Legends Football League

The Legends Football League (LFL) is a women's 7-on-7 tackle American football league, with games played in the spring and summer at NBA, NFL, NHL and MLS arenas and stadiums. The league was founded in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League and was rebranded as the Legends Football League in 2013. The league's founder and chairman is Mitchell S. Mortaza, and the league's administrative offices are located in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Background

The concept of the LFL originated from an alternative Super Bowl halftime television special called the Lingerie Bowl, a pay-per-view event broadcast opposite the Super Bowl halftime show. The first three Lingerie Bowls were held annually from 2004-2006 and were billed as Lingerie Bowls I, II, and III. From 2007-2009, the next three planned Lingerie Bowls (billed as Lingerie Bowls IV, V, and VI) were all cancelled for various reasons. In 2009, LFL chairman Mitch Mortaza expanded the concept from a single annual exhibition game to a ten-team lingerie football league.

Most LFL teams in the United States use the same color scheme as a professional men's football team in the area; most LFL US teams base their color scheme on local NFLteams, although in cities without NFL teams, UFL (Las Vegas, Orlando), and former NFL (Los Angeles) teams' color schemes have been used. In Canada, the teams' colors are based on either CFL teams (Toronto, Regina) or ice hockey teams (BC, Saskatoon). All but two of the LFL's teams use singular nicknames, a property shared by other women's sports leagues such as the WNBA and WPS.

Many of the teams are coached by former NFL players and coaches who already well known in their respective cities. Many of the players have a background in competitive athletics at the college and semi-pro level, in sports such as track and field, tennis, volleyball, softball, soccer, basketball, and fitness-style bodybuilding. A few also have experience in tackle football from playing in other semi-pro leagues.

On January 10, 2013, the Lingerie Football League announced it would change its name to the Legends Football League (while still retaining the LFL moniker). The league announced that the athletes would wear "performance apparel" instead of lingerie, but the uniforms look very much the same as before. In addition to the new uniforms, redesigned shoulder pads were introduced to provide more protection for players. Other league changes included eliminating images of sexy women from team logos and changing the league tagline from "True Fantasy Football" to "Women of the Gridiron".