Jim Foster is the founder and first commissioner of the Arena Football League. He is also a former NFL and USFL executive and was later the principal owner of the Iowa Barnstormers.Foster derived the basic concept of Arena football while watching the MISL All Star game indoor soccer being played at Madison Square Garden on February 11, 1981. He drew it out on a manila folder. The AFL began league play in 1987. In 1990, Foster was granted a patent on the game of Arena football and the equipment unique to it, particularly the end zone rebound nets, meaning that other indoor football leagues not affiliated with the Arena organization were forced to play by at least somewhat different rules than the ones the AFL uses until the patent expired in September 2007.

Jim is a fan of traditional jazz and plays his saxophone whenever he gets the chance. He was born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa.

When Jim lived in Des Moines during his Iowa Barnstormer ownership days, he served as a member of the board of directors for Jazz Partnerz (Kurt Bowermaster, president), the non-profit group that planned and organized the Greater Des Moines Good Times Jazz Festival.