ArenaBowl XXVI was the 26th edition of the championship in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. The National Conference champion Arizona Rattlers, defeated the American Conference champion

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

, 48–39. The game was played on August 17, 2013 at

Amway Center Amway Center is an indoor arena located in Downtown Orlando, Florida. The arena is home to the Orlando Magic of the NBA, the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, and the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League. Amway Center hosted the 2012 N ...

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, home of the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

. The two teams met one year earlier in

ArenaBowl XXV ArenaBowl XXV was the 25th edition of the championship in the Arena Football League. The National Conference champion, Arizona Rattlers, defeated the American Conference champion, Philadelphia Soul, 72–54. The game was played on August 10, 201 ...

, in which the Rattlers took home the league championship by a score of 72–54. This was the first time that two teams met in consecutive ArenaBowls. ArenaBowl XXVI's week was produced by Ryan Johnston of InterPhase Entertainment, LLC who was brought on to produce the Gala, the KISS concert at the Amway Center in Orlando the night before the game, and production of ArenaBowl XXVI itself that was seen LIVE on CBS. InterPhase Entertainment, LLC produced the 800 person AFL Awards Gala where KISS gave a 30 minute acoustic performance in their suits, after their new team the LA KISS was announced at a press conference also overseen by InterPhase. KISS' acoustic performance was followed by LEOGUN and Mary Miranda.

Venue

ArenaBowl XXVI was played at

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, after a unanimous vote by all 14 teams in the league. It was the second consecutive ArenaBowl to be played at a neutral site, and the seventh in the history of the league. For the city of Orlando, it was the first ArenaBowl played there since

ArenaBowl XIV ArenaBowl XIV is widely hailed as one of the most exciting games in ArenaBowl history, ranking alongside classics such as ArenaBowl XVIII and ArenaBowl XIX. Featuring two teams from the Arena Football League's Southern Division, the game went ...

in 2000 when the

defeated the Nashville Katz at the since-demolished

Amway Arena Amway Arena (originally known as Orlando Arena and later TD Waterhouse Centre) was an indoor arena located in Orlando, Florida. It was part of the Orlando Centroplex, a sports and entertainment complex located in Downtown Orlando. The arena wa ...

Television

ArenaBowl XXVI was televised by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, as part of a two-year agreement between the league and the network to air weekly regular season games, as well as two postseason games, on

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American pay television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports Television also known as ...

Background

Philadelphia Soul

The Soul reached the ArenaBowl for the second consecutive season, having lost to the Rattlers in

. They began the season with a 4–4 record, but proceeded to win eight of their ten remaining regular season games to clinch their division again with a 12–6 record. In the conference semifinals, they defeated the

in a back-and-forth affair by a 59–55 score. In the conference championship, they faced the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

as they had in the previous season. Philadelphia won the game on the road 75–59 to earn their third ArenaBowl berth in franchise history.

Arizona Rattlers

The Rattlers came into the game as defending champions, having defeated Philadelphia in

. In , the Rattlers finished the regular season with a 15–3 record, one win short of matching a franchise record. With home field advantage in the playoffs, they defeated the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

in the conference semifinals 59–49, and then the

Spokane Shock The Spokane Shock were a professional indoor American football team based in Spokane, Washington, that played their home games at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. The team was initially a member of arenafootball2 (af2), the Shock won divisio ...

in the conference championship 65–57. Arizona made their eighth ArenaBowl appearance, and it was also the third consecutive season that the Rattlers made it to the league championship.

Box score

References

{{Arena Football on CBS 026 2013 Arena Football League season 2013 in sports in Florida 2010s in Orlando, Florida American football in Orlando, Florida Arena Football League in Florida Philadelphia Soul Arizona Rattlers Sports competitions in Orlando, Florida 2013 in American television August 2013 sports events in the United States