The time has come. The 2017 Arena Football League season is finally among us. Read more information on the season in our Arena Football League 2017 season preview.

Arena Football League 2017 Season Preview

There will be five teams playing in the 2017 AFL season. The Philadelphia Soul, Cleveland Gladiators and Tampa Bay Storm are the three teams that played in 2016 will return. There will be two expansion teams in the Washington Valor and Baltimore Brigade.

The Arizona Rattlers and Jacksonville Sharks joined different leagues after last season. Three other teams, the Orlando Predators, Portland Steel and Los Angeles KISS, all folded.

2017 is the 30th season in league history. The league played its first season in 1987. Since then, they have had a multitude of teams play under them, ranging from many different cities.

They have also faced many challenges, especially financially. The league declared for bankruptcy in 2008 and the 2009 season was even cancelled.

Despite all of this, however, things are looking up. All five teams are loaded with talent. The Soul are returning just about all of their starts from the 2016 season. The Gladiators added a lot of talent to their roster.

Even the Washington Valor have seemed to add a few big-time players. The biggest name is quarterback Erik Meyer. He won the 2013 AFL MVP with the San Jose Sabercats.

Four of the five teams will also all have new coaches under their belt. The only retuning coach is Clint Dolziel for the Soul. Brigade coach Omarr Smith coached the KISS to a bounce-back season in 2016 after a two-win season in 2015.

Ron James coached the Steel in 2016. Tje Steel finished with two wins in 2016, but that’s because there wasn’t much talent on that team. In Tampa, James will have a star quarterback and wide receiver duo in Randy Hippeard and Joe Hills.

ArenaBowl XXX is set to be played on Saturday, Aug. 26.