The Columbus Beast was a professional
indoor football team set to begin play as a charter member of the
Xtreme Indoor Football League for its inaugural 2014 season. Based in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, the Beast were to play their home games at
Stars Indoor Sports.
History
The Beast was set to be the third indoor/arena football team to call Ohio's capital city home. Both of Columbus' previous two teams played in the
Arena Football League; the
Columbus Thunderbolts
The Cleveland Thunderbolts were an Arena football team based in Richfield, Ohio. The Thunderbolts were founded in 1991 and were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL). In 1994, the franchise relocated to Columbus The team played for four se ...
only played the
1991 season
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...
at the
Ohio Expo Center Coliseum before moving to
Cleveland the following year, whereas the
Columbus Destroyers (which had moved from
Buffalo, New York) played at
Nationwide Arena from
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
until the league went on hiatus following the
2008 season (most notably appearing in
ArenaBowl XXI
ArenaBowl XXI was the 2007 championship game of the Arena Football League and was played at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, July 29, 2007. It was the third-ever neutral site title game in league's history and the first h ...
). A
Continental Indoor Football League team called the
Columbus Aces was set to begin play in 2010, but the ownership group instead decided to keep their
Marion Mayhem franchise going for one more season.
The Beast were planned to play the inaugural XLIF season, but were left out and didn't participate in the second season as well, and are currently considered folded.
Staff
The Beast's ownership group is led by XIFL president LaMonte Coleman; Coleman also is head of the
Marion Blue Racers' ownership group. In addition, former
Toledo Rockets quarterback and indoor football veteran
Chris Wallace will serve as the Beast's inaugural head coach.
References
External links
Columbus Beast Official WebsiteXtreme Indoor Football League Official Website
{{Ohio Sports
X-League Indoor Football teams
American football teams in Columbus, Ohio
American football teams established in 2013
American football teams disestablished in 2014