The Arena Football League has changed the playoff format for the 2016 season. They are now going to have conference playoffs, which is the traditional format. The American and National Conference Championship Games will be held the weekend of Aug. 13 and 14.
Since this is how the playoff format will be for the 2016 season, the playoff game matchups for the National Conference have already been decided. The Arizona Rattlers will host the Portland Steel at the Talking Stick Resort Arena on Aug. 6 at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
The Los Angeles KISS and Cleveland Gladiators, who were competing for the four seed and five seed prior to this, will now face off. The date and time for this game has yet to be determined.
In the American Conference, everything is wide open. The Orlando Predators and Philadelphia Soul, the top two teams in the American Conference, will face off in the final week of the season. The winner of that game will host the Tampa Bay Storm while the loser will host the Jacksonville Sharks.