The Bay Area Panthers are a professional indoor football team based in San Jose, California, that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The team was to begin play in 2020 at Oakland Arena as the Oakland Panthers.[3] Due the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Panthers' inaugural season was canceled, and the team withdrew from the following 2021 season. Prior to the 2022 season, the Panthers announced they would instead play their home games at SAP Center in San Jose and were renamed after the Bay Area.
| Bay Area Panthers | |
|---|---|
 Current season | |
| Established 2019 Play in San Jose, California at the SAP Center BayAreaPanthers.com | |
 | |
| League/conference affiliations | |
Indoor Football League (2020–present)
| |
Current uniform | |
| Team colors | Black, gold and white |
| Personnel | |
| Owner(s) | Marshawn Lynch and Roy Choi[1] |
| President | Yosup Shim [1] |
| Head coach | Rob Keefe[2] |
| Team history | |
| |
| Championships | |
| League championships (1) | |
| Conference championships (1) | |
| Division championships (0) | |
| Playoff appearances (2) | |
| Home arena(s) | |
| |
The Panthers are co-owned by Oakland native and NFL All-Pro running back, Marshawn Lynch, and by Roy Choi, who also owns the IFL's Cedar Rapids River Kings and San Diego Strike Force.[1] The Panthers are the Bay Area's first arena/indoor football team since the San Jose SaberCats, who played in the Arena Football League from 1995 until 2008, and again from 2011 until 2015, winning four ArenaBowl championships.
History
edit
With the scheduled departure of the National Football League's Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas in 2020 and the Golden State Warriors move to San Francisco in the 2019–20 season, on April 17, 2019, it was first reported that Roy Choi was in talks to bring an expansion Indoor Football League (IFL) team to Oakland for the 2020 season. Choi had previously purchased the Cedar Rapids River Kings and launched the expansion San Diego Strike Force in the IFL.[4] The Panthers were officially announced as an IFL expansion team on September 10, 2019, along with their logo, color scheme, and coaching staff by co-owners Roy Choi and former NFL All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch. The team planned to play out the Warriors' former home, the Oakland Arena. The Panthers' name references the indigenous Bay Area cougar, Oakland's involvement in the rise of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, and the blockbuster Oscar-winning Marvel Studios movie Black Panther, directed by Oakland native Ryan Coogler. A team of the same name had originally been announced to play in the proposed Freedom Football League in December 2018, though no news had come from that league after the initial announcement.[5] Because of the rising cost of living in the Bay Area, the Panthers stated they would provide lodging and meals to their players in addition to their regular salary.[1] The team hired Kurt Bryan, best known for devising the A-11 offense, as their inaugural head coach.
However, the 2020 IFL season was curtailed in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic before the Panthers could play a game. After initially announcing it would return in 2021,[6] the team subsequently also withdrew from the 2021 season due to the on-going restrictions during the pandemic.[7] On August 16, 2021, the team held a press conference to announce it would not play in Oakland, instead relocating to the SAP Center in San Jose, California, as the Bay Area Panthers without ever playing a game in Oakland.[8]
The Panthers went 1-15 their inaugural season (2022), losing their last 15 games in a row. However in their second season on August 5, 2023, they beat the Sioux Falls Storm by a score of 51-41 to win their first IFL National Championship at the Dollar Loan Center. Quarterback Dalton Sneed of the Bay Area Panthers was named the game’s MVP.
Current roster
edit|
Quarterbacks
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Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
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Linebackers
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Reserve list
Currently vacant Rookies in italics → More rosters |
Current staff
editFront office
President of Football Operations and Head coach |
Assistant coaches
| |||||
Season-by-season results
edit| League champions | Conference champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | League | Conference | Regular season | Postseason results | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | ||||
| 2020 | IFL | Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||
| 2021 | IFL | Dormant year | ||||
| 2022 | IFL | Western | 7th | 1 | 15 | |
| 2023 | IFL | Western | 2nd | 10 | 5 | Won First Round (Tucson) 46–34 Won Western Conference Championship (Northern Arizona) 68–46 Won 2023 United Bowl (Sioux Falls) 51–41 |
| 2024 | IFL | Western | 1st | 13 | 3 | Lost First Round (San Diego Strike) 49-40 |
| Totals | 24 | 23 | All-time regular season record | |||
| 3 | 1 | All-time postseason record | ||||
| 27 | 24 | All-time regular season and postseason record | ||||
Broadcasting
editOn February 27, 2020, it was announced that the radio home of the team would be KNBR AM 1050 out of San Mateo. KPYX broadcasts all home games on television. Dave Lewis is the play by play voice on the television broadcasts with Steve Papin or Aaron Garcia on color commentary. Lewis also calls the games on radio.[9]
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Oakland Panthers Join IFL". GoIFL.com. September 10, 2019. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
- ^ "Panthers announce return of Rob Keefe as Head Coach". Bay Area Panthers. October 15, 2023.
- ^ Carroll, Charlotte (September 10, 2019). "Marshawn Lynch to Be Co-Owner of Oakland Arena Football Team". SI.com.
- ^ Abraham, Zennie (April 17, 2019). "Oakland To Get Expansion Indoor Football League Team, Roy Choi Owner". Oakland News Now. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
- ^ "Ex-NFL star Williams behind new Freedom Football League". Reuters. December 6, 2018. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
- ^ "OAKLAND PANTHERS TO RETURN IN 2021". Oakland Panthers. April 13, 2020.
- ^ "OAKLAND PANTHERS TO GO DORMANT FOR THE 2021 SEASON". Oakland Panthers. September 18, 2020. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ "Oakland's indoor football team is moving to San Jose and becoming the Bay Area Panthers". Silicon Valley Business Journal. August 16, 2021.
- ^ "Oakland Panthers to Partner with KBCW as Official Television and KNBR 1050 as Official Radio Homes". www.oakland-panthers.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.