New Macon football team announcing schedule, ticket sale details soon

Macon will have a new American Arena League football team next spring, and the team’s schedule and ticket prices will be announced next week.

The team, called Georgia Doom, will play a 10-game schedule, opening March 24. The regular season will conclude June 9, CEO Kevin Adkins said.

“Some people don’t know about us, and I wanted to make sure they do,” he said. “We’ve got a very competitive schedule.”

Team officials will announce the 2018 schedule, as well as ticket pricing and sale dates, at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 29 at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

There are 12 teams in the American Arena League, with franchises stretching from Florida to New York, Adkins said. Georgia Doom will play its six home games at the Macon Coliseum.

The team held tryouts in Macon and in Stockbridge earlier this year, and other tryouts are coming Dec. 16 in Macon and probably in early February, Adkins said.

The team will take 40 players to preseason camp and keep 25 players on the roster.

Many football fans will remember the Macon Knights, an arenafootball2 team that played at the Coliseum from 2001-06.

Derek Stingley, who once coached the Knights, will coach the Doom, Adkins said.

“We’re glad to get him back,” he said.

Some aspects of the American Arena League are different from what fans are accustomed to. The games are eight-on-eight contests, and the playing field is 50 yards long instead of 100 yards. There’s a short wall near the out-of-bounds line. Most other rules and penalties are the same, Adkins said.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 4:57 PM with the headline "New Macon football team announcing schedule, ticket sale details soon."