2019 Arena Football League season

The 2019 Arena Football League season was the 32nd season and final in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL) before filing for bankruptcy. 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
League	Arena Football League
Sport	Arena football
Duration	April 26 – August 11, 2019
Regular season
Season champions	Albany Empire
League postseason
#1 vs #4 champions	Albany Empire (#1)
#1 vs #4 runners-up	Baltimore Brigade (#4)
#2 vs #3 champions	Philadelphia Soul (#3)
#2 vs #3 runners-up	Washington Valor (#2)
ArenaBowl XXXII
Champions	Albany Empire
Runners-up	Philadelphia Soul
Finals MVP	Tommy Grady (Albany)

Blackjacks

Brigade

Destroyers

Empire

Soul

Valor

AFL teams

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 xy	10	2	.833	620	474	5–1	5–1	—	W2
Washington Valor x	7	5	.583	538	552	4–2	3–3	3	W2
Philadelphia Soul x	7	5	.583	523	530	4–2	3–3		L1
Baltimore Brigade x	7	5	.583	500	439	4–2	3–3		W1
Atlantic City Blackjacks	4	8	.333	518	550	3–3	1–5	6	L2
Columbus Destroyers	1	11	.083	394	548	1–5	0–6	9	L5

^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

This bracket:

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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 / Week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	SF	AB	Total	Average
Albany Empire	11,682	9,208	—	—	—	8,744	10,287	—	9,417	—	—	—	10,981	9,085	12,042	81,446	10,181
Philadelphia Soul	9,245	—	9,843	—	—	8,672	7,164	6,910	—	10,564	—	—	—	8,537	—	60,935	8,705
Washington Valor	—	—	8,044	6,357	—	—	—	7,179	6,795	7,136	—	—	8,456	6,942	—	50,909	7,273
Columbus Destroyers	—	—	—	7,035	6,122	—	6,029	6,260	7,604	—	—	9,275	—	N/A		42,325	7,054
Atlantic City Blackjacks	—	6,139	—	4,054	4,386	4,632	—	—	—	—	7,104	—	6,266	N/A		32,581	5,430
Baltimore Brigade	5,195	4,381	4,990	—	4,079	—	—	—	—	4,206	—	4,609	—	5,282	—	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

All–Arena teams

First team

Offense Pos. Player Team QB Tommy Grady Albany Empire FB Mykel Benson Albany Empire WR Malachi Jones Albany Empire WR Quentin Sims Albany Empire WR Darius Prince Philadelphia Soul C Ryan Cave Albany Empire OL Jordan Mudge Albany Empire OL Neal Tivis Philadelphia Soul

Defense Pos. Player Team DE Joe Sykes Albany Empire DE Darryl Cato-Bishop Baltimore Brigade DT Justin Lawrence Baltimore Brigade MLB Dexter Jackson Baltimore Brigade JLB Terence Moore Albany Empire DB James Romain Philadelphia Soul DB Joe Powell Baltimore Brigade DB Varmah Sonie Columbus Destroyers

Special Teams Pos. Player Team K Adrian Trevino Albany Empire ST Fabian Guerra Columbus Destroyers

Second team

Offense Pos. Player Team QB Arvell Nelson Washington Valor FB Adrian Ferns Philadelphia Soul WR Antwane Grant Atlantic City Blackjacks WR Lamark Brown Atlantic City Blackjacks WR Joe Hills Baltimore Brigade C Phillipkeith Manley Philadelphia Soul C Kyron Samuels Baltimore Brigade OL Anthony Parker Washington Valor OL Moqut Ruffins Albany Empire

Defense Pos. Player Team DE Monte Lewis Atlantic City Blackjacks DE Sean Daniels Philadelphia Soul DT Terrance Taylor Columbus Destroyers MLB James Gordon Washington Valor JLB Alvin Ray Jackson Washington Valor DB Dwayne Hollis Philadelphia Soul DB Josh Victorian Baltimore Brigade DB Tevin Homer Albany Empire

Special Teams Pos. Player Team K Mark Lewis Atlantic City Blackjacks ST Joe Powell Baltimore Brigade

^[7]