The Georgia Firebirds were a professional indoor football team based in Albany,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, and played their home games at the

Albany Civic Center The Albany James H. Gray Sr. Civic Center (''Albany Civic Center'' for short) is a 10,240-seat multi-purpose arena in Albany, Georgia, United States. History With the opening of the Albany Mall in 1976, most long-established firms closed their ...

. Previously, the Firebirds played as an outdoor football team in various semi-pro leagues before going indoor. The Firebirds joined

American Indoor Football 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 ...

(AIF) for the 2016 season but the league folded after one season. The Firebirds then joined the new

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) for the 2017 season. The Firebirds were the third indoor/arena football team to call Albany home, following the

South Georgia Wildcats The South Georgia Wildcats were a professional arena football team based in Albany, Georgia. They were member of the South Division of the American Conference of Arenafootball2 (AF2). The Wildcats joined the AF2 in 2002 as an expansion team, aft ...

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

(which played in Albany from

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until the league folded in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

) and the

Albany Panthers The Albany Panthers were an indoor football team based in Albany, Georgia. The team joined the Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) during their inaugural season in 2010. When the SIFL folded, the team joined the Professional Indoor Football L ...

of the

Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom H ...

and later the

Professional Indoor Football League The Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) was a professional indoor football league that played four seasons from 2012 to 2015. Like the Lone Star Football League, the PIFL was mainly composed of teams formerly part of Southern Indoor Foo ...

(which played from

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until

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, winning the 2011 SIFL and 2012 PIFL championships).

History

On November 18, 2015, the Firebirds finalized the contract with the city of Albany, Georgia, and the Albany Civic Center, to play indoor football for the 2016 season after several years playing as a semi-professional outdoor team. On March 20, 2016, the Firebirds lost their first league game as part of

to the

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 ...

by a score of 86–0. The following day, head coach Davis Daniels, Jr. was fired and replaced by Antwone Savage. They finished the season one spot out of a playoff position after being forced to forfeit their final game of the season due to their team bus breaking down. In July 2016, the AIF ceased operations leaving the Firebirds without a league. On September 13, the team announced it had joined the newly formed Arena Developmental League (which became the

) for the 2017 season. In May 2017, the league apparently took over operations of the Firebirds for the remainder of the season. As a result, the league cancelled the Firebirds' away game at the

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 ...

(another team the league was operating) as a cost-cutting measure. The National Arena League announced in September 2017 that the Firebirds were undergoing an ownership transition but could not commit to the 2018 season while the new ownership were negotiating a new arena lease. By November, the new owners failed to obtain the new lease and were removed from the league as members.

Final roster

Coaching staff

Statistics and records

Season-by-season results

Head coaches' records

''Note: Statistics are correct through the end of the

2017 National Arena League season The 2017 National Arena League season was the inaugural season of the National Arena League (NAL). Playing with eight teams spread across the eastern and southern United States (with one team in Mexico), the league's regular season kicked off on ...

.''

References

External links

Georgia Firebirds official website
{{AIF 2009 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 2017 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)