The West Texas Warbirds are a professional indoor football team and a member of

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 $ ...

. The Warbirds are based in

Odessa, Texas Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small section of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 114,428 at the 2020 census, mak ...

, with home games at the

Ector County Coliseum The Ector County Coliseum is a 5,131 seat multi-purpose arena in Odessa, Texas. Tenants It is home to the Odessa Jackalopes (North American Hockey League), the West Texas Warbirds (Champions Indoor Football), the Sand Hills Rodeo, and the bien ...

. The team was originally a member of

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 ...

, but never played a league game due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

History

The Warbirds are the third arena/indoor football team based in Odessa, following the Odessa/West Texas Roughnecks (2004–2012) and the

West Texas Wildcatters The West Texas Wildcatters were a professional indoor football team based in Odessa, Texas. The Wildcatters played their home games at the Ector County Coliseum. The Wildcatters began play in 2014 an expansion team in the Lone Star Football League ...

(2014). On October 2, 2019,

(CIF) announced an expansion team to be based in Odessa for the 2020 season with the team planning to represent West Texas and use it in their team name. A name-the-team contest was held, with Warbirds being announced as the team's name on December 18, beating the "Warriors," "Law," "Outlawz", and "Thunder" in the contest. The Warbirds' planned inaugural 2020 season was cancelled due to the onset of the

. The CIF then delayed the 2021 season, but the local capacity and interstate travel restrictions in Texas led the Warbirds and the

Amarillo Venom The Amarillo Venom were a professional indoor football team based in Amarillo, Texas. They played their home games at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Venom began play in 2004 as the Amarillo Dusters, a charter member of the Intense Football Leagu ...

to withdraw from participating in the 2021 CIF season. The Venom and Warbirds instead launched the Lone Star Series, a series of games between the two CIF Texas teams and a few other Texas-based semiprofessional teams. The Warbirds defeated the Venom, 79–60 to claim the Lone Star Series championship. Amarillo and West Texas officially left the CIF and turned their Lone Star Series from the previous season into the

Arena Football Association The Arena Football Association (AFA) is a professional indoor football league based in Texas, Kansas and Mississippi, United States. The league began operation in June 2021 with five teams, known that season as the Lone Star Series. The league ...

(AFA) in November 2021. The new league also announced its initial membership consisting of former Lone Star Series member Texas Jets, former

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Can-Am), although the AAL o ...

champions North Texas Bulls, the dormant

Rio Grande Valley Dorados The Rio Grande Valley Dorados were a professional arena football team. They began playing in 2004 as an expansion member of af2, the minor league to the Arena Football League. They played their home games at Obra Homes Field at Dodge Arena in ...

, and the Texas Crude. In 2023, the Warbirds joined the

and are currently playing their only season in the league. On July 18, 2023, the team announced via their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page that they will move to the relaunched

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 ...

in 2024. On August 22, 2023, the team announced via their

page that they had changed their name to the Desert Hawks.

Season-by-season

Current roster

Notes

External links

Official website
{{Texas sports Champions Indoor Football teams American football teams in Texas Sports in Odessa, Texas American football teams established in 2019 2019 establishments in Texas