Arena Football League Abruptly Changes Postseason Plans

The relaunch of the Arena Football League (AFL) has been a season of chaos.  Only eight of the 16 teams which began have finished the season.  This week was supposed to be the final week of the regular season with the top five teams qualifying for the playoffs.  However, the AFL made a decision this week to abruptly end the season and go forward with plans of a six-team playoff.

The league made the decision when they were able to secure a national broadcast partner to televise the playoffs.  On various social media sites, it has been reported that the broadcast partner will be CBS Sports Network.

This means that the playoff seedings will be as follows:

  1. Billings Outlaws (7-1)
  2. Albany Firebirds (7-2)
  3. Orlando Predators (5-2)
  4. Salina Liberty (6-2)
  5. SW Kansas Storm (4-5)
  6. Nashville Kats (3-4)
The first round of the playoffs are set to begin on Friday, July 5th as Nashville will visit Orlando.  On Saturday, July 6th, Southwest Kansas will travel to Salina.  Billings and Albany will have first-round byes and will host the semifinal games on July 13th.

ArenaBowl XXXIII is scheduled for Friday, July 19th at the American Dream Entertainment/Retail Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.


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