The Arena League, an indoor football league with unique rules, announced the Kansas City Goats as one of its four inaugural teams on Monday.
The Goats’ ownership group includes Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame running back Christian Okoye, Gates BBQ CEO George Gates II and local sports-radio personality Steven St. John. The team will play at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City beginning in June.
St. John, per KSHB, said the Goats’ name honors former city council member Tom Pendergast — whose faction was nicknamed “the Goats” — for his role in pushing through construction of Municipal Auditorium.
The Goats name was chosen over other fan suggestions such as the Kansas City Potholes, Kansas City Kings and Kansas City Ribs, St. John said.
NFL Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown is chairman and commissioner of the league. The other three inaugural teams will be in Springfield, Missouri; Duluth, Minnesota and Waterloo, Iowa.
“For some, it just isn’t an option to attend a Chiefs game or to attend a basketball game down the road,” Brown told reporters at a press conference in Kansas City on Monday. “This team is about access, financial access to attend games. By being downtown in this arena the team provides geographic access.”
Teams in The Arena League roster just 15 players who play both offense and defense. Games are played on a 50-yard field with “quick play and no clock huddles,” per the organization’s website.
The Arena League also says it will prioritize “younger athletes” and is encouraging fan input.
“I think it will be exciting,” Okoye told Chiefs Digest on Monday. “It’s different from the football that I know, football that anybody else knows. The fans will be engaged. And again, they’ll be talking to the players, they’ll hear the players in the game and everything. It will be different.”
Tickets are available for purchase now on the Goats’ website.