Iowa Barnstormers

Do you enjoy watching football live and in person?   The City of Des Moines once again has a professional football team with the return of the Iowa Barnstormers, which returned to the Arena 2 league after roughly 7 years. 

History of the Iowa Barnstormers Franchise

On April 25, 1994, the Arena Football League approved an expansion team to be based in Des Moines, Iowa, starting with the 1995 season. The Iowa Barnstormers were formed, where they competed as an Arena Football League team from 1995 to 2000 out of the Iowa Veterans Memorial Auditorium, and successfully reached the ArenaBowl in both 1996 and 1997. 

These original Barnstormers were noted for their unique uniforms, which in keeping with the aviation theme, included the depiction of goggles on the helmets, wings on the shoulders of the jerseys, and propellers on the pants legs. The primary figures in the original Iowa organization were Jim Foster, the inventor of Arena Football and Kurt Warner, the quarterback who went on to play for the St. Louis Rams and win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl XXXIV MVP.

Eventually, the need for a more modern venue as well as the league’s desire to enter into a larger market led to the franchise being moved to New York after the 2000 season.  The team had been purchased by Charles Wang, who was also the New York Islanders’ (NHL Hockey) majority owner, and would be re-named the New York Dragons.

The Arena Football organization did award an Arena 2 League franchise to Iowa for the 2001 season, which was also called the Iowa Barnstormers, but that team would suspend operations after their first season.

In 2005, the Wells Fargo Arena opened in Des Moines, directly across from the Iowa Veterans Memorial Auditorium as part of the newly expanded Iowa Events Center.  Because of this new and modern facility, a new Barnstormers Arena 2 League franchise began play in the Wells Fargo Arena during the 2008 season.