The National Gridiron League is a proposed gridiron football league. Prior to the postponed 2019 season, the league logo used was a near copy of the former United Football League, while many of the team names and logos are also copies of former football teams. League chairman McClendon said that those trademarks had expired and it makes good business sense to recycle them in an attempt to capture the already existing fan-bases.
History
Initially the league announced that it had planned to start play as an indoor football league in spring 2019, with 12 teams aligned in two divisions starting on March 30, 2019, and conclude with the inaugural Gridiron Bowl game on August 10, 2019, in Biloxi, Mississippi. However, the league pushed back the announced start of the inaugural season to May 2019 amid reports the league has not had finalized leases for many of its teams. By April 2, team coaches informed the players the season was canceled as the league was not going to be able to honor their original contracts and that none of the team staff or coaches had ever been paid. League chairman Joe McClendon announced the following day that league had postponed its inaugural season to 2020 citing organizational changes in personnel and the suspension of operations of the Alliance of American Football. Its personnel later sued the league over their claims of non-payment for their work. The league continued pursuits of a 2020 season including announcing player signings and scheduled Organized Team Activities for January 24–26, 2020. However, all OTAs were canceled the evening of January 24 after players had started arriving. The league then announced that teams would be allowed to play outdoors. The 2020 season was postponed amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams
Announced 2019 teams
As of February 21, 2019. Cities in italics were locations identified by the league website, but no leases for an arena were confirmed to have been signed in the listed location. Since the postponement, all arena references on the league website have been removed and most coaches have either been changed or moved on to other leagues.
2020 teams
As of March 26, 2020. No home venues are confirmed to have been signed in any listed location although they are listed on the posted schedule.
