The Green Cove Lions were an
indoor football team intended to be based in
Green Cove Springs, Florida
Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908.
The city is named after the portio ...
. They played briefly in 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 ...
in 2007, but folded before ever playing a home game.
Darrick Ignasiak, ''Greensboro News & Record'', April 13, 2007
The Green Cove Lions' registered agent was former National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
player Cleveland Gary
Cleveland Everette Gary (born May 4, 1966), also known as Cleveland Edward Gary, is a former professional American football running back in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the first round of the 1989 NFL draft by the Los ...
. The Lions evidently originated with the Jacksonville Stallions, a planned NIFL team that attempted to get a contract to play at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (originally Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Jacksonville, Florida. It currently serves as the home arena of the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL, the Jacksonville Giants o ...
in Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
in 2006.[ This never came through, but the team may have been related to the later Jacksonville Pelicans, another ephemeral NIFL team who listed their home address in the suburb of Green Cove Springs.][ The Pelicans evidently rebranded as the Green Cove Lions for the 2007 season and paid a deposit to use the ]Clay County Fairgrounds The Clay County Fairgrounds, officially known as the Paul E. Reinhold Agricultural Fairgrounds, are fairgrounds located in Green Cove Springs, in Clay County, Florida, United States.
Located on first donated to the county by Paul and Klare Reinh ...
arena in Green Cove Springs as their home stadium. However, they apparently determined that the arena would not be suitable for indoor football. The team played two away games before withdrawing from the rest of their schedule, and folded before ever playing a home game.[
]
By season
, -
, 2007 , , 0 , , 3 , , 0 , , 3rd Atlantic Southeastern , , --
References
{{NIFL
Clay County, Florida
National Indoor Football League teams
Sports clubs and teams in Jacksonville, Florida
American football teams established in 2006
American football teams disestablished in 2007
2006 establishments in Florida
2007 disestablishments in Florida