ArenaBowl XVI was played between the San Jose SaberCats and Arizona Rattlers in San Jose, California on August 18, 2002. A game with considerable expectations given the teams' intense rivalry and respective success that year, the SaberCats surprised everyone by posting the most dominant victory in ArenaBowl history, holding the Rattlers scoreless until the final period, and winning the game by the lopsided score of 52-14 to earn their first Arena Football League title in franchise history. Arizona's 14 points are the second-lowest in ArenaBowl history, just above the Chicago Bruisers' 13 points in ArenaBowl II. With the SaberCats' victory, Darren Arbet also became the first African-American head coach in pro-football to win a championship in North America.

For much of the 2002 season, the San Jose SaberCats were entertaining the possibility of an undefeated year, which would have been and would still remain a first for the Arena Football League. The SaberCats' roster included superstars such as Bob McMillen, Omarr Smith, Mark Grieb, Barry Wagner, Sam Hernandez, and rookie sensation Clevan Thomas; of those, only Grieb is not currently enshrined in the Arena Football League Hall of Fame. They defeated their Western Division rivals, the Arizona Rattlers, 52-51 in the season opener, and continued their success en route to a 12-0 start. However, their rematch with the Rattlers in Phoenix on July 12 cost them not only their undefeated record, but also starting quarterback Mark Grieb, who suffered a season-ending broken collarbone in the SaberCats' 59-52 loss. Though it would prove to be San Jose's only loss of the season, it set the stage for what figured to be an extremely competitive ArenaBowl championship game.

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