The War On I-4

The War On I-4

The War On I-4 is the nickname for the rivalry between the Tampa Bay Storm and the Orlando Predators in the Arena Football League. The teams have met at least twice and up to four times a season since 1991, and both have consistently been at the top of the league standings. The rivalry has been compared to the Yankees – Red Sox rivalry in Major League Baseball.

Although the Tampa Bay and Orlando markets, separated by an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 4, have teams in each of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada, none of the Big Four leagues have a team in both cities. Orlando has the Magic of the NBA while Tampa Bay hosts the Rays in MLB, Buccaneers in the NFL and Lightning in the NHL. Despite each market being of relatively large size in its own respective right, few leagues (especially those that have had long histories) have attempted to place teams in both cities; this has created few opportunities for the two nearby cities to form rivalries. The Arena Football League was an aberration in this regard when it approved the Orlando Predators as an expansion team in 1991, then allowed for the Pittsburgh Gladiators, a charter AFL team, to relocate to the Tampa Bay area and become the Tampa Bay Storm. The Storm and Predators became instant rivals.

Currently the games are played either at the Predators' home, Amway Center, or the Storm's home, Tampa Bay Times Forum (previously known as the "Ice Palace" and "St. Pete Times Forum"). Games hosted by the Storm before the 1997 season were held at what is now Tropicana Field, but was known as "Florida Suncoast Dome" before 1994 and "Thunderdome" thereafter. Games hosted by the Predators until the end of the 2010 season were at Hummer Field at the Amway Arena (originally the "Orlando Arena," later "TD Waterhouse Center").

The overall record in both regular and postseason combined currently has the Storm leading the series 26–25. The sides have met eight times in the AFL playoffs, with each team winning four times, and twice in the ArenaBowl, with each team winning once. Their most recent playoff meeting was on August 14, 2010 in the American Conference Championship game, in which Tampa Bay won 63–62 as a long field goal attempt by the Predators fell short as time expired.

The games between the teams are notable for featuring some of the highest attendances in AFL history. The ArenaBowl IX title match of September 1, 1995 drew an Arena Bowl record crowd of 25,087 to Thunderdome to see the Storm defeat the Predators by 48–35. Both teams are known to organize bus trips for supporters down Interstate 4 (hence the War on I-4) to the other city to see their squad play.

The series also has the top overall attendance record in league history when Orlando defeated Tampa Bay 46–45 in front of 28,745 at the Florida Suncoast Dome in week 6 of the 1993 AFL season.

In 2010, the rivalry resumed after a year off caused by the Arena Football League suspending operations in 2009.

Read more about The War On I-4:  Game-by-game Results

Famous quotes containing the word war:

    Come Vitus, are we men, or are we children? Of what use are all these melodramatic gestures? You say your soul was killed, and that you have been dead all these years. And what of me? Did we not both die here in Marmaros fifteen years ago? Are we any the less victims of the war than those whose bodies were torn asunder? Are we not both the living dead?
    Peter Ruric, and Edgar G. Ulmer. Hjalmar Poelzig (Boris Karloff)