The Jacksonville Tomcats were an

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

team based in

Jacksonville, Florida 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 ...

, U.S. They were an inaugural franchise in

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 ...

, the developmental league of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL), and played for three seasons, from 2000 to 2002. They played their home games at

Jacksonville Coliseum The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum (originally and still commonly known as the Jacksonville Coliseum) was a multi-purpose arena located in Jacksonville, Florida. Built in 1960 and known as "northern Florida's most historic concert venue ...

History

The

had been interested in placing a team 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 ...

since the 1990s, due to the region's strong support of football. The idea attracted the attention of

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

owner

Wayne Weaver J. Wayne Weaver (born January 14, 1935) is an American businessman. He owns the shoe store chains Shoe Carnival and Nine West, and was the first owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) from 1993 to 2011. Biograph ...

, as the

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 ...

and its team owners forged a presence in the AFL. However, AFL officials ultimately determined that the city's current arena,

, was too small for league standards. In 1999 the AFL announced the creation of a new developmental league, af2. Later that year Jacksonville was awarded one of the fifteen charter franchises in the new league. The team was eventually named the Jacksonville Tomcats after the

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the ...

fighter jet, in reference to Jacksonville's historical connection with the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

. Ownership was awarded to a group that included owners of the

Jacksonville Lizard Kings The Jacksonville Lizard Kings were a professional ice hockey team based in Jacksonville, Florida. Formerly known as the Louisville Icehawks, they played in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) from 1995–2000. They played their home games in the ...

minor league

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team; Wayne Weaver eventually purchased Jacksonville's proprietary arena football rights. The Tomcats began play in the

2000 af2 season The 2000 AF2 season was the first season of the af2. It was succeeded by 2001. The league champions were the Quad City Steamwheelers, who capped off a perfect season with a victory over the Tennessee Valley Vipers in ArenaCup I. This is the only ...

. The Tomcats had to work around the limitations of the Jacksonville Coliseum, as the venue was too small for arena football regulations; the team reduced their end zones from eight to seven yards, and reduced their five-yard markers to only four yards. In their inaugural season they went 9-7 and made the playoffs, but were eliminated in their first post-season game by the

Norfolk Nighthawks The Norfolk Nighthawks are a now-defunct charter member of the AF2. They played their home games at The Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. After a very impressive inaugural season, the Nighthawks never made it back to the playoffs and ...

. The team sold out all of its home games that year, drawing an average of 8,222 spectators. The following year, the Tomcats again went 9–7, but missed the playoffs. Ticket sales declined that year, a trend that continued in 2002, when the Tomcats went 8-8, again falling short of the playoffs. The team's mediocre performance, problems with the aging Coliseum, and the rapid expansion of af2, which jumped from 15 teams to 36 in three seasons, contributed to the Tomcats experiencing the league's second worst drop in ticket sales. In 2002 the Tomcats attendance was 6,047, over 2,000 lower than in 2000, and according to then owner Steve Umberger, who also owned the

Birmingham Steeldogs The Alabama Steeldogs, originally known as the Birmingham Steeldogs, were incorporated in 2000 as one of the charter teams in the AF2, the developmental league of the Arena Football League. Entering their eighth season as of 2007, they were the ...

, the team had lost several thousand dollars that year. However, team ownership and the Arena Football organization anticipated the construction of the new 15,000-capacity

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 ...

, which had broken ground in 2001. After the 2002 season owner Umberger submitted a request to the league for the Tomcats to sit out for the 2003 season, so that they could play in the new Arena the following year, but the league rejected the request. Rather than risk losing more money the next season, and unable to find other interested owners, Umberger decided to fold the team. Following the departure of the Tomcats, 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, ...

attempted to establish itself in the Jacksonville area, but even its most successful attempt, the

Green Cove Lions The Green Cove Lions were an indoor football team intended to be based in Green Cove Springs, Florida. They played briefly in the National Indoor Football League in 2007, but folded before ever playing a home game.Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

began play in the reformatted Arena Football League and continued to do so until 2016 before moving to the

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 $ ...

in 2017.

Notable players

Anthony Bright Anthony Leonard Bright (born March 28, 1977) is a former Canadian and American football wide receiver. He played for the Jacksonville Tomcats of the af2, the Carolina Panthers of the NFL and the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. Bright played c ...

- WR/DB. Went on to play in the NFL as a member of the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...

. *

Micah Ross Micah David Ross (born January 13, 1976) is a former American football wide receiver. He played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the San Diego Chargers, and the Carolina Panthers. In 2001, h ...

- WR. Went on to play in the NFL as a member of the

, San Diego Chargers and

. * Jim Tarle - K. Went on to play in the NFL as a member of the

Season-by-season

, - , 2000 , , 9 , , 7 , , 0 , , 3rd AC , , Lost Round 1 -

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

41, Jacksonville 28 , - , 2001 , , 9 , , 7 , , 0 , , 3rd AC Southeast , , -- , - , 2002 , , 8 , , 8 , , 0 , , 3rd AC Southern , , -- , - !Totals , , 26 , , 23 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including af2 playoffs)

References

External links

Jacksonville Tomcats on ArenaFan.com
{{Af2 Defunct Tomcats Arena Football League in Florida Defunct af2 teams American football teams established in 1999 American football teams disestablished in 2002 American football teams in Florida 1999 establishments in Florida 2002 disestablishments in Florida