All Arena Leagues, RANKED

10. American Arena League

The AAL saw much trouble in their first season. It doesn’t look like they’ve cleaned it up much at all if that. They have had several teams cease operations before playing a down, they’ve allowed outdoor and semi-pro teams play games in their league, one game was even made into a scrimmage after there weren’t enough referees.

To make matters worse, looking at the standings, almost all teams have different records with some teams playing up to four games this season and some only playing one.

9. Women’s Arena Football League
Not much is known about this league. They only played one season with teams in Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.

There is no word on who won the one and only championship game known as the Diva Bowl. After just one season, the league went dormant and hasn’t made a comeback since.

8. New England Arena League

They have yet to play a down yet, but they have already had their opening day delayed from April 20 to May 4. Not only that, but they haven’t announced any new teams since they announced the Beantown Bullies back on March 15.

Not all is lost before it begins, however. The Cavalry, Bucks and Mass Wolverines have been busy putting their teams together. The arena the league will be playing in looks really nice, too.

7. A-League

Like the NEAL, the A-League has not played a down yet. They do, however, look much more organized. They have their schedules all set up, they have all four teams playing in arenas in their hometowns across their cities in Northern Florida.

Like all leagues, they are bringing in a multitude of talent. Expect many competitive games, as well as the other three teams giving the storied Lakeland Tarpons a run for their money.

6. International Arena Football League

So far in their first season, the league has seen success. The games are competitive and the teams are spread out far enough, but not too far. Teams have also brought on a whole bunch of talent, as well. They also have teams out in Mexico, just the second league to do so [National Arena League had team in Monterrey in inaugural season].

5. China Arena Football League

Despite only having one season under their belt, the league has brought us everything we want to see when it comes to football – exciting games, loads of talented players, upsets and a game-winning score as time expired in the championship game.

The league has postponed their second season twice already. If and when they do play again, one can only hope that the product is the same or better than the first season.

4. Legends Football League

No other football league has given women a chance to play football like the Legends Football League has. The league has been running for 10 years now and they have quality streams of their games, as seen on their YouTube page. Games have also been broadcasted on national TV.

3. National Arena League

Despite the mass amount of teams that left the league or folded following the first season in 2017, the league remains strong in their third season. It has also come to be the most fan favorite league.
Each of the last two seasons, an expansion team – the Massachusetts Pirates and Carolina Cobras last season and the New York Streets this season – have shown they have what it takes to be in such a high tier league.

2. AFL2

Classified as a developmental league to the AFL, the AFL2 ran for 10 years. That is the second longest a league ran before closing shop. They shut down after the AFL filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Who knows? Perhaps if the AFL didn’t cancel their 2009 season, the AFL2 would still be around.

1. Arena Football League

There’s no question the league that started it all is still the best of them all. According to research, players in the AFL can make up to $35,000 during the season, which blows the NAL’s $200/game out of the water.

Not to mention that the league has been around since 32 years. Despite losing a multitude of teams over the years, they have only missed one season – when they filed for bankruptcy, not because of the lack of teams.