The Arizona Hotshots were a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

based in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

, and one of the eight members of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

(AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played their home games at

Sun Devil Stadium Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...

on the campus of

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

. The Hotshots were one of two AAF teams based in a city that already had an NFL team (the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

; the other team was the

Atlanta Legends The Atlanta Legends were a professional American football franchise based in Atlanta, Georgia, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which played one season from February 2019 to April 2019. They played their h ...

, where the NFL's

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

are based). The Hotshots were coached by former

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

player and college head coach

Rick Neuheisel Richard Gerald Neuheisel Jr. (; born February 7, 1961) is an American football analyst, coach, former player, and attorney. He served as the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1995 to 1999, at the University of Washi ...

. Scott Brubaker was the team president and

Phil Savage Phillip Savage Jr. (born April 7, 1965) is a former American football executive. In 2019 he was the general manager for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football. He was the senior vice president and general manager of the Browns f ...

was the general manager. On April 2, 2019, the league's football operations were reportedly suspended, and on April 4 the league allowed players to leave their contracts to sign with NFL teams. The league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on April 17, 2019. At the time of the bankruptcy, the Hotshots owed over $1.2 million to

for leasing Sun Devil Stadium.

History

Rick Neuheisel was announced as the head coach of the Arizona Hotshots by the Alliance of American Football on May 18, 2018. The team was slated to play at

. By September 25, Scott Brubaker and

were named team president and general manager, respectively. Phoenix's name and logo were revealed on September 25, 2018, as the Arizona Hotshots along with the other three western teams. The name is a tribute to the region's firefighters, nicknamed hotshots, while the color scheme of green, orange, and yellow are commonly worn by such fire crews. The team's logo is a pair of crossed pickhead axes, which are used by structural firefighters and not the wildland firefighters the team is named for. The branding was developed by the national office then handed off to the team staff. Reception of the name was mixed, with some arguing it "exploits the memory of the

Granite Mountain Hotshots The Prescott Fire Department is the municipal fire department for the city of Prescott, Arizona. Additionally, the PFD provides aircraft rescue and firefighting for the Prescott Municipal Airport. Founded in 1885, it is the oldest fire departme ...

." On March 3, 2019, the team retired No. 19 to honor the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots killed in the

Yarnell Hill Fire The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by dry lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Just one of the hotshots on the crew survived—he was pos ...

in 2013. On October 11, 2018, the team named

Hugh Freeze Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

as the offensive coordinator and the rest of the coaching staff. In the 2019 AAF QB Draft, the Hotshots did not protect the assigned (by geographical method) quarterback

Mike Bercovici Michael Bercovici (born February 9, 1993) is an American football coach and former quarterback who currently serves as an offensive assistant for the Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at Arizona State. He signed with the San Diego ...

in the first round and instead selected

Trevor Knight Trevor A. Knight (born October 3, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Oklahoma and Texas A&M. After leading Oklahoma to an 8–5 record in the 2014 season, he lost the starting job in an open quarter ...

for his speed. The final 52-man roster was set on January 30. In January 2019, the Hotshots held their preseason camp in San Antonio. They won their season opener at

on February 10, 2019, against the

Salt Lake Stallions The Salt Lake Stallions were a professional American football franchise based in Salt Lake City, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF), which began play in February 2019. The Stallions were the northernmost team in ...

Personnel

Staff

Allocation pool

The Hotshots owned the rights to players from designated schools: Colleges *

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

* Northwestern *

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stude ...

* Wake Forest *

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

The Hotshots also had rights to players unaffiliated with one of the designated schools, but who were most recently affiliated with professional teams: National Football League (NFL) *

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) *

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

Players not affiliated with any of the designated teams could sign with any AAF team.

Final roster

2019 season

Final standings

Schedule

Preseason

Regular season

''All times local to Tempe, as Arizona does not use

daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

. Arizona's year-round

MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...

is equivalent to PDT after March 9.

Game summaries

Week 1: Salt Lake

Week 2: at Memphis

Week 3: at Salt Lake

Week 4: Atlanta

Week 5: San Antonio

Week 6: at Orlando

In an upset, the Hotshots beat the Apollos to ruin their chances at a perfect season. (They fall to 5–1) With the win, they improve to 3–3.

Week 7: San Diego

Week 8: at San Antonio

Media

In addition to league-wide television coverage through

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, and

B/R Live Bleacher Report (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. Bleacher Report was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in Aug ...

, Hotshots' games were also broadcast on local radio by

KDUS KDUS ( AM 1060) is a sports talk radio station broadcasting out of Tempe, Arizona, and serving the Phoenix metropolitan radio market. It is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc. and licensed to Phoenix FCC License Sub, LLC. Its studios are locate ...

, an

NBC Sports Radio NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of t ...

affiliate.