# 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.

## 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. On February 7, 2019, the league re-added the Columbus Destroyers as another expansion team to bring the league back to six teams.

### 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.

### Closure

The AFL announced it had closed its teams' local operations on October 29, following that with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation filing November 27.

## Final season standings

2019 Arena Football League standings :
| Team | Overall | Overall | Overall | Points | Points | Records | Records | Records | Records |
| Team | 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 | 3 | L1 |
| Baltimore Brigade $^x$ | 7 | 5 | .583 | 500 | 439 | 4–2 | 3–3 | 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 | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | ArenaBowl XXXII | ArenaBowl XXXII | ArenaBowl XXXII |
| 1 | Albany Empire | 61 | 62 | 123 | | | |
| 4 | Baltimore Brigade | 26 | 21 | 47 | | | |
| 4 | Baltimore Brigade | 26 | 21 | 47 | 1 | Albany Empire | 45 |
| | | | | | 3 | Philadelphia Soul | 27 |
| 2 | Washington Valor | 33 | 41 | 74 | 3 | Philadelphia Soul | 27 |
| 3 | Philadelphia Soul | 69 | 48 | 117 | | | |
* view
* talk

### 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

| 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 | N/A | 42,325 | 7,054 |
| Atlantic City Blackjacks | — | 6,139 | — | 4,054 | 4,386 | 4,632 | — | — | — | — | 7,104 | — | 6,266 | N/A | 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 |