CANTON, Ohio (JMN Sports) – A Major League Football team will be coming to Canton this fall.
The Ohio Force have an agreement to play at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium beginning in August, according to a Monday statement by the league and Hall of Fame Resort & Entertainment Co.
“We are excited to partner with Major League Football,” said Clint Fetty, Vice President/General Manager of HOF Village Sports. “Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium and the Hall of Fame Village are the perfect homes for the upstart Ohio Force as the team establishes its home base in Canton.”
The league announced Canton as one of two cities – along with Virginia Beach – as one of two cities that will have teams for the incoming developmental football league. The league announced in November that it had planned to start with six teams, but dropped the number to four back in March.
The Ohio Force will be coached by Bill Conley, who previously spent 17 years as an assistant coach for Ohio State. Conley also was the head coach at Division II’s Ohio Dominican University from 2010 to 2015.
Major League Football, headquartered in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, was founded in 2014 and is a developmental league that hopes to cultivate players, coaches, officials, and front office personnel for the National Football League. The inaugural season is scheduled to begin on Aug. 9, with a full schedule and two additional host markets for the Arkansas Attack and Texas Independence that will be announced shortly, according to the league.