The Arena Football League season is over. Not with the remaining teams gone. With one championship game. Played in a mall.
It’s only fitting, we suppose, that a few relics from the ’80s and ’90s would find a way to reunite. Either way, it was shocking to see images of an indoor football match played in a venue other than an indoor hall.
At the American Dream Mall in New Jersey, the Billings Outlaws defeated the Albany Firebirds, 46-41, to win the 33rd AFL championship.
The season ended with eight teams. It started with maybe twice that many. They started to disappear as the season got underway. Eventually, former NFL coach Jeff Fisher became interim commissioner and helped hold things together.
The biggest question is whether there will be another season. Fisher, in comments on the league’s website, suggested there will be.
“This game had all the hallmarks of a true title showdown: hard-hitting action, fast-paced play, high scoring and incredible passion,” Fisher said of the title match. “This is the level of competition we expect to see in every AFL game. as we enter next season.”
Perhaps the most encouraging development was that the AFL found a TV partner for the final: CBS Sports Network carried the game. When the season started, a deal with NFL Network was canceled. Then the league almost did it. It’s pretty incredible that it made it across the finish line.
But not as incredible as the finish line that takes place just a stone’s throw from a finish line.
