January 15, 2021 – Fla. –
A style of football from the past has been brought back to the present day and is now expanding to The Sunshine State. The American 7s Football League announced on Tuesday, Jan. 12 a final total of 8 new teams that will all be based in the state of Florida. Founded in March 2014, the A7FL reintroduced seven-man football with the toughness of full-contact tackle, no helmets, and no pads. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the American 7s Football League’s 2020 season was only 4-weeks long. However, even with teams having to travel for games, the league had very little exposure to the virus.
The A7FL has added 8 new teams to their current league, and the new cities that the teams will be playing in this coming season include Jacksonville, Orlando, Saint Petersburg, and Tampa Bay.
Starting with the Jacksonville Riptide, Tampa A-Team, Tampa Bay Surge, and Tampa NightCrawlers. All of which will be based in cities that also have an NFL team. The teams that will be bringing football to their new cities include the Orlando Alleygators, Orlando Ghosts, O-Town Orange, and St. Pete Sandsharks. The American 7s Football League decided to add not one, not two, but three teams to both the cities of Tampa Bay and Orlando.
The American 7s Football League’s new season will begin on April 11, 2021, and now has a total of 24 teams. And although 8 brand-new teams may seem like a lot, the American 7s Football league is not yet done expanding. A7FL plans to continue adding teams in Southern California to make the total 32, with a total of 4 divisions by the start of this year’s new season. This past season the American 7s Football League had to shorten their schedule to a 4-week mini-season due to the pandemic. However, with only one positive COVID-19 PCR test, during only the first week of last year’s season, the A7FL plans to play this year. Due to the very little exposure the league had to the virus last year, the American 7s Football League plans on playing a full 14-week season in 2021.
