Columbus Wardogs
The Columbus Wardogs were an arena football team in af2 that played their home games in the Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia, from 2001 through 2004. The franchise was relocated as the Mississippi Headhunters for the 2006 season, but did not play any games. History In 1998, Columbus Civic Center general manager Tony Ford contacted the Arena Football League about expanding into Columbus but was informed that the market was too small. In 2000, the Arena Football League launched its developmental league known as af2 which featured franchises in smaller cities. On May 3, 2000, af2 commissioner Mary Ellen Garling toured the Columbus Civic Center and announced she hoped the league could expand into Columbus for the 2001 season. In October, an ownership group, which included Primerica executive Ed Randle as majority owner and Mike Sammond, a former Columbus sportscaster with WRBL TV who helped launch the league's Birmingham Steeldogs a year earlier, were approved and granted an af2 expansion franchise for the city. The Columbus Civic Center hosted a press conference on October 30, 2000, to formally announce the new franchise. The following month, Nashville Kats assistant coach Joe Campbell was introduced as the team's first head coach.