Bay Area Panthers

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)
  • Western Conference (2022-present)
Current uniform
Team colorsBlack, gold and white
     
Personnel
Owner(s)Marshawn Lynch and Roy Choi[1]
PresidentYosup Shim [1]
Head coachRob Keefe[2]
Team history
  • Oakland Panthers (2020–2021)
  • Bay Area Panthers (2022–present)
Championships
League championships (1)
Conference championships (1)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (2)
Home arena(s)

The Bay Area Panthers are a professional indoor football team based in San Jose, California. They are a member of the Indoor Football League (IFL) and were 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 cancelled and then the team withdrew from the following 2021 season. Prior to the 2022 season, the Panthers announced they would instead play their home games at the SAP Center in San Jose and were renamed after the Bay Area.

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.

  1. ^ a b c "Oakland Panthers Join IFL". GoIFL.com. September 10, 2019. Archived from the original on January 13, 2020. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  2. ^ "Panthers announce return of Rob Keefe as Head Coach". Bay Area Panthers. October 15, 2023.
  3. ^ Carroll, Charlotte (September 10, 2019). "Marshawn Lynch to Be Co-Owner of Oakland Arena Football Team". SI.com.