NAL Announces First West Coast Team in League History

ATLANTA – The National Arena League announces its newest expansion team, the Ontario Bandits. Hailing from Southern California the Ontario Bandits become the first West Coast franchise in league history. The Bandits will be led by team President Pat Johnson. Johnson is a former Super Bowl Champion wide receiver and an Olympic-caliber sprinter in both high school (Redlands, Calif.) and at track & field powerhouse University of Oregon.

Today, Ontario becomes the latest expansion team for the NAL as the league previously announced recent expansion with the Albany Empire as it’s New York based franchise in early October. The Bandits will be the seventh team entering the 2021 season with the NAL joining the Jacksonville Sharks, Columbus Lions, Carolina Cobras, Orlando Predators, Jersey Flight, and Albany Empire.

The Ontario Bandits will play all of their home games at the Toyota Arena, a 9,500+ seating indoor venue that provides live sports & entertainment events in Ontario, California and the surrounding area. “We look forward to the prospect of providing a very competitive and affordable entertainment product that fans across the Inland Empire as well as the rest of the southland are proud of. We will be providing additional updates as they become available.” Said Team President Pat Johnson.

With seven teams moving forward to the NAL 2021 season with the league’s eyes set to kickoff in April 2020 and are projected to play through to August with 14 regular season games to be slated for each team. The full league schedule with dates & opponents will be announced at a later date. The league looks forward to providing fans more upcoming & uplifting news amidst these very difficult times for our fans, cities, teams, and arenas. For more information about the National Arena League and arena football visit: nationalarenaleague.com.

ABOUT NATIONAL ARENA LEAGUE
The National Arena League was founded in 2016 and hosted its inaugural season in 2017 as the premier league in arena football. For more information regarding expansion opportunities or partnerships, contact Commissioner Chris Siegfried at chris@nationalarenaleague.com . For more information about the NAL visit www.nationalarenaleague.com, facebook.com/nationalarenaleauge, twitter.com/NALfootball, Instagram.com/nationalarenaleague.

ABOUT THE TOYOTA ARENA
Toyota Arena, built and owned by the City of Ontario and managed by SMG Worldwide,  includes 9,500 fixed seats with additional “portable” seating risers to accommodate capacities of 11,089 for concerts, 8,841 for ice hockey or arena football and 9,546 for basketball. The 225,000 square foot venue features 36 luxury suites located on two levels and a continuous concourse hosting a variety of refreshment stands, merchandise kiosks, a VIP club and other fan amenities. Toyota Arena hosts ice hockey, soccer, and a variety of other sporting competitions, concerts, family shows, special events, graduation ceremonies and community activities as well as private events.  The Arena is home to Ontario Reign, an AHL Hockey Team, and Ontario Fury, a MASL Soccer Team and the Aqua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, a G league basketball team, and in 2021 an NAL Football team, the Ontario Bandits.  Toyota Arena is the biggest and most modern arena within the Inland Empire, an area with over 4.7 million people. It is located in the City of Ontario, California, on a 37-acre parcel located between Haven Avenue and Milliken Avenue, Fourth Street and the I-10 Freeway.  For more information visit Toyota-Arena.com