WORCESTER — The Massachusetts Pirates will return to the DCU Center in 2020 for a third indoor football season in the National Arena League, after the league called off a merger with Champions Indoor Football.

The Pirates compiled a record of 19-11 in the NAL the last two years, tying for the second-most victories in the league during that span and qualifying for the postseason in both years.

Last month, however, Pirates co-owner and president Jawad Yatim said his team would leave the NAL after the league announced it would merge with CIF next season. Yatim wasn’t satisfied with the caliber of play in the CIF.

“The organizations in that league aren’t up to the NAL,” Yatim said Thursday. “They’re not up to the standard of competitiveness that I would like to be competing against on a consistent basis.”

The CIF began the 2019 season with eight teams, but the Texas Revolution folded during the season and the two-time league champion Duke City Gladiators joined the Indoor Football League at the end of the season.

Yatim also didn’t like that the NAL was going to play under the different rules of the CIF. Once the merger fell through, Yatim decided to keep the Pirates in the NAL.

“It’s a relief,” Yatim said. “It’s definitely been stressful, no question about it. You never want to run into these situations where your normal business practices are interrupted. You always want to keep moving at a steady pace. It’s just nice to get back on track and put this behind us.”

The expected departure of the New York franchise would have left the Pirates as the only northeast team among the five remaining franchises in the NAL, but the league is expected to expand into a couple of cities closer to Worcester.

Yatim said the Pirates explored joining other indoor football leagues before the NAL cancelled its merger with the CIF, but will honor its contractual commitment to remain in the NAL through 2020. The Pirates will be free to join any league in 2021.

Yatim said the team has sold more tickets at this point in the offseason than in either of their first two seasons.

“This league matter hasn’t helped us,” he said, “but we’re back on it. We’re rocking and rolling. Now that we can this announcement out of the way, we can get back to business as usual.”

The Pirates hold a team option to return to the DCU Center for their home games for a third year.

The Pirates will become the first indoor football team to play a third season not only in Worcester, but in the state. The Mass. Marauders played in the Arena Football League at the DCU Center — then called the Worcester Centrum — in 1994. The New England Surge played at the DCU Center in the Continental Indoor Football League in 2007 and 2008.

“It’s cool,” Yatim said. “Am I surprised? Am I shocked? No. If you’re coming into this thing expecting to pull it in two years, then just save your money. It’s not the goal. We’ve got higher expectations for ourselves and our market and our fan base. It’s a nice little milestone, but it’s definitely not one of our goals we’ve got written up on our board, I’ll tell you that.”

Yatim, who owns the Pirates with his father, Hassan Yatim, said the team plans to hire a new head coach for 2020. Ameer Ismail coached the team in 2018 and was voted NAL Coach of the Year. Anthony Payton coached the team in 2019.

—Contact Bill Doyle at william.doyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.