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ArenaBowl
Annual league championship game
Annual league championship game
Albany Empire vs. Philadelphia Soul The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team with the higher seed based on regular season performance. In 2005–2006 the league staged the game in Las Vegas, and in 2007–2008 New Orleans hosted the event. For the series final two games, regular season home attendance between the competing teams determined which would host.
Originally using year-based nomenclature ("ArenaBowl '87"), the league would begin consistently referring to the game using roman numerals beginning in 1994 ("ArenaBowl VIII"). The original Arena Football League's 2009 bankruptcy liquidation brought the league's existence to a close, but ArenaBowl XXIII would be staged in 2010 as the championship game of a new league which assumed the AFL's intellectual properties. The final ten games of the series would be staged under the "new" Arena Football League, concluding with ArenaBowl XXXII between the Albany Empire and Philadelphia Soul. The second AFL ultimately had the same fate as the first, ceasing operations after its 2019 season and undergoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.
The intellectual property rights to the names of the Arena Football League and the ArenaBowl were sold through the league's bankruptcy proceeding in 2020. The ArenaBowl name was used in 2024 for ArenaBowl XXXIII.
Results
| Game | Date | colspan="2" | Winning team | colspan="2" | Losing team | colspan="1" | MVP | Site | Attendance | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ArenaBowl I | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl II | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl III | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl IV | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl V | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl VI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl VII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl VIII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl IX | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl X | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XIII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XIV | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XV | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XVI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XVII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XVIII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XIX | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XX | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXIII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXIV | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXV | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXVI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXVII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXVIII | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXIX | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXX | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXXI | |||||||||||||||
| ArenaBowl XXXII |
- Neutral site
- The first seven ArenaBowls were known by the year in which they were played (i.e. ArenaBowl I was called ArenaBowl '87). ArenaBowl VIII was the first to carry a roman numeral, and all previous games were retconned to have roman numerals as well.
- The number in parentheses indicates the amount of ArenaBowl MVPs that player won.
- The Pittsburgh Gladiators relocated in 1991 to become the Tampa Bay Storm.
- The Nashville Kats relocated in 2002 to become the Georgia Force. The Kats were brought back as an expansion team in 2005 and assumed all former team history up to the point when the original Kats relocated to Georgia. The Force were regarded as a completely separate team and kept records from their establishment in 2002 to the team's demise in 2012, similar to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens situation in the NFL.
Most championships won
| Team | Championships | Winning years |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Rattlers | 5 | 1994, 1997, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Tampa Bay Storm | 5 | 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2003 |
| Detroit Drive | 4 | 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 |
| San Jose SaberCats | 4 | 2002, 2004, 2007, 2015 |
| Philadelphia Soul | 3 | 2008, 2016, 2017 |
| Orlando Predators | 2 | 1998, 2000 |
| Albany Firebirds | 1 | 1999 |
| Chicago Rush | 1 | 2006 |
| Colorado Crush | 1 | 2005 |
| Denver Dynamite | 1 | 1987 |
| Grand Rapids Rampage | 1 | 2001 |
| Jacksonville Sharks | 1 | 2011 |
| Spokane Shock | 1 | 2010 |
| Washington Valor | 1 | 2018 |
| Albany Empire | 1 | 2019 |
Standings
| Team | W | L | PCT. | PF | PA | Last appearance | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Rattlers | ||||||||||||
| Tampa Bay Storm* | ||||||||||||
| San Jose SaberCats | ||||||||||||
| Detroit Drive | ||||||||||||
| Philadelphia Soul | ||||||||||||
| Orlando Predators | ||||||||||||
| Albany Empire | ||||||||||||
| Albany Firebirds | ||||||||||||
| Chicago Rush | ||||||||||||
| Colorado Crush | ||||||||||||
| Denver Dynamite | ||||||||||||
| Grand Rapids Rampage | ||||||||||||
| Spokane Shock | ||||||||||||
| Washington Valor | ||||||||||||
| Jacksonville Sharks | ||||||||||||
| Baltimore Brigade | ||||||||||||
| Chicago Bruisers | ||||||||||||
| Cleveland Gladiators | ||||||||||||
| Columbus Destroyers | ||||||||||||
| Dallas Texans | ||||||||||||
| Georgia Force | ||||||||||||
| Iowa Barnstormers | ||||||||||||
| Nashville Kats |
*Includes two appearances as Pittsburgh Gladiators (0–2, 42 points, 84 points allowed).
Coaching records
| Coach | G | W | L | PCT. | Team(s) | Appearance(s) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darren Arbet | ||||||||||||
| Fran Curci | ||||||||||||
| Mike Dailey | ||||||||||||
| Clint Dolezel | ||||||||||||
| John Gregory | ||||||||||||
| Jay Gruden | ||||||||||||
| Kevin Guy | ||||||||||||
| Joe Haering | ||||||||||||
| Mike Hohensee | ||||||||||||
| Darrel Jackson | ||||||||||||
| Ron James | ||||||||||||
| Doug Kay | ||||||||||||
| Rob Keefe | ||||||||||||
| Lary Kuharich | ||||||||||||
| Tim Marcum | ||||||||||||
| Benji McDowell | ||||||||||||
| Les Moss | ||||||||||||
| Perry Moss | ||||||||||||
| Bret Munsey | ||||||||||||
| Doug Plank | ||||||||||||
| Omarr Smith | ||||||||||||
| Pat Sperduto | ||||||||||||
| Ernie Stautner | ||||||||||||
| Steve Thonn | ||||||||||||
| Michael Trigg | ||||||||||||
| Danny White |
*Both Haering and Jackson coached the 1989 Pittsburgh Gladiators, but Jackson is credited with the postseason games.
References
References
- Gleeson, Scott. (November 27, 2019). "Arena Football League files for bankruptcy, ceases all operations".
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