2019 Arena Football League season

The 2019 Arena Football League season was the 32nd and final season in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL). Prior to the start of the season, the league expanded from four to six teams with two added expansion teams. The 12-game regular season began on April 26 and ended on July 21.

2019 Arena Football League season
LeagueArena Football League
SportArena football
DurationApril 26 – August 11, 2019
Regular season
Season championsAlbany Empire
League postseason
#1 vs #4 championsAlbany Empire (#1)
  #1 vs #4 runners-upBaltimore Brigade (#4)
#2 vs #3 championsPhiladelphia Soul (#3)
  #2 vs #3 runners-upWashington Valor (#2)
ArenaBowl XXXII
ChampionsAlbany Empire
  Runners-upPhiladelphia Soul
Finals MVPTommy Grady (Albany)

League business

Teams

For the first time since 2011, the AFL entered the season with more teams than it had the previous season, adding an expansion team and reactivating another that had been dormant for over a decade.

The league announced the Atlantic City Blackjacks expansion team on January 22, 2019, that is operated by the same ownership group as the Albany Empire.[1][2] On February 7, 2019, the league re-added the Columbus Destroyers as another expansion team to bring the league back to six teams.[3]

Schedule and playoff changes

The 2019 season consisted of a 13-week schedule during which each team played 12 games and had one bye week.

At the end of the regular season, the top four teams participated in the ArenaBowl playoffs, in which the top seed faced the fourth seed while the second seed faced the third seed in a home-and-home series. The team in each series with the highest aggregate score advanced to the ArenaBowl. If the aggregate score in either series was tied after the second game in the home-and-home semifinals, the game would have continued in the AFL's standard overtime format. While the semifinals consisted of two games in each pairing, ArenaBowl XXXII was still one game.[4]

Closure

The AFL announced it had closed its teams' local operations on October 29,[5] following that with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation filing November 27.[6]

Final season standings

2019 Arena Football League standings
Team Overall Points Records
W L PCT PF PA Home Away GB STK
Albany Empire xy102.8336204745–15–1—W2
Washington Valor x75.5835385524–23–33W2
Philadelphia Soul x75.5835235304–23–3L1
Baltimore Brigade x75.5835004394–23–3W1
Atlantic City Blackjacks48.3335185503–31–56L2
Columbus Destroyers111.0833945481–50–69L5

y - clinched regular season title
x - clinched playoff berth

Playoffs
  Semifinals ArenaBowl XXXII
                         
1 Albany Empire 61 62 123  
4 Baltimore Brigade 26 21 47  
    1 Albany Empire 45
  3 Philadelphia Soul 27
2 Washington Valor 33 41 74
3 Philadelphia Soul 69 48 117  

Semifinals

All times listed are in EDT.

Date Kickoff Away Score Home Game site Recap
Sat. July 27 7:00 p.m. (4) Baltimore Brigade 26–61 (1) Albany Empire Times Union Center • Albany, NY Recap
Sun. July 28 3:30 p.m. (3) Philadelphia Soul 69–33 (2) Washington Valor Capital One Arena • Washington, D.C. Recap
Sat. August 3 7:00 p.m. (1) Albany Empire 62–21 (4) Baltimore Brigade Royal Farms Arena • Baltimore, MD Recap
Sun. August 4 4:00 p.m. (2) Washington Valor 41–48 (3) Philadelphia Soul Wells Fargo Center • Philadelphia, PA Recap

ArenaBowl XXXII
Main article: ArenaBowl XXXII
Date Kickoff Away Score Home Game site Recap
Sun. August 11 8:00 p.m. (3) Philadelphia Soul 27–45 (1) Albany Empire Times Union Center • Albany, NY Recap

Attendance

Announced attendance figures for each home game. In the weekly columns, dashes (—) indicate away games or a bye week, while bold font indicates the highest attendance of each team.

Team / Week12345678910111213SFABTotalAverage
Albany Empire11,6829,208———8,74410,287—9,417———10,9819,08512,042 81,446 10,181
Philadelphia Soul9,245—9,843——8,6727,1646,910—10,564———8,537— 60,935 8,705
Washington Valor——8,0446,357———7,1796,7957,136——8,4566,942N/A 50,909 7,273
Columbus Destroyers———7,0356,122—6,0296,2607,604——9,275—N/A 42,325 7,054
Atlantic City Blackjacks—6,139—4,0544,3864,632————7,104—6,266N/A 32,581 5,430
Baltimore Brigade5,1954,3814,990—4,079————4,206—4,609—5,282N/A 32,742 4,677
Total 26,122 19,728 22,877 17,446 14,587 22,048 23,480 20,349 23,816 21,906 7,104 13,884 25,703 29,846 12,042 300,938  
Average 8,707 6,576 7,626 5,815 4,862 7,349 7,827 6,783 7,939 7,302 7,104 6,942 8,568 7,462 12,042   7,340

Awards

First team

Second team

[7]

References
  1. "Arena Football League team approved for Atlantic City". The Press of Atlantic City. January 22, 2019.
  2. "Albany Empire Parent Company Chosen to Operate New Atlantic City AFL Franchise". OurSportsCentral.com. January 23, 2019.
  3. "THE ARENA FOOTBALL LEAGUE ANNOUNCES EXPANSION TO COLUMBUS, OHIO". AFL. February 7, 2019. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  4. "Arena Football League Announces 2019 Schedule, Rule Changes". ArenaFootball.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
  5. "Albany Empire, other Arena Football League teams close operations". Times Union. October 29, 2019.
  6. Gleeson, Scott (November 27, 2019), "Arena Football League files for bankruptcy, ceases all operations", USA Today, retrieved November 27, 2019
  7. "All-Arena First and Second Teams Announced". Arena Football League. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
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