Mascot Chum | Head coach Mark Stoute | |
 | ||
Team colors Blood Red, Midnight Black, White Owner(s) Jeffrey Bouchy
Steve Curran
Diva Nagula, D.O.
Rob Storm
Jason Green
Kevin Wesniak | ||
The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, known for sponsorship purposes as Sea Best Field. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks will begin play as charter members of the National Arena League (NAL). They were members of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2010 to 2016 and won the championship of their division in the first four seasons of their existence.
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The Sharks joined the AFL for the 2010 season, following the league's complete reorganization the previous year. In their inaugural season, they set the league record for most regular season wins by an expansion team, winning twelve of their sixteen games, and ranked third in the league in ticket sales and average attendance. They advanced to the 2010 AFL playoffs, claiming the South Division title. In their second year in the league, they advanced to the ArenaBowl XXIV, defeating the Arizona Rattlers 73-70, for the first AFL Championship in franchise history. The Sharks left the AFL after the 2016 season and joined the NAL.
History
The Arena Football League originally wanted to place a franchise in Jacksonville in the 1990s, citing the city's historical support for football. The proposal drew the attention of Wayne Weaver, then owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the league decided that the Jacksonville Coliseum was too small for AFL standards. In 2000, the Jacksonville Tomcats began play in the af2, the AFL's developmental league. The AFL and Tomcats ownership anticipated the completion of the new 15,000-seat Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, but the Tomcats folded after the 2002 season, before construction of the Arena was completed.
Interest in placing an arena football team in Jacksonville remained. In 2010, following the restructuring of the AFL and the cancellation of the 2009 season, the AFL announced it would place an expansion team in Jacksonville. The ownership group would be Jacksonville Sports Group, led by Jeff Bouchy, formerly part owner of the Orlando Predators AFL team under his brother Brett Bouchy. On May 3, 2014, it was officially announced that former Motley Crue front man Vince Neil purchased a minority stake in the team.
On October 12, 2016, the Sharks announced that they were leaving the AFL for a rival league beginning with the 2017 season. The Sharks were rejected from their first choice of league, the Indoor Football League (which itself is the home of several former AFL franchises), as the IFL was focused on a regional footprint that did not include Florida.
On November 18, 2016, Sharks owner Jeff Bouchy announced the team has joined the National Arena League, originally known as the Arena Developmental League. He also announced the hiring for former Toronto Phantoms head coach Mark Stoute as their third head coach in franchise history.
Arena
Since 2010, the Sharks' home arena has been Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, a $130 million facility. The field is known as "Sea Best Field", sponsored by the local seafood distribution company In the area.
All-Arena players
The following Sharks players have been named to All-Arena Teams:
All-Ironman players
The following Sharks players have been named to All-Arena Teams:
Head coaches
Note: Statistics are correct through Week 18 of the 2014 Arena Football League season.