Spokane Shock

Spokane Shock
Established 2005
Folded 2021
Played in Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
in Spokane, Washington
TheSpokaneShock.com
League/conference affiliations
Current uniform
Team colorsBlue, orange, gold, white
       
MascotShox The Fox
Personnel
Owner(s)Sam Adams
Head coachCedric Walker
Team history
  • Spokane Shock (2006–2015)
  • Spokane Empire (2016–2017)
  • Spokane Shock (2020–2021)
Championships
League championships (3)
Conference championships (2)
Division championships (8)
Playoff appearances (11)
Home arena(s)

The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won division titles in all four seasons and ArenaCups in 2006 and 2009 before they joined the Arena Football League (AFL) in its 2010 relaunch. The team advanced to the playoffs three times after joining the AFL, winning ArenaBowl XXIII in their first season, making them the only arena football franchise to win both the ArenaCup and the ArenaBowl.

The AFL franchise was folded in October 2015 and the ownership group obtained a franchise in the Indoor Football League (IFL), known as the Spokane Empire, as the rights to the Shock name still belonged to the AFL.[1] They played in the IFL as the Empire for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. On July 12, 2017, owner Nader Naini announced that the Empire would cease operations, citing financial issues. About a year after the Empire folded, Naini claims to have traded the Empire branding to the AFL for the original Shock trademarks.[2]

In 2019, former Seattle Seahawks player Sam Adams announced he was relaunching the team for the 2020 season. Adams had obtained the trademarks of the Shock name from Naini and re-joined the Indoor Football League.[3][4] The Shock were removed from the IFL after failing to reach a lease agreement in 2022.

  1. ^ "Team update on Trademark Rights". Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SpokesmanNov2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "'We will be playing in 2020': Team officials formally announce Spokane Shock's return to the IFL". KXLY-TV. November 1, 2019.
  4. ^ "Spokane Shock Join IFL". Indoor Football league. November 1, 2019.