ArenaBowl XXII was played on July 27, 2008 at New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana (the host of ArenaBowl XXI). It was the 22nd and final championship game in the history of the original Arena Football League. This was the fourth neutral site ArenaBowl in AFL history and the second ArenaBowl in the state of Louisiana. It was the last ArenaBowl before the AFL's economic suspension, until 2010 when the AFL was reformed, continuing on with ArenaBowl XXIII.

The game was played between the American Conference Champions San Jose SaberCats, who were making their fourth, and second consecutive, appearance in the title game (they have won in all of their previous trips), against the National Conference Champions Philadelphia Soul, who were making their first appearance in the franchise's history in the ArenaBowl.

The Soul, along with division rival Dallas, were undefeated at week 9. They preceded to beat them in that week, however when travelling to Cleveland for the following game, they lost their first game of the season. They continued to sputter, dropping two of their last three, however these ultimately were their only three losses on the season. They were the top seed in their conference, clinching home field advantage throughout the playoffs until the actual ArenaBowl.

The SaberCats finished the season with a record of 11-5, yet, unlike the Soul, were not undefeated for one week of the season, due to their loss in week one to the Chicago Rush. However, after losing four of their first seven games, and five out of their first ten, they continued on to finish with six consecutive wins to have a total of eleven during the season. They finished well enough to have the second best record in the conference, and best in their division. They were the number two seed in the playoffs.

One odd fact noted throughout the playoffs was that both lowest seeded teams making the playoffs won in the first round.

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