The Kats Are Back

The Nashville Kats are back in town. 

Music City's former Arena Football League (AFL) franchise is set for a return in April 2024 when the AFL returns to begin play.

The AFL announced that the Kats will be playing at the Municipal Auditorium and former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher will be its chief advisor.

The first game is set for Saturday, April 27, 2024.

Fisher will serve as a senior adviser for the franchise when the league relaunches in 2024.

The original Arena Football League was founded in 1986, played its first season in 1987 and lasted 22 years before going bankrupt in 2008. The league returned in 2010 and lasted through the 2019 season. The Nashville Kats were in the league from 1997 to 2001 and 2005 to 2007.

The Nashville Kats in their first stint were the AFL's Organization of the Year in their inaugural season in 1997, made the playoffs every season and played in the Arena Bowl in 2000 and 2001.  When the Kats returned, they went 6-9-1 in 2005, and then 8-8 in 2006 and returned to the playoffs. The Kats were 7-9 in their final season and just missed the playoffs.

The Kats played at Bridgestone Arena, formerly Nashville Arena, in their previous stints. The average attendance for home games in their eight seasons was 12,302.  The new franchise is owned by Nashville Arena Sports, LLC and will play its home games at Municipal Auditorium, with the season opener set for April 27, 2024. The team will play one regular-season game at the new F&M Bank Arena in Clarksville. 

The other teams in the league include the Oregon Blackbears, Iowa Rampage, Wichita Regulators, Salina Liberty, Southwest Kansas Storm, Rapid City Marshals, Albany Firebirds, Washington Wolfpack, Orlando Predators, Billings Outlaws and West Texas Desert Hawks.  The teams will play 10 regular-season games.

I'm all for the return of the Nashville Kats but I'm still hesitant about the quality of the "new" AFL with their placement of franchises.  The decision to play in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium seems to indicate a low-budget league to me.  Have you ever been to a sporting event there?  I attended some Nashville Venon games there when they played in the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) and it was not exactly top-notch. I guess we will see what kind of product the AFL will showcase when the league returns in April.