TheBaltimore Brigade was a professionalarena football team based inBaltimore, Maryland, that played in theArena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was theRoyal Farms Arena. The franchise was owned byTed Leonsis throughMonumental Sports & Entertainment. After the 2019 season, the entire league ceased operations.

Baltimore Brigade
Established 2017 Folded 2019 Played inRoyal Farms Arena inBaltimore, Maryland BaltimoreBrigade.com
League/conference affiliations
Arena Football League (2017–2019)
Current uniform
Team colors	Navy blue, silver, light blue, white
Personnel
Owner(s)	Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Chairman	Ted Leonsis
Head coach	Omarr Smith
Team history
Baltimore Brigade (2017–2019)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (3)
2017,2018,2019
Home arena(s)
Royal Farms Arena (2017–2019)

The Arena Football League andMonumental Sports & Entertainment both announced on November 14, 2016, that it had granted an expansion franchise to begin play for the2017 season in Baltimore.^[1] Monumental Sports & Entertainment is operated by Ted Leonsis, the majority owner, who had also previously been granted an expansion team in the Washington Valor to begin play the same season. Leonsis purchased the franchise rights from the Baltimore Lightning, an established semi-pro team that had intended to join the AFL.^[2]

Although other indoor football leagues have hosted teams in Baltimore in the past (such as theBaltimore Blackbirds andBaltimore Mariners), this is the first Arena Football League franchise to be located in Baltimore, and the first in the state of Maryland since theWashington/Maryland Commandos, a charter league franchise that played in the DC suburb ofLandover for its first season.

On December 14, 2016, formerLos Angeles KISS coachOmarr Smith was named the team's first head coach.^[3]

On January 25, 2017, the team was officially announced as theBaltimore Brigade, named for the military history and in reference to theWar of 1812 and the inspiration for the penning of the poem that would later become known as "The Star-Spangled Banner", the U.S.A.'s national anthem.^[4]

Number 19 was never issued to any player out of respect to their lateBaltimore Colts greatJohnny Unitas.

On July 20, 2018, the Brigade reached their firstArenaBowl championship game,ArenaBowl XXXI, after defeating thePhiladelphia Soul in the second leg of a two-game aggregate playoff series. They won the first game 57–45 and the second 53–41. In ArenaBowl XXXI, they hosted against the Washington Valor, who scored a 69–55 upset victory.

In a January 2019 interview withForbes, Leonsis noted that the Brigade was not particularly successful in regard to finances, and that he mainly used the team and its Washington counterpart to experiment with ideas to later use with his more prominent sports properties such as the Wizards, Mystics and Capitals.^[5] After the 2019 season, the league initially announced it was ending all local team operations and looking into becoming a traveling league. However, the entire league ceased operations after the AFL filed for bankruptcy in November 2019.

As of 2022, the Brigade's field was being used by theSan Diego Strike Force of theIndoor Football League, but has since been replaced. Also, the owners of theBaltimore LightningInternational Football Alliance football teamclaimed to own theintellectual property of the Brigade. However, according to theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office, the Brigade intellectual property is actually owned by Mike Kwarta, owner ofArena Football One'sAlbany Firebirds.

• Official websiteArchived 2019-12-03 at theWayback Machine
•   Media related toBaltimore Brigade at Wikimedia Commons