ArenaBowl XXVIII was the championship game of the

2015 Arena Football League season The 2015 Arena Football League season was the 28th season in the history of the league. The regular season began on March 27, 2015 and ended on August 8, 2015. League business Teams The city of Las Vegas, Nevada was awarded an expansion team on J ...

. It was played between the American Conference Champion

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 ...

and the National Conference Champion

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 ...

. The game was played at

Stockton Arena Stockton Arena is an indoor arena in Stockton, California. It opened in December 2005 and seats a maximum of 12,000 fans. It is the home venue of the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. Former tenants include the Stockton Heat of the American ...

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

. This was the San Jose SaberCats fourth ArenaBowl championship and fifth overall ArenaBowl appearance. It was the Jacksonville Sharks second ArenaBowl appearance, having won

ArenaBowl XXIV ArenaBowl XXIV was the 24th edition of the championship in the Arena Football League (AFL). The American Conference champion, Jacksonville Sharks, defeated the National Conference champion, Arizona Rattlers, 73–70. It was played on August 12, 2 ...

in 2011. The SaberCats finished the 2015 season with a combined 20-1 record, becoming the first team in league history to win twenty combined regular season and postseason games.

Venue

The game was played at

, as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus had booked the SaberCats' usual home arena of

SAP Center The SAP Center at San Jose (originally known as San Jose Arena and the HP Pavilion at San Jose) is an indoor arena located in San Jose, California. Its primary tenant is the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League, for which the arena has ...

from August 20 to 30.

Television

This was the second consecutive ArenaBowl televised on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Background

Jacksonville Sharks

In , the Sharks began the regular season with a 1–5 record, after having lost the first four games of the season. The Sharks then won their next five games and eventually finished the season with a 10-8 record, earning the third seed in the American Conference. In the conference semifinals, they defeated 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 ...

on the road in a 55–33 contest. They then won the conference finals on the road against 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 score of 61–56.

San Jose SaberCats

In , the SaberCats began the regular season with eleven straight wins. They clinched their second consecutive (and tenth overall) division championship when the

Portland Thunder The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ange ...

lost on June 7. The SaberCats' undefeated streak was snapped when they lost at home to the Los Angeles Kiss, who had a 1–9 record entering the game. The SaberCats won their last six games to finish with a franchise best record of 17–1, with home field advantage for the playoffs. In the conference semifinals, they defeated the Portland Thunder at home by a score of 55–28. They then won the conference finals at home against 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 ...

in a 70–67 contest.

Box score

''Source'':

References

{{Jacksonville Sharks 028 2015 Arena Football League season San Jose SaberCats Jacksonville Sharks 2015 in sports in California Sports competitions in California 2015 in American television August 2015 sports events in the United States Sports in Stockton, California