Arena football is expected to return to the Texas Panhandle this year after the Odessa-based West Texas Warbirds announced their move to Amarillo. This comes following internal turmoil in the National Arena League that prevented the Venom and several other teams from playing in the 2025 season, leading to the Venom to end their 20-year stint as Amarillo’s indoor football team and move to Louisiana.
Starting as the Dusters in 2004, the original team saw a very successful first season, ending with a 13-3 record and clinching a championship win against the Lubbock Lone Stars. The Dusters moved to the AF2 league from 2005-2009, where they saw mixed success in the wake of a slew of injuries, ownership changes, and the death of running back Donte Newsome. In 2010, the team, now the Amarillo Venom, once again moved to a new league. The Venom played two seasons with the Indoor Football League and won the Division Champion title in 2010. In 2012, the Venom were sold to Amarillo couple Stephenie and Toby Tucker, and joined the Lone Star Football League where they won back-to-back league championship games in 2012 and 2013.
The Venom maintained their status as playoff regulars for the next five years, including another league championship appearance in 2016, losing to the Wichita Force in a close 45-48 game. In August 2024, after a successful season under new owner Robert Reyna, the Venom announced they would change their name back to their original Dusters moniker for the 2025 season. Additionally, the Dusters were set to move to the National Arena League following internal turmoil in the American Indoor Football league. Before the Dusters could play their first game in the NAL, however, the league terminated memberships for a handful of teams — including the Dusters — after a scheduling dispute. In 2025, the Dusters announced they intended to leave Amarillo to play in Louisiana and would change their name to the Bayou Bucks, ending the team’s 20 year long run as Amarillo’s indoor football team with a 134-121 all-time regular season and postseason record.
Enter the Warbirds. This team originally started life in 2019 as the West Texas Warbirds and were based out of Odessa. After a slow start in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Warbirds went undefeated in 2021 beating the Venom in the Lone Star Series 2021 championship game 79-60. The Warbirds repeated that performance in 2022, finishing the season undefeated for a second year in a row. The Odessa team would see a name change for the 2023 season, now going by the Desert Hawks. This incarnation of the team suffered through a slew of controversies, including a dispute with the Ector County Coliseum over proceeds from concessions sales, the sudden dismissal of coach Chris Sigfried, and alleged embezzlement of money meant to secure broadcast slots for Desert Hawks games by AFL commissioner Lee Hutton. The Desert Hawks posted a disappointing record in the last two years of their life in Odessa, finishing 5th in the National Arena League’s 2023 season and 6th in Arena Football League’s 2024 season. A 2025 Facebook post announced that the Desert Hawks would revert back to the Warbirds, and would move to Amarillo under the leadership of new owners Leif Kertis, Cathy Schick, and Gary Meador to play in the National Arena League.
The Amarillo Warbirds are scheduled to play their first game against Louisiana Rouxgaroux on March 7 at 7:05 PM Central in the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City, LA. The game will be streamed live on the NAL Network. The Warbirds first home game will be versus the Sioux City Bandits on March 13 at the Amarillo Civic Center Coliseum starting at 4:30 pm central.
