NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver and Arena League commissioner Tim Brown aimed for the atypical when introducing the four-league organization earlier this year.
Arena League rules will be much different than the multiple professional indoor leagues that have come and gone since the sport's 1987 inception, including its elimination of kickers.
Three of the league's teams — Springfield, Missouri; Duluth, Minnesota, and Waterloo, Iowa — are housed in small Midwest markets more than a two-hour drive from the nearest international airport. The fourth team's home, Kansas City, was on Thursday.
Mascots will also be among the league's out-of-the-ordinary elements when it debuts the summer of 2024.