 The Foster Trophy is awarded to the ArenaBowl winner | |
| First played | August 1, 1987 |
|---|---|
| Last played | August 11, 2019 |
| Trophy | Foster Trophy |
The ArenaBowl is the championship game of the Arena Football League. Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team with the higher seed based on regular season performance. In 2005–2006 the league staged the game in Las Vegas, and in 2007–2008 New Orleans hosted the event. For the series final two games, regular season home attendance between the competing teams determined which would host.
Originally using year-based nomenclature ("ArenaBowl '87"), the league would begin consistently referring to the game using roman numerals beginning in 1994 ("ArenaBowl VIII"). The original Arena Football League's 2009 bankruptcy liquidation brought the league's existence to a close, but ArenaBowl XXIII would be staged in 2010 as the championship game of a new league which assumed the AFL's intellectual properties. The final ten games of the series would be staged under the "new" Arena Football League, concluding with ArenaBowl XXXII between the Albany Empire and Philadelphia Soul. The second AFL ultimately had the same fate as the first, ceasing operations after its 2019 season and undergoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.[1]
While the intellectual property rights to the names of the Arena Football League and the ArenaBowl were sold through the league's bankruptcy proceeding in 2020, no plans have been disclosed to revive the game a second time.
Results
* Neutral site
- The first seven ArenaBowls were known by the year in which they were played (i.e. ArenaBowl I was called ArenaBowl '87). ArenaBowl VIII was the first to carry a roman numeral, and all previous games were retconned to have roman numerals as well.
- The number in parentheses indicates the amount of ArenaBowl MVPs that player won.
- The Pittsburgh Gladiators relocated in 1991 to become the Tampa Bay Storm.
- The Nashville Kats relocated in 2002 to become the Georgia Force. The Kats were brought back as an expansion team in 2005 and assumed all former team history up to the point when the original Kats relocated to Georgia. The Force were regarded as a completely separate team and kept records from their establishment in 2002 to the team's demise in 2012, similar to the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens situation in the NFL.
Most championships won
| Team | Championships | Winning years |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona Rattlers | 5 | 1994, 1997, 2012, 2013, 2014 |
| Tampa Bay Storm | 5 | 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2003 |
| Detroit Drive | 4 | 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 |
| San Jose SaberCats | 4 | 2002, 2004, 2007, 2015 |
| Philadelphia Soul | 3 | 2008, 2016, 2017 |
| Orlando Predators | 2 | 1998, 2000 |
| Albany Firebirds | 1 | 1999 |
| Chicago Rush | 1 | 2006 |
| Colorado Crush | 1 | 2005 |
| Denver Dynamite | 1 | 1987 |
| Grand Rapids Rampage | 1 | 2001 |
| Jacksonville Sharks | 1 | 2011 |
| Spokane Shock | 1 | 2010 |
| Washington Valor | 1 | 2018 |
| Albany Empire | 1 | 2019 |
Standings
| Team | W | L | PCT. | PF | PA | Last appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona Rattlers | 5 | 5 | .500 | 500 | 482 | 2016 |
| Tampa Bay Storm* | 5 | 5 | .500 | 402 | 434 | 2017 |
| San Jose SaberCats | 4 | 1 | .800 | 300 | 215 | 2015 |
| Detroit Drive | 4 | 2 | .667 | 243 | 203 | 1993 |
| Philadelphia Soul | 3 | 3 | .500 | 279 | 303 | 2019 |
| Orlando Predators | 2 | 5 | .286 | 316 | 337 | 2006 |
| Albany Empire | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 45 | 27 | 2019 |
| Albany Firebirds | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 59 | 48 | 1999 |
| Chicago Rush | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 69 | 61 | 2006 |
| Colorado Crush | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 51 | 48 | 2005 |
| Denver Dynamite | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 45 | 16 | 1987 |
| Grand Rapids Rampage | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 64 | 42 | 2001 |
| Spokane Shock | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 69 | 57 | 2010 |
| Washington Valor | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 69 | 55 | 2018 |
| Jacksonville Sharks | 1 | 1 | .500 | 120 | 138 | 2015 |
| Baltimore Brigade | 0 | 1 | .000 | 55 | 69 | 2018 |
| Chicago Bruisers | 0 | 1 | .000 | 13 | 24 | 1988 |
| Cleveland Gladiators | 0 | 1 | .000 | 32 | 72 | 2014 |
| Columbus Destroyers | 0 | 1 | .000 | 33 | 55 | 2007 |
| Dallas Texans | 0 | 1 | .000 | 27 | 51 | 1990 |
| Georgia Force | 0 | 1 | .000 | 48 | 51 | 2005 |
| Iowa Barnstormers | 0 | 2 | .000 | 71 | 97 | 1997 |
| Nashville Kats | 0 | 2 | .000 | 80 | 105 | 2001 |
*Includes two appearances as Pittsburgh Gladiators (0–2, 42 points, 84 points allowed).
Coaching records
| Coach | G | W | L | PCT. | Team(s) | Appearance(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darren Arbet | 5 | 4 | 1 | .800 | San Jose SaberCats | 2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2015 |
| Fran Curci | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Tampa Bay Storm | 1991 |
| Mike Dailey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | Albany Firebirds, Colorado Crush | 1999, 2005 |
| Clint Dolezel | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | Philadelphia Soul | 2013, 2016, 2017, 2019 |
| John Gregory | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Iowa Barnstormers | 1996, 1997 |
| Jay Gruden | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 | Orlando Predators | 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006 |
| Kevin Guy | 5 | 3 | 2 | .600 | Arizona Rattlers | 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 |
| Joe Haering | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Pittsburgh Gladiators | 1987* |
| Mike Hohensee | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Chicago Rush | 2006 |
| Darrel Jackson | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Pittsburgh Gladiators | 1989* |
| Ron James | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Tampa Bay Storm | 2017 |
| Doug Kay | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Columbus Destroyers | 2007 |
| Rob Keefe | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | Spokane Shock, Albany Empire | 2010, 2019 |
| Lary Kuharich | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Tampa Bay Storm | 1993 |
| Tim Marcum | 11 | 7 | 4 | .636 | Denver Dynamite, Detroit Drive, Tampa Bay Storm | 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2010 |
| Benji McDowell | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Washington Valor | 2018 |
| Les Moss | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | Jacksonville Sharks | 2011, 2015 |
| Perry Moss | 5 | 1 | 4 | .200 | Chicago Bruisers, Detroit Drive, Orlando Predators | 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995 |
| Bret Munsey | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Philadelphia Soul | 2008 |
| Doug Plank | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Georgia Force, Philadelphia Soul | 2005, 2012 |
| Omarr Smith | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Baltimore Brigade | 2018 |
| Pat Sperduto | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | Nashville Kats | 2000, 2001 |
| Ernie Stautner | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Dallas Texans | 1990 |
| Steve Thonn | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | Cleveland Gladiators | 2014 |
| Michael Trigg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Grand Rapids Rampage | 2001 |
| Danny White | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | Arizona Rattlers | 1994, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004 |
*Both Haering and Jackson coached the 1989 Pittsburgh Gladiators, but Jackson is credited with the postseason games.
See also
References
- ↑ Gleeson, Scott (November 27, 2019), "Arena Football League files for bankruptcy, ceases all operations", USA Today, retrieved November 27, 2019