A football league that doesn't compete with the NFL and features a fast-paced game where "every play is designed to be a touchdown" appealed to Lynn Swann,

So the Steelers Hall of Fame receiver teamed with local businessman Matt Shaner to become a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Power, an Arena Football League franchise that will begin playing in Consol Energy Center in April.

"I played football for the Steelers for nine years, and we won four Super Bowls," Swann said Friday as the team was unveiled at a news conference at the new arena.

"The Steelers aren't going to give me another Super Bowl ring. The only way I'm going to get another championship ring is with the ArenaBowl coming to Pittsburgh or our team playing for a championship."

Pittsburgh's sports market, new arena and ownership partners appealed to the Arena Football League, said Brett Bouchy, chairman of the AFL expansion committee.

"Everybody knows the Steelers," Bouchy said. "Pittsburgh is a great, great football market. It's blocking, tackling -- it's football; it's just indoors and complementary because it's in [the NFL's] offseason.

"The goal is to go into great football markets where you will have year-round football. I guarantee you will see a bunch of Steelers at the Pittsburgh Power games."

The team is using the city's familiar black and gold colors. Its logo features a fist holding a lightning bolt.

"Our goals are to put a competitive team on the field each and every season," said Shaner, whose Shaner Hotel Group owns the Marriott City Center across the street from Consol Energy Center.

He and Swann have been involved in politics, and they met at a Shaner tailgate party at Penn State about five years ago.

Swann and Shaner's push to bring an AFL team to Pittsburgh began in 2008, but stalled when the league filed for bankruptcy and canceled its '09 season. It returned this year with 15 teams stretched across the country.

The Power is one of four expansion teams for 2011. The others are Kansas City, San Jose and what Bouchy called "the soon-to-be-hated Philadelphia Soul," co-owned by ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski.

Bouchy said the AFL hopes to add some even bigger football markets, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle.

There is no AFL draft. Players become free agents Oct. 1. Shaner, who also is the Power's general manager, said the group has talked to some unattached local players, including a few former Pitt and Penn State players, and will have local tryouts beginning in September or October.

He hopes to hire a coach in a matter of weeks.

Shaner said the Power will be involved in community and charity interests and hopes to keep tickets accessible.

"We don't want to price out people," he said.

Most of the upper-level seats at Consol Energy Center will be $15 general admission tickets. The priciest tickets will be $180 premium seats along the sidelines next to the boards.

Tickets, and other information about the team, are available at www.pittsburghpowerfootball.com or by calling 1-888-769-2011.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.