The 2013

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 ...

season was the 26th season in the history of the league. The regular season began on March 23, 2013, with a five-game slate, the first of which to kick off being between the

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division (AFL), West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did ...

and the

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference (AC) in the Arena Football League (AFL). Founded in 2011, the Power ...

, and ended on July 27, 2013, with the Utah Blaze and

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

as the last game to kick off. The

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

defeated the

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 ...

by a 48–39 score in

ArenaBowl XXVI ArenaBowl XXVI was the 26th edition of the championship in the Arena Football League. The National Conference champion Arizona Rattlers, defeated the American Conference champion Philadelphia Soul, 48–39. The game was played on August 17, 201 ...

to conclude the league's playoffs.

League business

Teams

The league dropped to 14 teams during the offseason. The

Kansas City Command The Kansas City Command (formerly the Kansas City Brigade) were a professional arena football team that played in the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was founded before the 2006 season. Former Kansas City Chiefs strong safety Kevin Porter ...

ceased operations on August 23, 2012, as well as the

Georgia Force The Georgia Force was an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States (part of suburban Atlanta) that played in the South Division of the American Conference. The team was owned by Doug MacGregor and Donn Je ...

on October 14, 2012. The Milwaukee Mustangs suspended operations for 2013, eyeing a return to play in the 2014 season.

Television

It was announced on November 13, 2012, that the league had reached an agreement with

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 ...

to air 19 regular-season games, as well as two playoff games. The network was scheduled to air the league's "game of the week" each Saturday. The main

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 Entertainmen ...

network was to televise

on August 17, 2013.

Regular season standings

Eight teams qualify for the playoffs: four teams from each conference, of which two are division champions and the other two have the best records of the teams remaining. Key: • •

Tie-breakers

* Cleveland finished in second place in the East Division based on their greater point differential in head-to-head competition with Pittsburgh. * Jacksonville clinched the American Conference's No. 1 seed based on their win over Philadelphia. * Orlando clinched the American Conference's No. 3 seed based on a greater conference record than Tampa Bay. * Chicago clinched the Central Division based on their greater point differential in games against common opponents with San Antonio.

Playoffs

*Note: Due to "arena conflicts," the Chicago Rush did not host the playoff game.

League business

Teams

Television

Regular season standings

Tie-breakers

Playoffs

Conference semifinals

Conference championships

ArenaBowl XXVI

All-Arena team

References