coast of the United ...

season. (Both teams played at the Lee County Civic Center). The founders of the Tarpons are Andrew and Leah Haines and Michael & Anna Taylor. The Tarpons moved to Lakeland prior to the 2019 season.

Franchise history

2012: Expansion

In July 2011, the Florida Tarpons were announced as an expansion team for the

2012 UIFL season The 2012 United Indoor Football League season was the second season of the league. The league was split into two conferences, and four divisions (two divisions in each conference). On April 24, the league announced that it had taken over operatio ...

. On July 6, 2011, the Tarpons named, UIFL Co-Founder, Michael Taylor, as the team's inaugural head coach. The Tarpons went undefeated during the regular season, and advanced to

Ultimate Bowl The Ultimate Bowl was the annual championship game of the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL). In 2011, it was the meeting of the two semifinal game winners. In 2012, it was the meeting of the winners of the North and South Divisions. Past Ulti ...

II after defeating the

Lakeland Raiders Lakeland is primarily a toponym. It may refer to: Places Australia *Lakeland, Queensland Canada *Lakeland (electoral district), a federal electoral district in Alberta *Lakeland County, a former municipal district in Alberta * District of La ...

in the UIFL South Finals. The Tarpons lost Ultimate Bowl II to the Cincinnati Commandos. Four players from the Tarpons 2012 roster were invited/signed to NFL Rookie Mini Camps: DL Joshua Long, WR Dwayne Frampton, DB Willie Williams, and DB E.J. Whitley. WR

Carlos Singleton Carlos Patrick Singleton (born February 15, 1987) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played as a wide receiver for the University of Memphis. He was signed as an undrafted free agent In professional spo ...

signed with the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League after the Tarpons season ended.

2016: Move to the AIF

On October 7, 2015, the Tarpons announced that they were joining American Indoor Football. On July 18, 2016, the AIF ceased operations, leaving the Tarpons without a league.

2017: Arena Pro Football

On October 20, 2016, the Tarpons were added to the

Arena Developmental 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 The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, th ...

(ADL) for the league's inaugural 2017 season. However, on November 10, the Tarpons announced they had joined the new

(APF) instead and the ADL was soon renamed National Arena League upon the addition of the Jacksonville Sharks. The Tarpons would play their first APF game against the

Alabama Outlawz The Alabama Outlawz were a professional Indoor American football, indoor football team that resumed play in Arena Pro Football. They last played in the 2017 season at the Shelby County Exhibition Center in Columbiana, Alabama. They previously play ...

, also formerly of the X-League. The Tarpons won 42–18. At the end of the season, the Tarpons and the Richmond Roughriders played for the APF championship, losing to the Roughriders 61–75.

2018: American Arena League

During the 2017 APF season, the league announced it would be merging with the Can-Am Indoor Football League to create the American Arena League (AAL) for the 2018 season. By the end of the 2017 season, the Tarpons and Roughriders were to only teams that had played a complete season in the APF and both teams joined the AAL. The Tarpons relocated to Lakeland, Florida, and the RP Funding Center after their lease in Estero expired. The Tarpons opened the season on the road with a 48–21 loss to the

Atlanta Havoc 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 li ...

. The following week they traveled to play the High Country Grizzlies, but the game was cancelled at the last minute due to winter weather and the game was not rescheduled. They played their first game at RP Funding Center on April 14, a 58–20 loss in a rematch with the previous season's APF champions, the Richmond Roughriders. The Tarpons would not win their first game until a 50–20 win over an AAL-affiliated travel-only team, the Austin Wild, on May 5. After another win over an AAL travel-only team, the Peach State Cats, the Tarpons were to travel to play the Georgia Doom in Macon, Georgia. However, the Tarpons then cancelled all remaining away games and announced their final game of the season would be at home against the

Upstate Dragons The Upstate Dragons were a professional indoor football team based out of Anderson, South Carolina, and played their home games at Anderson Sports and Entertainment Center in the 2018 season. They were members of Supreme Indoor Football as a ...

on May 26. The Dragons then announced they would not travel to Lakeland and the Tarpons would then play the semi-professional Gulf Coast Tigers, thus ending their AAL season with a 2–3 record in league games actually played and a final league record of 3–5 after the various forfeits.

2019: A-League

After one season in central Florida, the team rebranded as the Lakeland Tarpons. The Tarpons' ownership was also reorganized, with Micheal Taylor joined by former owner Andrew Haines, as well as Gary Tufford, Kacee Smith, and other locals. The new ownership group then announced on September 13, 2018, that they were launching their own league, called the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, to begin play in 2019 with several Florida-based teams, including the Gulf Coast Fire, Manatee Neptunes and Sarasota BigCats. However, the season was initially pushed back and then scheduled to only have games at RP Funding Center and Hertz Arena over several weeks in May and June 2019. In May 2019, the Tarpons and all games at RP Funding Center were removed from the schedule. The Gulf Coast Fire went undefeated and won the league championship, but after the season ended all other A-League websites, including the Tarpons, were redirected the Fire's website, which itself eventually suspended.

Players

Awards and honors

The following is a list of all Tarpons players who have won league awards:

Staff

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results

Head coaches' records

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the 2018 American Arena League season''

References

External links

Lakeland Tarpons official site
{{AIF American Arena League American football teams in Florida Former American Indoor Football teams Former X-League Indoor Football teams Sports in Fort Myers, Florida Ultimate Indoor Football League teams American football teams established in 2012 American football teams disestablished in 2018 2012 establishments in Florida 2018 disestablishments in Florida Sports in Lakeland, Florida