The Arizona Hotshots, one of eight teams part of the new Alliance of American Football, will kick off their inaugural season in Tempe.
The AAF, which unveiled its full 2019 schedule Tuesday, revealed the Hotshots' first game will take place Sunday, Feb. 10, one week after the Super Bowl, vs. the Salt Lake Stallions at Sun Devil Stadium, home of the Arizona State Sun Devils football team.
Here's a rundown of the Hotshots' complete 10-game 2019 schedule. (Home games are in bold.)
Feb. 10: vs. Salt Lake Stallions
Feb. 16: at Memphis Express
Feb. 23: at Salt Lake Stallions
March 3: vs. Atlanta Legends
March 10: vs. San Antonio Commanders
March 16: at Orlando Apollos
March 24: vs. San Diego Fleet
March 31: at San Antonio Commanders
April 7: vs. Birmingham Iron
April 14: at San Diego Fleet
The league champion will be decided by a pair of playoff rounds, followed by the championship game that will take place the weekend of April 26-28.
The 2019 Alliance of American Football Inaugural Season Schedule is here 👀#JoinTheAlliance pic.twitter.com/sK40g8x9Wb
— AAF (@TheAAF) October 16, 2018
The Hotshots will play their home games at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Each AAF team will have a 50-player roster.
Valley native and former UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel will be the head coach of the Hotshots. Several former ASU and UA players, including former Sun Devil quarterback Mike Bercovici and former Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Will Sutton, have already signed to play for the Hotshots in their inaugural season.
Arizona was awarded an AAF franchise in May. That franchise was simply known as Alliance Phoenix until last month, when the AAF announced the team would be nicknamed the Hotshots as a "tribute to the elite, highly-trained teams of firefighters organized by the United States Forest Service and other federal, state and county agencies that bravely battle the most serious wildland fires around the country," according to the league.
