San Antonio Talons



The San Antonio Talons are a professional arena football franchise based in San Antonio, Texas. They currently play in the Arena Football League (AFL). Their home arena will be the Alamodome, following their relocation to San Antonio for the 2012 season.

The team was founded in 2000 as the Tulsa Talons of Tulsa, Oklahoma, a charter member of the AFL's defunct developmental league, af2. The Talons played in the af2 for ten seasons, and joined the Arena Football League in 2010 following its reorganization. After the 2011 season the team announced they would relocate to San Antonio. The Talons have won ArenaCup championships in 2003 and 2007, won eight af2 division championships, one AFL division championship, and made a total of eleven playoff appearances.

History
The Talons began in 2000 in Tulsa, Oklahoma as the Tulsa Talons, a charter member of the defunct minor league Arena Football 2, also known as af2. In 2009 the Talons moved from their original home field at Tulsa Convention Center to the new 18,041 seat arena called the BOK Center.

In terms of victories and championships, the Talons have been a successful af2 franchise. The Talons have more wins than any other team in af2 history. The Talons are the first af2 franchise to reach 100 overall franchise victories. Since inception of the league, the Talons have not had a losing season and have appeared in all ten af2 playoffs. Also, the Tulsa Talons have won two af2 championships, known as the ArenaCup, in the last eight years. The Talons are also the team with the longest streak of consecutive seasons in the AFL system. Combined with the former af2, 2011 is their twelfth consecutive season of playing.

Head Coach Mitch Allner is the only person in af2 history to win a championship as both player and head coach. In 2004 the Talons were sold to a group led by Henry Primeaux, the owners of automobile dealerships in Oklahoma,, and Paul Ross, an investor. In 2009 three new owners were added to the group.

On September 21, 2011, Talons chairman Paul Ross announced the team was moving to San Antonio due to less than desirable attendance and ticket sales. The team was purchased by a group led by California businessman Jason Lohe and the Talons were introduced to the city of San Antonio on September 27, 2011. Despite AFL tradition to adopt previous AFL team names for new teams, the Talons chose to keep their nickname and not adopt the identity of the long-defunct San Antonio Force, due in part to the preexistence of the Georgia Force (a similar issue forced the Pittsburgh Power to adopt its current name instead of the Gladiators).