2019 LFL US season
# 2019 LFL US season

The 2019 LFL US season was the 10th and final season of the Legends Football League (LFL) in the United States. It began April 5 and concluded on August 10.

## Developments

Shortly after the 2018 season ended, the LFL originally elected to hold the 2019 Legends Cup in South Africa's capital city of Johannesburg at Ellis Park Arena. However, this never took place.

In November 2018, defending champion Chicago Bliss head coach Keith Hac and his entire coaching staff resigned in protest of league policies and decisions. Three weeks later the league hired Danville coach JaDae Maguire as a replacement. Maguire did not mesh well with the Bliss and his tenure was short before a new coach, Sidney Lewis, was brought in. In addition to retirements at the end of the previous season, Chicago saw an exodus of many remaining players leaving them with only four returning starters. Chicago would finish the season 0–4, their worst record ever and only their second losing record, and failed to make the playoffs for only the second time ever.

On December 21, 2018, Chris Michaelson, who previously served as the head coach of the Seattle Mist, returned to that franchise as head coach once again. He spent the 2018 season serving as offensive coordinator of the upstart Nashville Knights. For the purpose of rebuilding the Mist franchise to its previous form, Michaelson replaced interim coach Eric Bellamy, who had been named the Mist's interim coach for 2018 after Michelson's supposed retirement in the off-season following a Legends Cup-winning season in 2017. Michaelson previously served as the Mist head coach from 2009 to 2017, leading that franchise to two Legends Cup championship titles.

In early 2019, the LFL announced a new broadcast partner in Honduran television network TDTV.

On June 19, 2019, the league announced a change in the playoff format. Instead of the two best teams from each conference playing for their respective conference titles, the league would abandon the conference titles and pit the top four teams with the best records in an elimination tournament. The team with the best record would play the team with the fourth best record while the teams with the second and third best records would play one another. The immediate effect of this change mid-season was to scramble the playoff standings; Chicago was immediately statistically eliminated, Omaha, which had needed only a victory over winless Denver, suddenly needed to also defeat Atlanta, and Los Angeles could still make the playoffs if Austin beat Nashville in the regular season finale.

## Teams

### Eastern Conference

| Team | Arena | City |
| - | - | - |
| Atlanta Steam | Infinite Energy Arena | Duluth, Georgia |
| Chicago Bliss | Sears Centre | Hoffman Estates, Illinois |
| Nashville Knights | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Omaha Heart | Ralston Arena | Ralston, Nebraska |

### Western Conference

| Team | Arena | City |
| - | - | - |
| Austin Acoustic | H-E-B Center | Cedar Park, Texas |
| Denver Dream | Budweiser Events Center | Loveland, Colorado |
| Los Angeles Temptation | Toyota Arena | Ontario, California |
| Seattle Mist | Accesso ShoWare Center | Kent, Washington |

LFL Pro Bowl Eastern Western

## Schedule

### Regular season

| Date | Visitor | Home | Venue | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Friday, April 5, 2019 | Seattle Mist | Los Angeles Temptation | Citizens Business Bank Arena | Seattle 34 Los Angeles 19 |
| Saturday, April 20 | Atlanta Steam | Chicago Bliss | Sears Centre Arena | Atlanta 30 Chicago 8 |
| Friday, April 26 | Los Angeles Temptation | Denver Dream | Budweiser Event Center | Los Angeles 47 Denver 18 |
| Saturday, May 4 | Chicago Bliss | Austin Acoustic | H-E-B Center | Austin 38 Chicago 8 |
| Saturday, May 11 | Omaha Heart | Seattle Mist | Accesso ShoWare Center | Omaha 6 Seattle 70 |
| Friday, May 17 | Atlanta Steam | Los Angeles Temptation | Citizens Business Bank Arena | Atlanta 33 L.A. 34 |
| Saturday, June 1 | Nashville Knights | Omaha Heart | Ralston Arena | Nashville 25 Omaha 49 |
| Saturday, June 8 | Seattle Mist | Denver Dream | Budweiser Event Center | Seattle 62 Denver 22 |
| Saturday, June 15 | Chicago Bliss | Atlanta Steam | Infinite Energy Arena | Chicago 25 Atlanta 30 |
| Saturday, June 22 | Denver Dream | Nashville Knights | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Denver 12 Nashville 14 |
| Saturday, June 29 | Austin Acoustic | Seattle Mist | Accesso ShoWare Center | Austin 36 Seattle 34 |
| Saturday, July 13 | Denver Dream | Omaha Heart | Ralston Arena | Denver 13 Omaha 32 |
| Saturday, July 20 | Nashville Knights | Chicago Bliss | Sears Centre Arena | Nashville 8 Chicago 6 |
| Saturday, July 27 | Los Angeles Temptation | Austin Acoustic | H-E-B Center | Los Angeles 26 Austin 33 |
| Saturday, August 3 | Omaha Heart | Atlanta Steam | Infinite Energy Arena | Omaha 14 Atlanta 50 |
| Saturday, August 10 | Austin Acoustic | Nashville Knights | Nashville Municipal Auditorium | Austin 20 Nashville 18 |

