The Rattlers then officially left the AFL for the IFL on October 17, leaving the AFL with four teams. On October 14, the AFL held a dispersal draft with the five remaining teams selecting players from the Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Orlando, and Portland rosters. Later on October 13, the league held a teleconference with the remaining team owners and issued a statement the next morning declaring that the league would continue in the long-term, although the league did not expressly commit to playing in 2017 at that time. In the same report, it was stated the Los Angeles Kiss and Portland Steel had apparently folded after both teams failed to return calls or respond to inquiries into 2017 season ticket purchases.
The next day, it was reported that the Arizona Rattlers were in the planning stages to also leave the AFL for the Indoor Football League for 2017. Hours later, the Jacksonville Sharks also announced they would be leaving the AFL and later joined the National Arena League. On October 12, 2016, the Orlando Predators announced they had left the league due to the reduced number of teams and other pending disagreements with the league. However, when the 2017 schedule was announced, there was no mention of any San Antonio, St. Louis as well as a potential new team for Sacramento.
There was also talk for franchises to return to San Antonio and St. On July 14, 2016, the team name was revealed as the Washington Valor. On March 10, 2016, AFL commissioner Scott Butera announced that the deal was finalized and that the new Washington, D.C., team would begin play in 2017. On February 10, 2016, The Washington Post and radio station WTOP-FM first broke the story that Monumental Sports & Entertainment ( Ted Leonsis, chairman) were "close to a deal" to bring a new expansion franchise to the Verizon Center.
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