The Lehigh Valley Outlawz were a professional indoor football team based in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

. The team began play as a semi-pro team in the Labelle Community Football League as the ''Philly Outlawz''. The team was later a charter member of the

Great Lakes Indoor Football League The Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL) was an indoor football league based along the Midwestern United States region that played nine seasons from 2006 to 2014. It began play in April 2006 as the Great Lakes Indoor Football League (GLI ...

joining the league in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

. The Outlawz and the

Reading Express The Reading Express were a professional indoor football team based in Reading, Pennsylvania. They were most recently a member of the United Conference of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Express began play in 2006, as an expansion team of ...

were the first professional indoor football team to be based in Lehigh Valley. The Outlawz were owned by Jim DePaul. They played their home games at the Stabler Arena on the campus of

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

Franchise history

2004–2005

Prior to joining indoor football, they were a semi-pro team from the Labelle Community Football League known as the Philly Outlawz. They played in the league from 2004 to 2005.

2006: Turning pro

In 2006, the Outlawz made the jump to professional status when they joined the

. During their inaugural year, the Outlawz hosted the first, and only, GLIFL All-Star Game. They ended their regular season at 5-5 which was good enough to clinch the number 3 playoff spot. In the playoffs, they were eliminated by the second-seeded

Rochester Raiders The Rochester Raiders were a professional indoor American football, indoor football team based in the Rochester, New York area. They played their home games at Bill Gray's Regional Iceplex in Rochester. The Raiders were previously a member of the ...

in the semifinals.

Standings

2007

In 2007, the Outlawz would finish the season with a 7-5 record which, would again earn them the number 3 seed in the Atlantic Division playoffs. They went on to lose in the semifinal round of the playoffs to the

New England Surge The New England Surge were an indoor football team that was a member of the Continental Indoor Football League in 2007 and 2008. The Surge played home games at the DCU Center in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts. On April 24, 2007, only four gam ...

Schedule

Standings

2008

The Outlawz would finish the 2008 regular season with a 6-5 record and the #2 seed in the Atlantic Division East. The team would take a big step in winning their first playoff game against the New England Surge before being defeated by the

Saginaw Sting The Saginaw Sting was a professional Indoor Football team based in Saginaw, Michigan. The team was most recently a member of American Indoor Football (AIF). They began play in 2008 as an expansion team in the Continental Indoor Football League ...

in the Atlantic Division Championship.

Schedule

Standings

Demise

After the 2008 season the Outlawz, along with the New England Surge left the CIFL and planned to start their own league, the United States Indoor Football League. Later three more teams, the Southland (IL) Chill, the Bridgeview Red Devils, and the Pennsylvania Stillers were announced as participants in the newly formed league. The team had stated that the season would start in March, around the same time that its previous seasons had begun. However, the start was then pushed back to April, then May and a final announcement was made that the 2009 schedule would be out June 1. The schedule never came out and the team and league website stopped being updated. The team shut down their

Hellertown, Pennsylvania Hellertown is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 6,132 at the 2020 census. Hellertown is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous metropolitan area ...

headquarters. The league website stated that it (the USIFL) was based out of

Cape Coral, Florida Cape Coral is a city located in Lee County, Florida, United States, on the Gulf of Mexico. Founded in 1957 and developed as a planned community, the city's population has grown to 194,016 as of the 2020 Census, a rise of 26% from the 2010 Census ...

, however, the USIFL decided it was best to not try and start a new league venture with the US economy in its current condition. Rumors of unpaid player and accounts were never confirmed and a lawsuit brought by a former coach was dismissed without merit.

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Philly Outlawz (LCFL) , - , 2004 , , 9 , , 4 , , 0 , , 2nd D Division , , Lost Round 1 (

Claymont Claymont is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware. The estimated 2017 population of the 19703 ZIP code, which Claymont encompasses, was 15,292. History The community now known as Claymont started on the banks of Naamans C ...

) , - , 2005 , , 9 , , 1 , , 1 , , 1st League , , Won Round 1 ( Eastwick)
Won Semifinal (

)
Lost LaBelle Bowl II ( Frankford) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lehigh Valley Outlawz (GLIFL) , - , 2006 , , 5 , , 5 , , 0 , , 3rd League , , Lost Semifinals (

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lehigh Valley Outlawz (CIFL) , - , 2007 , , 7 , , 5 , , 0 , , 3rd Atlantic , , Lost AD Semifinal (

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

) , - , 2008 , , 6 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd Atlantic East , , Won AD East Finals (

)
Lost AD Championship (

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

) , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Lehigh Valley Outlawz (USIFL) , - , 2009 , , -- , , -- , , -- , , -- , , -- , - !Totals , , 37 , , 21 , , 1 , colspan="2", (including LCFL, GLIFL, and CIFL playoffs)

External links

Official website

Outlawz' 2006 stats

Outlawz' 2007 stats

{{CIFL Former Continental Indoor Football League teams Sports in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Defunct American football teams in Pennsylvania American football teams established in 2006 American football teams disestablished in 2008 2006 establishments in Pennsylvania 2008 disestablishments in Pennsylvania