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The Georgia Force is in no way related to the San Antonio Force, which was an Arena Football League team that played only in the 1992 season before disbanding.

The Georgia Force is an Arena Football League team based in Atlanta that plays in the Southern Division of the National Conference.

History

The Original Nashville Kats

The team began as the first Nashville Kats team from 1997 to 2001. The original Kats played in the Gaylord Entertainment Center in downtown Nashville and were initially coached by Eddie Khayat in 1997 and 1998, who was succeeded by Pat Sperduto for the balance of the team's time in Nashville. The Kats were the league's Organization of the Year for their inaugural year of 1997, and were in the playoffs for every season of their relatively brief existence, even playing in the ArenaBowl each of their final two seasons, albeit losing both times they reached the AFL's championship game.

Virgil Williams, an Atlanta businessman, purchased the franchise for nearly $10 million (US) in December of 2001, and moved the team to Atlanta after the team's previous owners failed to negotiate a favorable lease with the arena's primary tenant and manager, the National Hockey League's Nashville Predators.

Georgia Force

The rechristened Force initially played in Atlanta's downtown Philips Arena, home of the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks and NHL Atlanta Thrashers, prior to relocating to suburban Duluth and playing in the Arena at Gwinnett Center for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Under Williams' three-year tenure as owner, the team made the playoffs one time in 2003. Upon selling the team to Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank in September of 2004, it was announced that the franchise would return to the downtown Philips Arena for the 2005 season in response to fan desires as expressed in a poll. In 2005, the Nashville Kats returned to the league and they acquired all of the pre-move history from the Force, making this franchise a 2002 expansion team. The 2005 season was, by far, the most successful in team history with highlights including a conference-best 11-5 record, and undefeated home record (8-0), a National Conference Championship, and a trip to ArenaBowl XIX.

The Force's official mascot used to be a high-tech runner named G-Force, but now, their current mascot is a blue, cuddly monster named Blu*.

Season-by-season

2002 6 8 0 4th NC Southern -- 2003 8 8 0 3rd NC Southern Lost Week 2 (San Jose SaberCats) 2004 7 9 0 5th NC Southern -- 2005 11 5 0 1st NC Southern Lost ArenaBowl XIX (Colorado Crush) 2006 8 8 0 3rd NC Southern Lost Week 2 (Dallas Desperados) Totals 44 41 0 (including playoffs)

Head coaches

Coaches listed are from when the team has been the Georgia Force.

Not to be forgotten

External links

Sports in Atlanta | Arena Football League teams | 2002 establishments

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Georgia Force".

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