Fans are surprised about ArenaBowl XXXIII being played in a shopping mall

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

Let’s recap.

– 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 went bankrupt before the end of the season, meaning only half the league survived. Several teams went bankrupt after just one or two games. Crazy 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 fired after Week 3 and replaced by former NFL coach Jeff Fisher.
– A proposed television deal with NFL Network never materialized.

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

Yes, that’s right. In the biggest mall-sports crossover event since WCW Monday Nitro debuted in 1995 at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, ArenaBowl XXXIII was played at the American Dream Center in 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 happening in the week leading up to the event.

Either way, it made for some of the most unique footage you’ll ever see of a sporting event, as the game aired on CBS Sports Network.

“A venue for a championship match like we’ve never seen before.”

ArenaBowl XXXIII from American Dream Mall starts now on CBS Sports Network! photo.twitter.com/MVaFrEHvuf

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) July 19, 2024

This is what the opening ceremony looks like from the American Dream shopping center.

ArenaBowl XXXIII photo.twitter.com/p4YVOSFx74

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) July 19, 2024

Albany scores just before half time and reduces the deficit to 17-13. photo.twitter.com/zcbzstWf0l

— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) July 19, 2024

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

The Arena Bowl in the mall looks great. But 5:30 on a Friday was definitely a good option.

— Cody Wills (@_codywills_) July 19, 2024

Arena Bowl: The Granddaddy of the Shopping Mall

— Andy Bruinewoud (@AndyAkeko) July 19, 2024

Watching the ArenaBowl, and the coaches are wearing headsets. Where are the coaches up in a mall? Level 3?

Albany for the Sbarro and Billings for the GameStop?

— Richard Martin (@Ricardo_Knows) July 19, 2024

For all you real idiots, the Arena Bowl is on CBS Sports.

The game is played in a shopping mall. Be still my early 2000s heart.

Perfect way to start the weekend. Let’s go!#ArenaBowl#AFL

— Erik Trosclair (@eazytro) July 19, 2024

The Arena Football League championship is played in a mall. Yes, a mall.

Future of sports? 😂

photo.twitter.com/gFRkqiiD0P

— George Jarjour (@GeorgeOnTap) July 19, 2024

Who said Amazon was destroying malls across the country? Arena League Football is clearly the future. What a sight to see. America, what a country.

Maybe it was a “Four Seasons Total Landscaping” moment and someone booked a location in “The Meadowlands” with the idea that it would become MetLife Stadium.