### Postseason

| Date | Visitor | Home | Venue | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Playoff Semi-Finals |||||
| Saturday, August 24 | Los Angeles Temptation | Austin Acoustic | Toyota Arena, Ontario, California | Los Angeles 39 Austin 29 |
| Saturday, August 24 | Atlanta Steam | Seattle Mist | Toyota Arena, Ontario, California | Seattle 38 Atlanta 14 |
| Legends Cup 2019 |||||
| Saturday, September 7 | Los Angeles Temptation | Seattle Mist | Accesso ShoWare Center, Kent, Washington | Seattle 56 Los Angeles 20 |

### Showcase Game

| Date | Visitor | Home | Venue | Score |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, November 16 | Los Angeles Temptation | Austin Acoustic | Mexico City Arena, Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico | Cancelled |

## Standings

| Team | W | L | Pct | PF | PA | Net Pts | TD's | Home Record | Home Pct | Road Record | Road Pct | GB |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| x-Austin Acoustic | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 127 | 86 | 41 | 19 | 2–0 | 1.000 | 2–0 | 1.000 | – |
| x-Seattle Mist | 3 | 1 | .750 | 200 | 83 | 117 | 32 | 1–1 | .500 | 2–0 | 1.000 | 1 |
| x-Atlanta Steam | 3 | 1 | .750 | 143 | 81 | 62 | 20 | 2–0 | 1.000 | 1–1 | .500 | 1 |
| x-Los Angeles Temptation | 2 | 2 | .500 | 126 | 119 | 7 | 19 | 1–1 | .500 | 1–1 | .500 | 2 |
| Omaha Heart | 2 | 2 | .500 | 101 | 158 | -57 | 14 | 2–0 | 1.000 | 0–2 | .000 | 2 |
| Nashville Knights | 2 | 2 | .500 | 65 | 87 | -22 | 10 | 1–1 | .500 | 1–1 | .500 | 2 |
| Chicago Bliss | 0 | 4 | .000 | 47 | 106 | -59 | 7 | 0–2 | .000 | 0–2 | .000 | 4 |
| Denver Dream | 0 | 4 | .000 | 65 | 154 | -89 | 10 | 0–2 | .000 | 0–2 | .000 | 4 |

x - clinched playoff berth

## Playoffs

Semifinals were played on August 24, 2019, at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California. Legends Cup 2019 was played on September 7, 2019, at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington, instead of South Africa as originally planned. In the 2018 State of the League address delivered by Commissioner Mitchell Mortaza, the 2020 Legends Cup was expected to be the first of upcoming Legends Cups to be played abroad in international destinations; however, that was scrapped when the league decided not to hold its next season. The schedule on LFLUS.com was updated on June 19, 2019, to show the Legends Cup had been moved. On the same day, the league announced the playoff format would change, with the conference championship title removed. Instead, the top teams from both conference would be ranked 1–4, with 1st facing 4th and 2nd facing 3rd.

| Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | Legends Cup | Legends Cup | Legends Cup |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Seed 1 | Austin | 29 | | | |
| Seed 4 | Los Angeles | 39 | | | |
| Seed 4 | Los Angeles | 39 | Los Angeles | Los Angeles | 20 |
| | | | Seattle | Seattle | 56 |
| Seed 2 | Seattle | 38 | Seattle | Seattle | 56 |
| Seed 3 | Atlanta | 14 | | | |

## Awards

League MVP

* Amber Clark - Atlanta Steam
* Miriah Lopez - Los Angeles Temptation
* Jade Randle - Seattle Mist
* Stevi Schnoor - Seattle Mist

Offensive Player of the Year

* Kassandra Bills - Austin Acoustic
* ChrisDell Harris - Austin Acoustic
* Miriah Lopez - Los Angeles Temptation
* Stevi Schnoor - Seattle Mist

Team of the Year

* Austin Acoustic
* Omaha Heart
* Nashville Knights
* Seattle Mist

Defensive Player of the Year

* Alli Alberts - Seattle Mist
* Amber Clark - Atlanta Steam
* Britney Dowdy - Austic Acoustic
* Jade Randle - Seattle Mist

Coach of the Year

* Dontae Allen / Cale Good - Omaha Heart
* Yuri Howard - Nashville Knights
* Chris Michaelson - Seattle Mist
* Mike Olvera - Austin Acoustic

Coaching Staff of the Year

* Atlanta Steam
* Austin Acoustic
* Nashville Knights
* Seattle Mist

In The Trenches (Line)

* Lindsey Burse - Omaha Heart
* Britney Dowdy - Austic Acoustic
* Lauren Jay - Omaha Heart
* Dina Wojowski - Atlanta Steam

Rookie of the Year

* Lauren Crouch - Omaha Heart
* Nicole Hulce - Atlanta Steam
* Bre Mosley - Nashville Knights
* Emma Vanderheyden - Chicago Bliss

Mortaza Award

* Jessica Bateman - Austin Acoustic
* Lindsi Cash - Los Angeles Temptation
* Nicole Curry - Denver Dream
* Austina Mellberg - Nashville Knights

True 8th Man Award

* Jessica Bateman - Austin Acoustic
* Mike McGhee - Seattle Mist
* Jessica Robinson - Atlanta Steam

2015 LFL Hall of Fame Induction - Danika Brace

