The Super Bowl is history, and there’s no doubt that aside from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the biggest and most exciting action took place in the sportsbooks of the world’s gambling casinos, Atlantic City included.
Given the fervor, the frenzy and the football fever in the casinos over Super Bowl LX – “Super Bowl is always a super boost for Atlantic City sportsbooks,” said the Atlantic County Economic Alliance – to say nothing of pro football in general; this seems to be an appropriate time to ask the question: Did Atlantic City ever have a professional football team?
Pro football actually did come to the city, three times; but it didn’t work, three times.
Despite several attempts, professional football never really took hold in Atlantic City. Still, given that football is by far the most popular sport in the United States — and considering that many football fans place bets on games one way or another — it seems like the city and the sport should have been a natural match.
In 1921, a pro football team, improbably called “The Melrose Athletic Club,” aka the Atlantic City Shore Roses or the Atlantic City Atlantics, was formed to play pro ball in the city at Bader Field. From 1921 to 1925, the team had no league affiliation, but it proved to be popular.
Games were played on Sundays to take advantage of the fact that Pennsylvania Blue Laws banned pro sports on Sundays. Because of that, the Atlantics were able to attract some second-tier NFL teams as opponents, like the Frankford Yellow Jackets, as well as squads that were members of the upstate Pennsylvania-based Anthracite League.
The Roses/Atlantics’ popularity grew, attracting more than 2,000 fans at home games – too big for Bader Field back then. The games had to be moved to the city’s larger Dog Race Track Park, in operation until about 1929. In 1926 and 1927, the team finally became affiliated with the Eastern League of Professional Football. Unfortunately, the league folded in 1927 and the team returned to playing independent ball.
The last known reporting about the Atlantics came in 1927, when there was some talk of league instability and organizational issues with the Roses/Atlantics team. It was a good run, but pro football would not return to Atlantic City for almost four decades.
In 1966, a team called the Atlantic City Senators was granted a franchise as a part of the then-expanding minor league Atlantic Coast Football League. The league, which was in operation from 1962 to 1973, was something like a farm team for major league football, formed to capitalize on the increasing popularity of AFL and NFL football.
There are not a lot of details still in existence regarding its ownership and investors except that the franchise was granted in February of 1966, and that Atlantic City business leaders were involved as investors in one way or another. The owners knew enough to hire a coach with a semi-name. Jack Klotz was a journeyman offensive tackle who had played with five pro teams in his five-year playing career.
The Senators were not a great team. They finished fifth in the Southern Division of the league with a 1-4-1 record. Though attendance was impressive – an Aug. 6, 1966, game against the Wilmington Clippers drew over 5,000 spectators to Bader Field – minor league football was financially unstable. Otherwise, there were scheduling conflicts involved with Bader Field. The last seven games of the season, which would have run from September to November of 1966, were cancelled, spelling the end of the Atlantic City Senators.
In March of 2019, John Adams, a one-time executive of an outfit called Trifecta Sports and Entertainment, and then-president of the Arena Football League, announced that pro football was again returning to Atlantic City. The team would be called the Atlantic City Blackjacks and would play at Boardwalk Hall. “Legal sports betting books are a key reason to place a team in Atlantic City,” Adams said at the time. “Gaming and gambling are built into our game.”
It looked great on paper. The league had been operating since 1987 and doing well, with attendance of over 9,000 per game. The Blackjacks had 16 major investors, including Philadelphia Eagles veterans Ron Jaworski and Dick Vermeil. The coach was Ron James, twice named AFL Coach of the Year. The company in charge of the Arena Football League, Trifecta, seemed plenty solvent, as it also owned the Albany Empire and the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football teams. Even the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority kicked in $500,000 to transform Boardwalk Hall into a football field when needed.
The Blackjacks barely lasted a year, playing six games at home with an audience of more than 5,000 for each one. Overall they had a 4-8 record.
The league struggled with internal issues in its later years citing large past debts, a pending workers’ compensation lawsuit from an insurance company and the inability to raise funds. The league filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November 2019.
It’s a shame the Blackjacks were formed when they were. Had the team come into the league sooner, it may have had years of success. There was talk about bringing the Blackjacks back to the Arena Football League in 2024, but nothing came of it. It seems that the team found the city’s terms to be unacceptable.
Just weeks ago, there was news of a revitalized and revamped Arena Football League, under new ownership; and that they were prepping for a full 2026 season, with new roster additions and a new team or two. Currently, the AFL has teams in Michigan, Washington, D.C., Kentucky, Minnesota, Texas, Oregon, Nashville and California. Atlantic City is not on the list.
So, for the moment at least, those in Atlantic City who are interested in professional football will have to continue watching it on television along with everyone else.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
