ArenaBowl XXXIII

Last updated
ArenaBowl XXXIII
Arena Bowl 33.png
Albany Firebirds Billings Outlaws
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1234Total
ALB00000
BIL00000
DateJuly 19, 2024
Arena American Dream Meadowlands, East Rutherford, New Jersey
TV in the United States
Network CBS Sports Network

ArenaBowl XXXIII is the upcoming 33rd edition of the ArenaBowl, the championship game for the 2024 Arena Football League season. It will take place at the American Dream Center, an ice rink located inside American Dream Meadowlands, a shopping mall and entertainment complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on July 19, 2024. It is the first since the original league's bankruptcy in 2019 and the reestablishment of the AFL in 2024. [1] The game will feature the Albany Firebirds defending its city's title against the Billings Outlaws.

Contents

Venue

The game will be played at a neutral site. ArenaBowl XXXIII will be the first ArenaBowl hosted on a neutral site since ArenaBowl XXVI. The site was originally selected as the Target Center, home of the Minnesota Myth. However, this was dropped when the Myth folded and Myth co-owner Lee Hutton was expelled from his post as league commissioner.

On June 27, 2024, the league announced a new venue for the game would be held at American Dream Center, an ice rink located inside American Dream Meadowlands, a large retail complex and entertainment facility located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, adjacent to the Meadowlands Sports Complex and not far from MetLife Stadium. [2] [3]

Teams

This will be the second consecutive ArenaBowl appearance for Albany, who appeared in and won ArenaBowl XXXII, the last ArenaBowl of the previous Arena Football League as the Albany Empire in 2019; the Empire had also won two National Arena League titles in the interim in 2021 and 2022. [4] This is Billings's first league championship appearance in its current incarnation and the fifth for the Billings Outlaws brand overall, the first since the 2010 United Bowl. The two teams were the first and second ranked teams in the AFL in the 2024 regular season. In the two teams' regular season matchup, the Outlaws, using rules the team had pushed to bring in from Champions Indoor Football as part of that league's merger with the AFL (and which Albany had themselves used to win a game under similar circumstances against the West Texas Desert Hawks four weeks prior), [5] scored a touchdown, four-point conversion and a deuce (a kickoff through the Firebirds' uprights) in a five-second span to win their week 9 contest 36–35. [6] Albany and Billings each advanced to the ArenaBowl by defeating the Salina Liberty [4] and Nashville Kats, respectively, in the AFL playoffs (Billings having avenged its lone regular season loss against the Kats in said game). [7]

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References

  1. ↑ "News: Arena Football League Relaunch The Arena Football League (AFL) - The AFL Returns in 2024!". demosite475.footballshift.com (Press release). February 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  2. ↑ Baldissard, Jack (27 June 2024). "33rd AFL ArenaBowl Championship Game to take place at the American Dream Center (New Jersey)". Arena Football League. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  3. ↑ Staff, American Dream (27 June 2024). "33rd ArenaBowl Championship Game". American Dream. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 Williams, Brandon (July 14, 2024). "Albany Firebirds ArenaBowl-bound after sinking Salina with second-half surge". WTEN. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  5. ↑ Kelly, Michael (May 31, 2024). "Firebirds coach: 'Truly hate the rule' that helped team stay undefeated". Times Union. Retrieved May 31, 2024.
  6. ↑ Kelly, Michael (June 22, 2024). "Firebirds stunned in final seconds at Billings". Times Union. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  7. ↑ Napier, Brian (2024-07-14). "Bailey Giffen's game-winning field goal sends Billings Outlaws to ArenaBowl XXXIII". 406 MT SPORTS. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
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