Fans marvel at ArenaBowl XXXIII being played in a shopping mall

The fact that there even is an ArenaBowl XXXIII to crown a champion of the 2024 Arena Football League season is a minor miracle in and of itself. The campaign has been one of the most tumultuous, tortured seasons in the history of American professional sports.

Let’s recap, shall we?

– The AFL returned in 2024 after a five year hiatus with the last Arena Football League season taking place in 2019 before the pandemic.
– The 2024 season started with 16 teams, 8 teams folded before the end of the season meaning just half the league survived. Multiple teams folded up shop after just one or two games. Insane stories included the Philadelphia Soul fielding a team of players from another league , broken promises from the AFL, missed payments to players , and much more.
– Commissioner Lee Hutton was removed after Week 3, replaced by former NFL coach Jeff Fisher .
– A proposed television deal with NFL Network never came into being.

And yet, in spite of it all, the Albany Firebirds took the field against the Billings Outlaws on Friday night to contest ArenaBowl XXXIII… in a mall… in New Jersey.

Yes, that’s right. In the biggest mall-sports crossover event since the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro took place at the Mall of America in Minneapolis in 1995, ArenaBowl XXXIII was played at the American Dream Center at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Of course, since it was the Arena Football League, there were reports that the game was in jeopardy of even taking place in the week leading up to the event.

Regardless, it made for one of the most unique visuals you will ever see for a sporting event as the game aired on CBS Sports Network.

Clutch touchdown catch right in front of the Rosetta Italian Bakery. As you might expect, fans who were watching were experiencing a mixture of awe, disbelief, and whatever mall joke they could find.

Who said Amazon was killing malls all over the country? Clearly Arena League Football is the future. What a sight to behold. America, what a country.

Of course, maybe it was a “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” moment and someone booked a venue at “The Meadowlands” thinking it was going to be MetLife Stadium.

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