[3] The league announced their first three teams as the Birmingham Outlawz, Myrtle Beach Sharks, and Savannah Coastal Outlaws.

The Myrtle Beach Sharks announced they had joined the outdoor Gridiron Developmental Football League on March 7 and had left the APF.

With Viens serving as league president, the league added the Buffalo Blitz and Ontario-Niagara Spartans (both run by owners of established semi-professional teams, the Buffalo Gladiators and Steel City Patriots, respectively), as well as the Connecticut Chiefs (travel-only), Glens Falls Gladiators (travel-only), Niagara Falls Thunder (also operated by the Blitz ownership), New Hampshire Brigade, Rochester Kings, as well as Viens' Vermont Bucks.

On November 3, 2016, the league announced inter-league play with the Central Florida Jaguars' Elite Indoor Football Conference.

[6] However, all references to the EIFC were removed in January 2017 even after the Jaguars and Phantoms had attended the December 2016 league meetings as APF affiliates.

On November 14, 2016, both the APF and Can-Am announced an alliance with each other where the playoff champions of each league meet for an inter-league championship game.

However, the Bucks later announced they were facing the semi-professional Central Penn Chargers, a team that primarily played in the Mid-Atlantic Indoor Football League, in their postseason game.

From the APF, the league added the Florida Tarpons, Richmond Roughriders, and the announced expansion team Hampton Roads Riptides.

The Doom organization had played a few games as a travel team fill-in for the Dayton Wolfpack of the NAL the previous season.

The AAL also added three affiliated teams that would fill in for home games of the league members and count for league games: the Austin Wild (formerly the Cap City Bulls of Austin, Texas, which had played as a traveling team in the SIF during 2017), the New England Cavalry (operated by the outdoor semi-professional organization out of Concord, New Hampshire), and the Savannah Coastal Outlaws (originally announced as an AAL member from the APF merger).

The Glens Falls Gladiators ceased operations just prior to the season, while the Coastal Outlaws would also never play an AAL game with many of their games replaced with the Carolina Cowboyz, also originally of Elite Indoor Football, to bring the league to twelve members and three affiliates to start the 2018 season.

Partway through the first AAL season, co-founder Tim Viens resigned from his positions within the league on April 14, 2018, and would also no longer be involved with his team, the Atlanta Havoc.

[18] The league then moved their website and retroactively claimed to have been founded as Arena Pro Football and changed its name when the Can-Am teams joined.

The last Can-Am team, the Rochester Kings, also appeared to have ceased playing league games altogether during the season.

The Georgia Doom defeated both the league-leading teams, the Atlanta Havoc and Richmond Roughriders, but then chose not to participate in the playoffs.

[24] On August 15, 2018, Richmond Roughriders' owner Gregg Fornario announced his intentions of creating a new league called Northern Arena Football (NAF).

During the following offseason, the league lost the Louisville Xtreme and Tampa Bay Tornadoes to the NAL without the teams playing a game in the AAL.

[45] The league then updated its website in December 2020 with a list of 17 teams in three divisions for the 2021 season, including Allen, San Antonio, and El Paso.

It also re-added the Austin Wild and Tampa Bay Tornadoes, as well as new teams in the Chicago Power, North Texas Bulls, Mississippi Raiders, and St. Louis Bandits.

[52] After the 2021 season concluded, four members of the East Division (Carolina Predators, Tampa Bay Tornadoes, Pennsylvania Union and Mississippi Raiders) announced that they would leave the AAL to form new league called Arena Indoor Football Alliance.

[56] In December 2021, the new ownership led by AJ Roque and Jermaine Sanders, the owners of the Jersey Bearcats, launched the new website for league following the completion of the sale from Tony Zefiretto.

[59] AAL2 was delayed until 2023 and was initially to serve as the AAL's minor league, which was supposed to also relaunch in 2023,[60] but by the time of the start of the 2023 season, only the AAL2 was active.

[67] On November 1, 2023, the league added a new team for 2024, the Wheeling Miners, who were originally slated for American Indoor Football.

The teams include: The Jersey Bearcats, Maryland Eagles, Western Maryland Warriors, Steel City Stampede, Carolina Predators, Peach State Cats, Delaware Bullsharks and Wheeling Miners in the East Division and the Dallas Falcons, Austin Wolverines, Texas Hotshots, Waco Tornadoes and West Texas Warriors in the west division.

[72] After the end of the regular season, the Texas Hotshots claimed that none of the league teams paid salaries to players.

The Georgia Indians, Mississippi Wolfpack, New York Smash, Pittsburgh Outlaws, and Tri-City Rivergators were announced to be joining the league for the spring 2025 season.