The Arena Football League has always been viewed as a replica or a department of the National Football League. Still, the audience of arena football conferences and arena football divisions games is somewhat smaller.

The greatest and most popular Arena player who played in the National Football League was Kurt Warner. He played as a quarterback and led his club and teammates (the St. Louis Rams) in 1999-2000 to the Super Bowl.

There are 16 Arena Football League games. The Arena Football League games season lasts from the end of January to the beginning of May. There are 19 teams in the league. When the regular season is over, eight teams advance to the Arena Football League games called playoffs and compete for the Arena Bowl. Arena Football League games are high-scoring. They are played indoors (in arenas - usually ice hockey arenas) in fields that are 50 yards long and 85 feet wide with end zones (end zones are eight yards long).

Each team has twenty players, of which eight players are active in the fields. Arena football players should play both defense and offense, except for the quarterback, kicker, an offensive specialist (who returns kicks on defense) and two defense specialists.

Though the majority of rules are similar to the National Football League rules, there are some distinctions. Four offensive players must be on the line of scrimmage at the snap. One offensive player may be moving forward at the time of the snap. Three defensive players must be in a three- or four-point stance at the start of the snap. Two defenders serve as linebackers and one may blitz from the side of the line opposite the offensive tight end. The other linebacker cannot blitz and cannot drop back into coverage until the ball is thrown or the quarterback pump-fakes.

Numerous Arena Football League teams are owned by the National Football League, together with ex-players (Mike Ditka and John Elway) and entertainment stars (Tim McGraw and Jon Bon Jovi). In contrast to the majority of league sports, the Arena Football League has incorporated gambling features. It is a well-known fact that the actual capital of American gambling is Las Vegas. Las Vegas is residence of the Gladiators. Last year, the Arena Bowl was hosted at the Thomas & Mack Center in Sin City in the presence of almost 11,000 viewers. Then, the Colorado Crush scored a twenty-yard field goal, when the time nearly expired, to gain the upper hand over the Georgia Force with 51-48 final score.

The Colorado Crush is owned by former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway, who won the ArenaBowl over the Georgia Force, in Thomas & Mack arena in Las Vegas. John Dutton, the Crush's quarterback, was named MVP of the 19th ArenaBowl. This coming season will be the league's 20th season. Polls are being made to commemorate this historic event.

Los Angeles Avengers player Al Lucas was killed from a presumed spinal cord injury on April 10, 2005 in a game against the New York Dragons. Although it might be attributed to the rough style of Arena Football, the tackle, during a first quarter kickoff, was not much different from those in stadium-played American football. Lucas was 26. It is the only fatality in the AFL's history.