The 2014
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...
season was the 27th season in the history of the league. The regular season began on March 14, 2014 and ended on July 26, 2014.
League business
Teams
The city of
Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
was awarded an expansion team on August 15, 2013. The team, named the
Los Angeles Kiss
The Los Angeles Kiss (stylized as LA KISS) were a professional arena football team based in Anaheim, California, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Kiss joined the AFL as an expansion team after Los Angeles' previous franchise ( ...
, was the first AFL team to call Los Angeles home since the
Los Angeles Avengers
The Los Angeles Avengers were an Arena Football League team based in Los Angeles, California, from 2000 through 2008. They folded on April 19, 2009.
History
The Los Angeles Avengers played their home games at the Staples Center, which is also t ...
in 2008.
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...
and
Paul Stanley
Paul Stanley (born Stanley Bert Eisen; January 20, 1952) is an American musician who was the co-founder, frontman, rhythm guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss from the band's inception in 1973 to their retireme ...
, members of the rock band
Kiss
A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
, were the owners of the expansion franchise.
Two teams that competed in
2013
2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years).
2013 was designated as:
*International Year of Water Cooperation
*International Year of Quinoa
Events
January
* January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
suspended operations, (
Chicago Rush &
Utah Blaze
The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...
) and their rosters were dispersed throughout the league during a
dispersal draft
A dispersal draft is a process in professional sports for assigning players to a new team when an existing team folds or is merged into another team. Like most other sports drafts, most dispersal drafts are conducted in closed leagues and are in ...
on September 6, 2013.
The
Milwaukee Mustangs sold their league membership to
Terry Emmert, who then started a new franchise in
Portland, Oregon
Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
named the
Portland Thunder
The Portland Steel were a professional arena football team based in Portland, Oregon and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team started as the Portland Thunder, joining the AFL in 2014 as an expansion team along with the Los Ange ...
.
Television
On December 17, 2013 it was announced that
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
had agreed to a multi-year deal in televising several games, including the
ArenaBowl
The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...
. Additionally, at least 75 games during the season were to be aired on
ESPN3
ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an internet, online streaming media, streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) an ...
, the network's online streaming service. ESPN had owned an equity interest in the former league organization prior to its bankruptcy, and had previously aired games as recently as the
2008 season, prior to the league's hiatus that resulted in the canceled 2009 season.
Realignment
With teams expanding, relocating and suspending operations, the AFL announced the divisional alignment for 2014 on October 29, 2013. The two conferences had an even number of teams, and were placed in two divisions.
Regular season standings
Eight teams qualify for the playoffs: four teams from each conference, of which two are division champions and the other two have the best records of the teams remaining.
* ''Green indicates clinched playoff berth''
* ''Blue indicates division champion''
* ''Gray indicates division champion and conference's best record''
Tie-breakers
* San Antonio finished in second place in the West Division based on their greater point differential in head-to-head competition with Los Angeles.
Playoffs
Conference semifinals
Conference finals
ArenaBowl XXVII
All-Arena team
References
{{2014 Arena Football League