 | |
| Founded | 2013 |
|---|---|
| Team history |
|
| Based in | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Home arenas |
|
| League |
|
| Colors | Red, white, black, grey |
| Personnel | |
| Head coach | Bobby Dammarell |
| General manager | Jenny Dammarell |
| Owner | Bobby Dammarell |
| Championships | |
| League titles (2) |
|
| Playoff appearances (2) | |
| |
| Website | steamindoorfootball.com |
TheSouthern Steam are a professionalindoor football team. The Steam joinedX-League Indoor Football in 2013, as thePennsylvania Steam based inReading, Pennsylvania. Midway through the 2014 season, the Steam were sold to a Georgia ownership group, who moved the franchise toSavannah, Georgia, during the regular season. Following the 2014 season, the Steam joinedAmerican Indoor Football (AIF) for the 2015 season. After the 2016 season, the AIF folded leaving the Steam to search for a new league.
The Steam played their home games at the Martin Luther King Jr. Arena at theSavannah Civic Center. However, the City of Savannah stated in 2016 that the Steam could not return unless they pay all money owed to the city prior to returning. They began playing in nearbyStatesboro instead, first outdoors and then in a converted warehouse for 2017 as the Southern Steam. In 2019, the Steam announced viaFacebook they were relocating toJacksonville, Florida, for the 2019 season citing lack of ticket sales.[2]
It was announced in October 2013, that the Pennsylvania Steam would be joiningX-League Indoor Football for its inaugural2014 season, playing their home games atSantander Arena inReading, Pennsylvania under head coach Shane Houser.[3]
After playing one road game as the Pennsylvania Steam, the franchise was sold by Missouri Sports Holdings to an ownership group led by Bobby Dammarell in Savannah, Georgia. The team played their remaining three road games as the Savannah Steam, while the four home games that were scheduled to take place in Reading, Pennsylvania were cancelled and counted as wins for the opposing teams.[4][5][6]
It was announced in December 2014, that the Savannah Steam were joiningAmerican Indoor Football for the2015 season, playing their home games at Tiger Arena.[7] However, the Steam eventually played their home games at DeVaul Henderson Park, an outdoor park inRichmond Hill, Georgia. They finished the regular season 5-2, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
For 2016, the Steam announced that they would be playing at theSavannah Civic Center.[8] The team would run into severe financial troubles during this season with over $20,000 owed in rent for the use of the Civic Center and several unpaid sponsors. Eventually, the unpaid sponsors took their claims to the local sheriff's department in order to initiate an investigation and obtain the fees they were owed.[9] In June 2016, general manager Jenny Dammarrel, wife of owner/head coach Bobby Dammarrel, first filed forChapter 13 bankruptcy and then was later jailed after being charged with deposit account fraud for bad checks issued to players and staff.[10] Despite the 2016 season's financial difficulties, a 3-5 record, and no wins over another AIF team (one forfeit win, one loss reversed based on ineligible players, and one win over a local semi-professional team), the Steam were still invited to the AIF playoffs against theFlorida Tarpons. The Steam replaced theMyrtle Beach Freedom when the Freedom were asked to play against theWest Michigan Ironmen when they lost their playoff opponent.
On July 18, 2016, the AIF announced it had ceased operations. On August 4, the Steam announced they were accepted into the newElite Indoor Football.[11] In fact, Elite Indoor Football is based at the same office in the Savannah suburb ofEllabell[12] and its president is Robert Dammarell,[13] also owner of the Steam, indicating that (like theCape Fear Heroes did in creatingSupreme Indoor Football) Dammarell and the Steam created their own league.
On August 17, 2016, the City of Savannah made it clear that the Steam could not return to the Civic Center for home games unless the Dammarrels paid all money owed to the city from the previous season; in any event, the Savannah Coastal Outlaws of United States Indoor Football andArena Pro Football had already secured a lease on the Savannah Civic Center.[14] The Steam had a cross-schedule agreement withSupreme Indoor Football to play games against some of its teams for the 2017 season.
Before starting their season, the Steam appeared to have rebranded to theSouthern Steam. Once they starting playing EIF league games, they were listed as playing outdoors in nearbyStatesboro. Later in the 2017 season, the team moved home games into a converted warehouse in Statesboro. In 2019 they moved toJacksonville, Florida, and theJacksonville Ice & Sportsplex. The Steam concluded their 2019 season in Championship fashion with a 24-14 victory over the Carolina Aviators. Courtney Reese was named the 2019 offensive MVP after accounting for an Elite Indoor Football season record 24 touchdowns.
The most recent reference to the team is from January 2025, when, after changing its name to theSouthern Scream and initially agreeing to join the Professional Arena Indoor Association, they withdrew from that league prior to the 2025 season.[15]
Note: The finish, wins, losses, and ties columns list regular season results and exclude any postseason play.
| League Champions | Division Champions | Playoff berth | League leader |
| Season | Team | League | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Ties | |||||
| 2014 | 2014 | XLIF | 5th | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | 2015 | AIF | 5th | 6 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | 2016 | AIF | Southern | 4th | 3 | 5 | 0 | Lost Division Semifinals (Tarpons) 20–71 |
| 2017 | 2017 | EIF | 1st | Note[a] | Won EIF Championship Game (Furious) 58–14 | |||
| 2018 | 2018 | EIF | 2nd | 8 | 2 | 0 | Lost EIF Championship Game (Bobcats) 40–44 | |
| 2019 | 2019 | EIF | 1st | Note[b] | Won EIF Championship Game (Aviators) 24–14 | |||
Note: Known statistics are correct through the end of the 2018 Elite Indoor Football season. This does not account for the 2017 or 2019 EIF season due to inadequate record keeping
| Name | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | Win% | W | L | |||
| Shane Houser | 2014 | 0 | 8 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bobby Dammarell | 2015–present | 17 | 9 | 0 | .654 | 1 | 2 | |