2016 Arena Football League season

2016 Arena Football League season
League	Arena Football League
Sport	Arena Football
Duration	April 1 – August 1
Regular season
League postseason
ArenaBowl XXIX

The 2016 Arena Football League season is the twenty-ninth season in the history of the league. The regular season began on April 1, 2016 and will end on August 1, 2016. All eight teams will make the playoffs after a 16-game regular season.

League business

Teams

The Las Vegas Outlaws and the New Orleans VooDoo were dropped from the league at the end of the 2015 season because new ownership groups could not be found for either team. The Spokane Shock jumped to the Indoor Football League on September 1, 2015.^[1] The AFL claimed ownership of the Shock name, forcing the team to rename itself the Spokane Empire.^[2] On October 30th, 2015, the league announced that there would not be any expansion teams for the 2016 season; this even occurred just under three hours before what had been slated to be the expected announcement of an expansion franchise in San Antonio to be owned by the ownership group of the San Antonio Spurs. The group owning the 2015 league champion San Jose SaberCats returned the franchise to the league on November 12, 2015 for "reasons unrelated to League operations". Commissioner Scott Butera said the league would try to find new ownership, but this was not forthcoming in time for the team to operate during the 2016 season to defend its championship.^[3] Because the league is now down to eight teams for the 2016 season, there will still be American and National Conferences but no divisional play. The Cleveland Gladiators were moved to the National Conference to maintain a balance between the conferences.^[4] The league took over operations of the former Portland Thunder in January 2016^[5] and rebranded it as the Portland Steel.^[6] The 2016 schedule was announced on December 10, 2015.^[7]

ArenaBowl Playoffs

All teams from both conferences will qualify for the playoffs. Like last season, there will be the Conference Semifinals, the Conference Championships, and ArenaBowl XXIX.

Alignment

Conference	Teams
American	Jacksonville Sharks, Orlando Predators, Philadelphia Soul, Tampa Bay Storm
National	Arizona Rattlers, Cleveland Gladiators, Los Angeles Kiss, Portland Steel

Standings

2016 American Conference standings Team Overall Points Records W L T PCT PF PA CON Home Away Orlando Predators 5 0 0 1.000 311 227 2–0 2–0 3–0 Philadelphia Soul 4 1 0 .800 303 215 0–1 2–1 2–0 Jacksonville Sharks 2 3 0 .400 255 270 2–1 0-2 2–1 Tampa Bay Storm 0 4 0 .000 108 210 0–2 0–2 0–2

2016 National Conference standings Team Overall Points Record W L T PCT PF PA CON Home Away Arizona Rattlers 5 0 0 1.000 352 172 3–0 2–0 3–0 Los Angeles Kiss 2 3 0 .400 212 249 1–1 1–2 1–1 Cleveland Gladiators 1 4 0 .200 230 288 0–1 1–3 0–1 Portland Steel 0 4 0 .000 131 271 0–2 0–2 0–2

References

1. "IFL Announces Addition of Spokane Shock". Indoor Football League. September 1, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
2. "AFL Issues Statement on Spokane Shock". www.arenafootballleague.com. Arena Football League. October 12, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
3. "AFL Issues Statement on San Jose SaberCats". www.arenafootballleague.com. Arena Football League. November 12, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
4. "AFL Announces 2016 Conference Alignment". www.arenafootballleague.com. Arena Football League. October 30, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
5. "AFL Takes over Operations of Portland Thunder". OurSportsCentral. January 6, 2016.
6. "Portland AFL Organization Rebrands to Steel". OurSportsCentral. February 24, 2016.
7. "Arena Football League Announces 2016 Schedule". www.arenafootballleague.com. Arena Football League. December 10, 2015. Retrieved December 18, 2015.