2016 Arena Football League season

The 2016 Arena Football League season was the twenty-ninth season in the history of the league. Prior to the start of the season, the league contracted to eight teams. The 16-game regular season then began on April 1, 2016 and ended on August 1, 2016. The league, however, kept its eight-team playoff format, which meant that every club qualified for the postseason.

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 event 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 was now down to eight teams for the 2016 season, there were still the 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 qualified for the playoffs. As in the prior season, there were the Conference Semifinals, the Conference Championships, and ArenaBowl XXIX.
In the American Semifinals, the Soul beat the Storm 63–41 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The Sharks beat the Predators 69–68 in overtime; the National Semifinals saw the Rattlers beat the Steel 84–40 and the Gladiators beat the Kiss 56–52 in San Diego, California.
The Rattlers doubled up the Gladiators 82–41 in the National Conference title game. In the American Conference title game, the Soul edged the Sharks by a score of 55–50.
The Philadelphia Soul upset the heavily-favored Arizona Rattlers 56–42 in ArenaBowl XXIX in Glendale, Arizona for their second AFL title.

Alignment

Regular season standings

x=Clinched conference title.

Playoffs

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

ArenaBowl XXIX

Conference	Teams
American	Jacksonville Sharks, Orlando Predators, Philadelphia Soul, Tampa Bay Storm
National	Arizona Rattlers, Cleveland Gladiators, Los Angeles Kiss, Portland Steel
2016 American Conference standings view talk edit Team Overall Points Records W L PCT PF PA CON Home Away x-Philadelphia Soul 13 3 .813 983 776 5–1 7–1 6–2 Orlando Predators 12 4 .750 893 781 5–3 6–2 6–2 Jacksonville Sharks 7 9 .438 829 774 5–3 3–5 4–4 Tampa Bay Storm 2 14 .125 568 868 0–8 2–6 0–8	2016 National Conference standings view talk edit Team Overall Points Record W L PCT PF PA CON Home Away x-Arizona Rattlers 13 3 .813 1,068 766 8–0 8–0 5–3 Los Angeles Kiss 7 9 .438 736 748 4–4 5–4 2–5 Cleveland Gladiators 7 9 .438 826 934 2–4 4–4 3–5 Portland Steel 3 13 .188 670 926 1–7 3–4 0–9
	Conference Semifinals					Conference Championships					ArenaBowl XXIX
	1	Philadelphia	63
	4	Tampa Bay	41
						1	Philadelphia	55
	American Conference
						3	Jacksonville	50
	2	Orlando	68
	3	Jacksonville	69OT
											1	Arizona	42
											1	Philadelphia	56
	1	Arizona	84
	4	Portland	40
						1	Arizona	82
	National Conference
						3	Cleveland	41
	2	Los Angeles	52
	3	Cleveland	56
Conference	Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site	Recap
American	August 6	7:00 p.m. EDT	Jacksonville Sharks	69–68 (OT)	Orlando Predators	Amway Center	[1]
National	August 6	10:00 p.m. EDT	Portland Steel	40–84	Arizona Rattlers	Talking Stick Resort Arena	[2]
American	August 7	6:00 p.m. EDT	Tampa Bay Storm	41–63	Philadelphia Soul	PPL Center	[3]
National	August 7	6:00 p.m. EDT	Cleveland Gladiators	56–52	Los Angeles Kiss	Valley View Casino Center	[4]
Conference	Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site	Recap
National	August 13	9:30 p.m. EDT	Cleveland Gladiators	41–82	Arizona Rattlers	Talking Stick Resort Arena	[5]
American	August 14	6:00 p.m. EDT	Jacksonville Sharks	50–55	Philadelphia Soul	PPL Center	[6]
Date	Kickoff	Away	Score	Home	Game site	Recap
August 26	7:00 PM EDT	Philadelphia Soul	56–42	Arizona Rattlers	Gila River Arena	[7]