Arena Football League 2016-2019

Arena Football League Logo [Reference: 10]

AFL 2016

PWLTPFPAPct
National Conference
*Arizona Rattlers1613301068786.812
*LA Kiss16790735745.438
Cleveland Gladiators16790826934.438
Portland Steel163130670926.188
American Conference
*Philadelphia Soul161330983776.812
*Orlando Predators161240893781.750
Jacksonville Sharks16790829774.438
Tampa Bay Storm162140568868.125
Arena Football League Standings 2016 [Reference: 1]
DateHome TeamAway Team
Playoffs
Arena Bowl XXIX
26.08.2016Philadelphia Soul56Arizona Rattlers42
Arena Football League Playoffs 2016 [Reference: 2; 9]

AFL 2017

PWLTPFPAPct
*Philadelphia Soul141310817590.929
*Tampa Bay Storm141040710682.714
*Cleveland Gladiators14590696715.357
*Baltimore Brigade144100620749.286
Washington Valor143110565692.214
Arena Football League Standings 2017 [Reference: 3]
DateHome TeamAway Team
Playoffs
Arena Bowl XXX
26.08.2017Philadelphia Soul44Tampa Bay Storm40
Arena Football League Playoffs 2017 [Reference: 4; 9]

AFL 2018

PWLTPFPAPct
*Albany Empire12840646564.667
*Philadelphia Soul12750612577.583
*Baltimore Brigade12750605562.583
*Washington Valor122100482642.167
Arena Football League Standings 2018 [Reference: 5]
DateHome TeamAway Team
Playoffs
20.07.2018Philadelphia Soul41Baltimore BrigadeW
21.07.2018Washington Valor47Albany EmpireL
Arena Bowl XXXI
28.07.2018Washington Valor69Baltimore Brigade55
Arena Football League Playoffs 2018 [Reference: 6; 9]

AFL 2019

PWLTPFPAPct
*Albany Empire121020620474.833
*Washington Valor12750538552.583
*Philadelphia Soul12750523530.583
*Baltimore Brigade12750500439.583
Atlantic City Blackjacks12480518550.333
Columbus Destroyers121110394548.083
Arena Football League Standings 2019 [Reference: 7]
DateHome TeamAway Team
Playoffs
03.08.2019Albany Empire62Baltimore Brigade21
04.08.2019Washington Valor41Philadelphia Soul48
Arena Bowl XXXII
11.08.2019Philadelphia Soul27Albany Empire45
Arena Football League Playoffs 2019 [Reference: 8]

Report

The period from 2016-2019 were the waning years of the Arena Football League,

About the AFL

The Arena Football League was the original Indoor or Arena American Football League, established in 1986. After the court ruling in 1998 that its patent (awarded in 1989) only referred to the rebound nets either side of the goalposts, everything else was football, and not under copyright, as it was already in the common sphere.

This opened the door to rival Indoor Leagues, and in an attempt to see them off Arena Football League created Arena Football 2, an official Minor League. This was an over-expansion and coupled with the debts from the court case related to the patent, it incurred a legacy debt that left the League in no position to continue after 2019.

About Arena / Indoor Football

Indoor Football, also known as Arena Football was developed in 1986 as an 8v8 form of Indoor American Football. After an initial few seasons where the game was developed with a 4 team league, a full seasons League with eventually over a dozen teams was developed in the 1990 which was considered by the Wall Street Journal to be a fifth major.

The Arena Football League over-expanded in the 2000s with a Minor League, and its importance (and number of teams) waned since it first experienced financial diffulties  in 2009, and it ceased operations after the 2019 season due to the legacy debt incurred.

There is now, however, Indoor Football Leagues all over America, all of which would now be considered Minor League or Semi-Pro (AAA, AA, or even A)

Indoor Football is played on a 50-yard field with two 8-yard endzones, and teams have 5 downs (attempts) to reach the endzone or the ball is turned over. 3 of those downs must be passing plays, making Indoor Football highly explosive and high scoring.

The main difference between Arena Football & Indoor Football is the rebound nets either side of the goalposts in Arena Football, which is the only part of the original patent given to the Arena Football League in 1989, that a subsequent ruling in 1998 ruled was copyright, the rest being Football already in other leagues.

References

Websites

[1] Arena Football League (2016) 2016 Standings [Internet] Available from: https://www.arenafootball.com/sports/a-footbl/spec-rel/standings.html [Accessed 1 April 2017][Broken Link]

[3] Arena Football League (2017) 2017 Standings [Internet] Available from: http://www.afldigital.com/index.cfm?view=standings [Accessed 16 September 2017][Broken Link]

[4] Arena Football League (2017) 2017 Schedule [Internet] Available from: http://www.arenafootball.com/2017-schedule [Accessed 16 September 2017][Broken Link]

[5] Arena Football League (2018) 2018 Standings [Internet] Available from: http://www.afldigital.com/index.cfm?view=standings [Accessed 6 January 2019][Broken Link]

[6] Arena Football League (2018) 2018 Schedule [Internet] Available from: http://www.afldigital.com/index.cfm?view=schedule [Accessed 6 January 2019][Broken Link]

[7] Arena Football League (2018) 2019 Standings [Internet] Available from: http://www.arenafootball.com/2019-standings [Accessed 26 July 2019][Broken Link]

[8] Arena Football League (2018) 2018 Schedule [Internet] Available from: http://www.afldigital.com/index.cfm?view=schedule&season=2019 [Accessed 8 September 2019][Broken Link]

[9]Arena Fan (2019) Arena Bowl History [Internet] Available from: http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=abowls [Accessed 19 February 2020]

Images

[10] Arena Football League (2019) Arena Football League Reveals New Logo [Internet] Available from: https://snagfilms-a.akamaihd.net/0000015a-a977-d135-adda-fb7fb65f0000/images/c3/b8/20eb27b6418aa78b71d4679d2988/1545950679236_1545950297199_viewliftarticle_16x9images_16x9Images.png [Accessed 17 September 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Todd Zboyan, Tim Leadingham. Bart Barden & Sam Thompson.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 19 February 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Resereved.

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