The New York Knights were an

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) team based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They played in the league for one season,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. They played their home games at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

. After going 2–10 overall in their only season the team ceased operations. The league then went several years before attempting to re-enter the nation's largest

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

market with the

New York CityHawks The Toronto Phantoms were a professional arena football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The team was a member of the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team also previously operated in New York Ci ...

History

The Knights became an expansion team of the

in 1988. The team announced

Jim Valek James Joseph Valek (January 25, 1928 – September 4, 2005) was an American football player, coach, and executive. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1967 to 1970, compiling a record of 8 ...

as the first coach in franchise history. The team featured a couple of players from the 1987 New York Giants replacement team, including starting quarterback Jim Crocicchia and his primary receiver Edwin Lovelady, but its desire to fans was questioned before the team began playing games. The Knights won their first game in franchise history, 60–52 over the

Los Angeles Cobras The Los Angeles Cobras were a professional arena football team based in Los Angeles, California that played one season (1988) in the Arena Football League. History On March 16, 1988, it was announced that team would be nicknamed the Cobras, as ...

. During the Knights home opener, fight erumped in the stands, and items were thrown on the field. After winning the season opener, the Knights lost 4 straight games before returning home to a smaller crowd, losing 22–36 to the Cobras. The Knights would lose 8 straight games before they defeated the Cobras 40–30 in Los Angeles. The team folded after a disappointing 2–8 season.

Notable players

Roster

All-Arena players

The following Knights players were named to All-Arena Teams: *WR/DB

Vince Courville Vincent Eric Courville (born December 5, 1959) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys. He was also a member of the Houston Gamblers in the United States Football League and the N ...

*OL/DL

Quinton Knight Quinton Knight (born October 28, 1963) is a former American football lineman who played seven seasons in the Arena Football League with the New York Knights, Denver Dynamite, Orlando Predators, Detroit Drive, Massachusetts Marauders and Miami ...

Head coaches

Season results

References

External links

AFL Official Website
{{Defunct Arena Football League franchises American football teams in New York City Defunct American football teams in New York City 1988 establishments in New York City