The Topeka Tropics are a professional
indoor football in
Champions Indoor Football
Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from ...
. Based in
Topeka, Kansas
Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...
, the Tropics play their home games at the
Stormont Vail Events Center. The team originally folded after its inaugural season, but was renewed for the 2023-2025 seasons.
History
The Tropics will be the third indoor football team to be based in Topeka following the
Topeka Knights/Kings (1999–2000) and the
Kansas Koyotes
The Kansas Koyotes, founded by Ralph Adams, were a professional indoor football and were a charter member of the Champions Professional Indoor Football League. Based in Topeka, Kansas, the Koyotes played their home games at Landon Arena.
The ...
(2003–2014).
On August 9, 2021,
Champions Indoor Football
Champions Indoor Football (CIF) is a professional indoor American football minor league created in 2014 out of the merger between the Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL) and Lone Star Football League (LSFL), plus one team from ...
(CIF) announced an expansion team to be based in Topeka for the 2022 season with
Sioux City Bandits
The Sioux City Bandits are a professional indoor football team based in Sioux City, Iowa, and compete as a member of Champions Indoor Football (CIF). The team was founded in 1999 as the Sioux City Attack. In 2001, the team assumed their current ...
' owner J. R. Bond serving as the team's owner.
After a name-the-team contest was held, the Tropics name, logo, and color scheme were unveiled on September 8. Although Topeka does not have a tropical climate and is roughly 790 miles from the closest sea (the Gulf of Mexico), Bond chose the unusual name to symbolize how unconventional the Tropics organization would be both on and off the field.
On October 5, the Tropics announced former
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 ...
player
Tyus Jackson as its inaugural head coach. On August 25, 2022, the Tropics announced that they would cease operations and not return for a second season;
however, this decision was reversed later that same year
Notes
External links
Official websiteMerchandise Website
{{Kansas Sports
Champions Indoor Football teams
American football teams in Kansas
Sports in Topeka, Kansas
American football teams established in 2021
2021 establishments in Kansas