'A complete entertainment event': Coralville Chaos to debut at Xtream Arena in 2025
Chaos is coming to Coralville in 2025.
The Coralville Chaos were introduced as the newest member of the American Indoor Football League at a press conference held at Xtream Arena on Thursday morning.
General manager Frank Haege playfully described the arena football experience as "pinball inside a hockey arena with turf."
"You can keep the football if it goes in the stands, but they always say you (have to) throw the player back in there," he said.
This 2024 American Indoor Football League schedule kicked off in March and runs through June.
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A full night's worth of entertainment
The Chaos will play their home games at Xtream Arena, located at the Iowa River Landing in Coralville. The 5,100-seat venue is also home to the University of Iowa volleyball team and the Iowa Heartlanders, an ECHL hockey team. The arena hosts the Iowa High School girls' wrestling tournament and high school state volleyball.
Haege said Coralville's indoor football experience will put fans close to the action, complete with booming music, dancers, light shows, smoke, and more.
"It's a complete entertainment event," Haege said. "Imagine the best seat at Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears—that's the worst seat in here. Everyone's close to the action."
Indoor football's Iowa connection
Haege highlighted the past success and development of arena football in the state of Iowa.
He said arena football was an idea by Jim Foster, a University of Iowa graduate, who saw an indoor soccer game at New York's Madison Square Garden. He was inspired by the unique product and thought he could do something similar with football.
Haege highlighted Cedar Rapids native and NFL Hall of Famer Kurt Warner, who played for the Iowa Barnstormers in Des Moines in 1995. The quarterback's success propelled him to a contract with the St. Louis Rams. Warner eventually led the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 2000.
Haege said the Coralville Chaos' creation is a full circle moment, a return to the birthplace of indoor football.
Coralville will be the second American Indoor Football League team in Iowa, joining the Cedar Rapids River Kings. The league also has two teams in Texas, one in Georgia and another in Pennsylvania. Additional teams, like the Beaumont Renegades, have announced their intention to join the 2025 schedule.
The birth of an intrastate rivalry
Cedar Rapids River Kings president Drake Roach is excited about the potential of a Chaos-River Kings rivalry. He hopes to create a six-foot-tall trophy to be given to the winner of the Interstate 380 showdown.
Long-time Coralville city administrator Kelly Hayworth said he also can't wait to beat the River Kings and bring the corridor trophy to Coralville.
"This is a great partnership," Hayworth said. "Our area loves black and gold, obviously, and we love football. This is going to be a huge success for our community."
Haege, who twice won the Arena Football League championship during his playing days, is excited to cover Xtream Arena's hockey rink with field turf. He believes establishing a professional football franchise in Coralville is another way to attract fans to Xtream Arena.
"We are looking forward to rocking the corn with eardrum-breaking, scoreboard-rocking, smash mouth-hitting, heart-pounding, and of course, pass record-destroying, high stakes, high energy, mad chaos," Haege said. "We can't wait to put that turf down. Let's go Chaos."
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at [email protected] or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Coralville Chaos indoor football league team coming to Xtream Arena
