All 8 Arena Football teams will make the playoffs as league announces schedules

Richard Obert | azcentral sports

The Rattlers will play 16 games, knowing they'll make the playoffs, no matter what.

The Arena Football League released schedules Thursday, stating that all eight teams will qualify for the postseason.

With the defending ArenaBowl champion San Jose SaberCats, Las Vegas Outlaws and the New Orleans VooDoo folding and the Spokane Shock leaving for another league, that left eight teams this season, which begins April 1.

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This is the fewest number of teams in the 29-year history of the indoor football league since 1991.

The Rattlers will open on the road the first two weeks, before playing their home opener April 16 against the Tampa Bay Storm.

The AFL Board of Directors approved all eight teams qualifying for the playoffs. They will be seeded according to overall record. The regular-season National and American Conference champions will be seeded 1 and 2.

The Rattlers will be in the National Conference, along with the Cleveland Gladiators, LA Kiss and Portland Thunder. The American Conference comprises of the Jacksonville Sharks, the Orlando Predators, the Philadelphia Soul and the Storm.

“We felt this was a perfect opportunity to try a different approach to the postseason,” AFL Commissioner Scott Butera said. “Other leagues have discussed re-seeding options. We felt that a reduced number of teams and regular season games provided us the chance to try a different structure that has been discussed on the Rules and Competition Committee for a while. It will provide exciting and interesting postseason matchups that we haven’t historically seen.”

The league is reducing the regular season by two games. It had been playing 18 games since the 2011 season, the start of a string of four consecutive ArenaBowl performances by the Rattlers, which won titles from 2012-14.

The Rattlers will play five of their first seven games on the road, but five of their last six games will be at home at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Here is the Rattlers 2016 schedule:

April 1: at Portland Thunder, 7 p.m.

April 9: at LA Kiss, 7 p.m.

April 16: Tampa Bay Storm, 6 p.m.

April 23: at Jacksonville Sharks, 4 p.m.

April 30: Portland Thunder, 6 p.m.

May 7: at Orlando Predators, 4:30 p.m.

May 14: at Philadelphia Soul, 3 p.m.

May 21: LA Kiss, 6 p.m.

May 29: at Tampa Bay Storm, 11 a.m.

June 3: at Cleveland Gladiators, 4 p.m.

June 11: Portland Thunder, 6 p.m.

June 17: Philadelphia Soul, 7 p.m.

June 26: at LA Kiss, 6 p.m.

July 9: Jacksonville Sharks, 6 p.m.

July 15: Orlando Predators, 7 p.m.

July 22: Cleveland Gladiators, 7 p.m.

Reach Obert at richard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-460-1710. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_obert.