2016 Arena Football League season
| 2016 Arena Football League season | |
|---|---|
| League | Arena Football League |
| Sport | Arena football |
| Duration | April 1, 2016 – August 26, 2016 |
| Regular season | |
| Season MVP | Nick Davila, ARZ |
| League postseason | |
| American Conference champions | Philadelphia Soul |
| American Conference runners-up | Jacksonville Sharks |
| National Conference champions | Arizona Rattlers |
| National Conference runners-up | Cleveland Gladiators |
| ArenaBowl XXIX | |
| Champions | Philadelphia Soul |
| Runners-up | Arizona Rattlers |
| Finals MVP | Shaun Kauleinamoku, PHI |
The 2016 Arena Football League season was the 29th season in the history of the league. Prior to the start of the season, the league contracted to eight teams. The 16-game regular season then began on April 1, 2016 and ended on August 1, 2016. The league, however, kept its eight-team playoff format, which meant that every club qualified for the postseason.
The Las Vegas Outlaws and the New Orleans VooDoo were dropped from the league at the end of the 2015 season because new ownership groups could not be found for either team. The Spokane Shock jumped to the Indoor Football League on September 1, 2015. The AFL claimed ownership of the Shock name, forcing the team to rename itself the Spokane Empire. On October 30th, 2015, the league announced that there would not be any expansion teams for the 2016 season; this event occurred just under three hours before what had been slated to be the expected announcement of an expansion franchise in San Antonio to be owned by the ownership group of the San Antonio Spurs. The group owning the 2015 league champion San Jose SaberCats returned the franchise to the league on November 12, 2015 for "reasons unrelated to League operations". Commissioner Scott Butera said the league would try to find new ownership, but this was not forthcoming in time for the team to operate during the 2016 season to defend its championship. Because the league was now down to eight teams for the 2016 season, there were still the American and National Conferences but no divisional play. The Cleveland Gladiators were moved to the National Conference to maintain a balance between the conferences. The league took over operations of the former Portland Thunder in January 2016 and rebranded it as the Portland Steel. The 2016 schedule was announced on December 10, 2015.
All teams from both conferences qualified for the playoffs. As in the prior season, there were the Conference Semifinals, the Conference Championships, and ArenaBowl XXIX.
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