ArenaBowl XXXII was 32nd and final ArenaBowl and the championship game of the
2019 Arena Football League season. The game took place on August 11, 2019, with kickoff at 8:00 p.m.
EDT on
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
.
It featured the winners of the two semifinals, the No. 1 seed
Albany Empire and the No. 3 seed
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 featu ...
.
AFL Commissioner
Randall Boe
Randall Boe (born 1962) is the former General Counsel for AOL and has been involved in many notable cases regarding internet law. He was named the commissioner of the Arena Football League in March 2018. He was born in Ohio and grew up in Iowa Ci ...
also confirmed that the league's expansion plans for next season would be unveiled during the game;
however, these plans were pushed back to several weeks after the game after Boe said that negotiations for the two new teams would not be finished in time. The league ultimately filed for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy on November 27 of that year, making the game the final one in the league's history.
Venue
As the higher seed, the No. 1 Albany Empire hosted ArenaBowl XXXII at the
Times Union Center
The MVP Arena (originally Knickerbocker Arena, and then the Pepsi Arena and Times Union Center) is an indoor arena located in Albany, New York. It is configurable and can accommodate from 6,000 to 17,500 people, with a maximum seating capacit ...
.
2019 playoffs
Teams
Albany Empire
The Empire, led by head coach
Rob Keefe
Rob Keefe (born November 5, 1980) is a former arena football defensive specialist and coach. Keefe has five championship victories and is the only person in arena football history to win ArenaCup ( af2) and ArenaBowl (AFL) titles as both a playe ...
, finished the regular season 10–2 and earned the No. 1 seed for the second straight season. They defeated No. 4
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
home and away in the semifinal to advance to their first ArenaBowl.
Philadelphia Soul
The Soul, led by head coach
Clint Dolezel
Clint Dolezel (born March 25, 1970) is an American football coach and former professional arena football player in the Arena Football League (AFL).
Dolezel was a quarterback in the AFL before becoming the head coach of the AFL's Philadelphia So ...
, finished the regular season 7–5 and earned the No. 3 seed for the second straight season. They defeated No. 2
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
home and away in the semifinal to advance to their sixth ArenaBowl; they are 3–2 in previous appearances.
Series record
The all-time series between the Empire and the Soul dates back to the Empire's inaugural game on April 14, 2018. Entering the game, Albany led the series 4–3.
Game summary
References
External links
Official Website
{{ArenaBowl XXXII
032
2019 Arena Football League season
2019 in American television
August 2019 sports events in the United States
2019 in sports in New York (state)
Events in Albany, New York