Florida Tarpons

Florida Tarpons
Established 2011
Folded 2019
Played in RP Funding Center
in Lakeland, Florida
LakelandTarpons.com
League/conference affiliations
Current uniform
Team colorsRoyal blue, red, sea blue, grey, orange, white
         
MascotTimmy the Tarpon
CheerleadersReel Girls
Personnel
Owner(s)A-League Sports[1]
General managerMichael Taylor
Head coachMichael Taylor
Team history
  • Florida Tarpons (2012–2018)
  • Lakeland Tarpons (2019)
Championships
League championships (2)
  • UIFL: 2013
  • X-League: 2015
Conference championships (1)
  • UIFL South: 2012
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (6)
  • UIFL: 2012, 2013, 2014
  • X-League: 2015
  • AIF: 2016
  • APF: 2017
Home arena(s)

The Florida Tarpons were a professional indoor football team based in Lakeland, Florida, out of the RP Funding Center. Originally established in Estero, Florida, and playing out of Germain Arena, they began play in 2012 as an expansion team of the Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL). The Tarpons joined the X-League Indoor Football (X-League) during the 2015 season when the UIFL merged with the X-League. They played in the Arena Pro Football (APF) league in 2017 before the league became the American Arena League (AAL) for 2018. For 2019, there was an ownership transition that formed their own Florida-based league, called the A-League, and the team rebranded as the Lakeland Tarpons.[2] The team was removed from the A-League schedule at the start of the 2019 season.

The Tarpons were Estero's second indoor football team; their first since arenafootball2's Florida Firecats which played from 2001 until the af2's demise in 2009. In addition, they are the fourth indoor football team in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metropolitan area, with them and the Firecats joining the unrelated Fort Myers Tarpons which played in the National Indoor Football League's final season of 2007 and the Florida Stingrays which played the 2008 American Indoor Football Association season. (Both teams played at the Lee County Civic Center). The founders of the Tarpons are Andrew and Leah Haines and Michael & Anna Taylor. The Tarpons moved to Lakeland prior to the 2019 season.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference A-League2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference ALeague was invoked but never defined (see the help page).