Arena football leaving downtown Wichita for 2020 season
.jpg "Running back Mikhail Lindsay shares a moment with fans at a Wichita Force indoor football game. The team has announced it’s moving for the 2020 season from Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita to the Hartman Arena in Park City.")
Indoor football is moving to a new home in the Wichita area, but it’s more like a homecoming.
The Wichita Force has announced that it will leave Intrust Bank Arena in downtown Wichita and move to Hartman Arena in Park City for the 2020 season.
It marks a return of indoor football to an arena that was purpose-built for the sport.
Oilman and restaurateur Wink Hartman developed the 5,000-seat arena largely as a home for the Wichita Wild, which he owned.
“This building was originally built with indoor football in mind,” said Abby Marr, director of sales and marketing for the Hartman Arena. “We know how to do football and we’re very excited.”
The Wild played at Hartman Arena from 2009 until the team folded in 2014.
The Force hit the field in 2015 and has played at the Intrust ever since. Wink Hartman has no ownership interest in the Force, which is owned by several local investors and whose managing partner is Jeff Martin.
The Force plays in the Champions Indoor Football League, a seven-team regional association with teams in Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma and Nebraska.
Intrust Bank Arena can seat more than 13,000 in football configuration, which is almost twice the size of the next-largest arena in the Champions League, the Tony’s Pizza Events Center, home field of the Salina Liberty.
At Intrust, the Force has averaged about 3,500 attendance, said Hayley Ribondy, the team’s marketing and social media manager.
The Force’s home games at the Hartman Arena in 2020 will be on April 4, 13 and 19; May 4 and June 7 and 13.
