Philadelphia Soul 2016 Schedule Announced

The 2016 Philadelphia Soul schedule has been released. Here is how the Soul’s schedule looks for the 2016 Arena Football League season:

Week 1 (4/1/2016): at Cleveland Gladiators

Week 2 (4/11/2016): vs Jacksonville Sharks

Week 3 (4/17/2016): vs Portland Thunder

Week 4 (4/23/2016): Cleveland Gladiators

Week 5 (5/1/2016): at Los Angeles Kiss

Week 6 (5/6/2016): vs Cleveland Gladiators

Week 7 (5/14/2016): vs Arizona Rattlers

Week 8 (5/21/16): vs Orlando Predators

Week 9 (5/28/2016): at Cleveland Gladiators

Week 10 (6/4/2016): at Jacksonville Sharks

Week 11 (6/11/2016): vs Los Angeles Kiss

Week 12 (6/17/2016): at Arizona Rattlers

Week 13 (6/25/2016): at Portland Thunder

Week 14: Universal Bye

Week 15: (7/9/2016): vs Cleveland Gladiators

Week 16 (7/16/2016): at Tampa Bay Storm

Week 17: bye week

Week 18 (7/30/2016): at Orlando Predators

The second game of the season against the Jacksonville Sharks will be a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Championship game. The Sharks, who started 1-5 last season, went into Voorhees, NJ and knocked off the Soul to advance to Arena Bowl XXVIII. The Sharks would lose the Arena Bowl to the San Jose Sabercats.

This season, there are only eight teams participating in the AFL as the Sabercats, the Las Vegas Outlaws, New Orleans Voodoo, and the Spokane Shock have all left the league. There are rumors from team executives that this might be the final season of the Arena Football League. Other reports say that the league is working on a large expansion plan that would have many new teams come into the league for 2017.

For 2016, however, the road to Arena Bowl XXIX begins now. The playoff format has the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed playing the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed playing the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed playing the No. 5 seed. This means that no matter the record, every team will be participating in the postseason.