The Arena Football League announced Wednesday that it is ceasing all operations and has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The announcement comes after the AFL suspended all local operations in October.
The AFL was founded in 1987 and launched the careers of some well-known NFL names included Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, former Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden and current Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy.
The league had dwindled down to a mere six teams during its 2019 season — Albany, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Columbus, Philadelphia, and Washington.
“We simply weren’t able to raise the capital necessary to grow the League, resolve the substantial legacy liabilities and make it financially viable,” league commissioner Randall Boe said in a statement. “We’re all disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to move forward, and we wanted to thank our fans, our players, coaches, everyone who loved Arena League Football.”
USA Today reports that the league was mostly hurt by a lawsuit filed by one of its insurance carriers.