Fort Wayne Fusion

The franchise was announced in November, 2006 as an expansion team of the af2. Jeremy Golden was announced as the team's owner and general manager, and secured a lease with Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for home games.^[1] The team also announced that Arena Football League legend, Eddie Brown, would be the team first head coach.^[1] In January, the team named Mike McCaffrey as the team's General Manager to handle day-to-day operations for the Fusion.^[2] In February, the team announced the team colors would be Burnt Orange, Regal Purple and Pearl White.^[3] With the team struggling to find a quarterback through their exhibition games, the Fusion traded for Cody Hodges of the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz.^[4] The Fusion played their first game in the af2 on March 31, 2007, against the Green Bay Blizzard, who were the then-defending American Conference champions.^[5] In July, 2007, the news surfaced that Owner Jeremy Golden had been removed as the owner of the Fusion by af2 Commissioner, Jerry Kurz.^[6] The Fusion finished the season 5–11,^[7] but with the loss of Golden during the season, the Fusion playing again in 2008 was very remote.^[8] In October, the city learned that Kurz had determined that the Fusion would not return in 2008.^[9]

• History of sports in Fort Wayne, Indiana