Arena Pro Football

Arena Pro Football

Arena Pro Football
Sport	Indoor football
Founded	2016
Inaugural season	2017
CEO	Anthony Zefiretto Sr.
President	Jack Bowman
No. of teams	5 (as of March 7, 2017)
Country	United States
Headquarters	Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Official website	arenaprofootball.com

Arena Pro Football (APF) is a professional indoor football league based in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The league began its first season in March 2017. They are one of many professional indoor football leagues to launch following the dissolution of American Indoor Football such as the National Arena League and Supreme Indoor Football.

The league was originally announced as the National Arena Football League in 2016. The league announced their first three teams as the Birmingham Outlawz, Myrtle Beach Sharks, and Savannah Coastal Outlaws. The league changed its name to Arena Pro Football (APF) in September 2016 after the Birmingham Outlawz accidentally posted the NAFL logo of North American Football League as their league logo. They added expansion teams in the Cape Fear Wildcats and Richmond Roughriders. The league would also add the Florida Tarpons and River City Raiders from the recently defunct American Indoor Football (AIF). The Central Florida Jaguars and Palm Beach Phantoms were also listed as members for awhile until they were later removed and added as league affiliates and part of the Elite Indoor Football Conference. The Birmingham Outlawz later changed their name back to Alabama Outlawz after they failed to secure an arena in Birmingham. The Myrtle Beach Sharks announced they had joined the outdoor Gridiron Developmental Football League on March 7 and had left the APF.

Also prior to its first season, the APF formed several agreements with other upstart leagues. The first affiliation was with United States Indoor Football, a summer league that plays all its games in Savannah, Georgia, and operated by the Coastal Outlaws (the organization that also runs the Savannah Coastal Outlaws). On November 3, 2016, the league also announced inter-league play with the Elite Indoor Football Conference, the league formed by the Central Florida Jaguars after the dissolving of the AIF. However, all references to the EIFC were removed in January 2017 even after the Jaguars and Phantoms had attended the December 2016 league meetings. They also announced on November 14, 2016, an alliance with the Can-Am Indoor Football League where the playoff champions of each league meet for an inter-league championship game.