| Monterrey Steel | |
| Helmet: | Monterrey Steel Helmet Logo 2017.png |
| Founded: | 2016 |
| Folded: | 2017 |
| City: | Monterrey, Nuevo León at Arena Monterrey |
| Misc: | MonterreySteel.com |
| Colors: | Black, gold, white |
| Coach: | J. A. Anderson |
| Owner: | Fernando Von Rossum |
| President: | Fernando Von Rossum |
| League: | National Arena League (2017) |
| Team History: |
|
| No League Champs: | 0 |
| No Conf Champs: | 0 |
| No Div Champs: | 0 |
| Playoff Appearances: | 2017 |
| No Playoff Appearances: | 1 |
| Arena Years: |
|
The Monterrey Steel was a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) that played in the 2017 season. Based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, the Steel played their home games at Arena Monterrey.
The Steel were the first team from Mexico to play in an American arena/indoor football league, as well as the first team from outside the United States to play in one since the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League (2001–2002).
On November 30, 2016, it was announced that the Monterrey Steel would be joining the National Arena League for its inaugural 2017 season. In the announcement, the team named arena football veteran J. A. Anderson as their first head coach, and unveiled their logo and color scheme. The Steel nickname is a tribute to Monterrey being the steel capital of Mexico, with the first mills opening in the city in 1903.[1]
The Steel were the only team in the 2017 season to defeat the Jacksonville Sharks in the last week of the regular season at Jacksonville. They again faced the Sharks in Jacksonville one week later in a semifinal playoff game, where they lost 43–32.
During the 2017 off-season, the Steel were unable to commit for playing the 2018 season in the NAL citing the 2017 Central Mexico earthquake. By November 2017, the team website had expired. The team would eventually be removed from the league in December for failing to meet the league's minimum obligations in time for the release of the 2018 schedule.[2]
In January 2018, the Southern Steam of the semi-professional Elite Indoor Football announced they would play the Steel on July 1, 2018, in an international game (along with Lagartos Tamaulipas) but has not been mentioned since.[3]
| Defensive Rookie of the Year | |||
| Season | Player | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sergio Schiaffino | DB | ||
| Team: | Monterrey Steel |
| Year: | 2017 |
| Record: | 7–4 |
| Conference Place: | 4th |
| Coach: | J. A. Anderson |
| Owner: | Leoncio Ruiz |
| Stadium: | Arena Monterrey |
| Playoffs: | Lost NAL Semifinals 32–43 (Sharks) |
| No Prevseason: | true |
| No Nextseason: | true |
The 2017 regular season schedule was released on December 9, 2016.[4]
Key:
All start times are local time
| Week | Day | Date | Kickoff | Opponent | Results | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Record | |||||||
| 1 | Monday | March 20 | 7:00pm | Corpus Christi Rage | W 55–12 | 1–0 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 2 | Monday | March 27 | 7:00pm | Dayton Wolfpack | W 61–24 | 2–0 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 3 | Monday | April 3 | 7:00pm | Corpus Christi Rage | W 57–28 | 3–0 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 4 | Monday | April 10 | 7:05pm | at Dayton Wolfpack | Cancelled | |||
| 5 | colSpan=7 | BYE | ||||||
| 6 | Monday | April 24 | 7:00pm | Jacksonville Sharks | L 21–60 | 3–1 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 7 | colSpan=7 | BYE | ||||||
| 8 | Saturday | May 6 | 7:00pm | at Columbus Lions | L18–48 | 3–2 | Columbus Civic Center | |
| 9 | Monday | May 15 | 7:00pm | at Corpus Christi Rage | W 33–30 | 4–2 | American Bank Center | |
| 10 | Saturday | May 20 | 7:00pm | at Jacksonville Sharks | L 13–42 | 4–3 | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena | |
| 11 | Saturday | May 27 | 7:00pm | at Georgia Firebirds | W 68–26 | 5–3 | Albany Civic Center | |
| 12 | Monday | June 5 | 7:00pm | Georgia Firebirds | W 66–8 | 6–3 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 13 | Monday | June 12 | 7:00pm | Columbus Lions | L 42–49 | 6–4 | Arena Monterrey | |
| 14 | Saturday | June 17 | 7:00pm | at Jacksonville Sharks | W 44–37 | 7–4 | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena | |