New England Storm
Founded	2000
Arena	Hormel Stadium
Based in	Medford, Massachusetts Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...
Colors	Red Red Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...  and Blue Blue Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
League	Women's Professional Football League Women's Professional Football League The Women's Professional Football League is the original and longest operating women's professional American football league in the United States. Now with teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams: the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota...

The New England Storm was a women’s professional football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team.

The New England Storm originated when in 2000, Melissa "Missi" Korpacz, contacted the Women's Professional Football League

Women's Professional Football League

The Women's Professional Football League is the original and longest operating women's professional American football league in the United States. Now with teams across the United States, the WPFL had its first game in 1999 with just two original teams: the Lake Michigan Minx and the Minnesota...

 to ask about bringing a team to the New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 area. After much negotiation, Korpacz was offered the opportunity to join the WPFL as the owner of the first women's professional football team in New England. Korpacz accepted, pushing aside her Special Education Advocacy Law practice. That year, to get her team started, Korpacz recruited coaching, medical, front office staff and top female athletes. To raise revenue Korpacz secured corporate and marketing partnerships with companies such as Coca Cola, New England Patriots, Harpoon, Boston Beer Works, Mt. Auburn Hospital, Hard Rock Café, Sam Adams, Fox Sports Net, NFL, PAX TV, and Mohegan Sun Casino, just to name a few. In their second season, the New England Storm won the National Conference Championship and were runners-up to the Houston Energy for the Women's Professional Football League Championship.

The Storm were originally based in Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

, but after a year Korpacz relocated the team to Medford, Massachusetts

Medford, Massachusetts

Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...

, two miles north of Boston, MA where they played at Hormel Stadium. The New England Storm had a commercial relationship with the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

, being the only women's team to ever have a commercial relationship with a NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

team.

On February 8, 2001, as a result of the effort of Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, Korpacz and the New England Storm Women's Professional Football Team became a part of United States Congressional history. The transcript of the address that Senator Chafee Presented to Congress can be found at http://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/record/2001/2001_S01217.pdf