TAMPA, FL - The Tampa Bay Storm is pleased to announce its 2016 regular season schedule which kicks off Friday, April 1. 

“The Storm is proud to announce its 2016 regular season schedule,” announced team president Derrick Brooks.  “This is our 25th season in Tampa and throughout the years we have built a strong tradition of Storm football.  We look forward to continuing that tradition and being the premier franchise of the Arena Football League.”

This season, the Arena Football League will be fielding a 16-game schedule over 18 weeks, with each team receiving two byes.  In observance of Independence Day weekend, the League will have a universal bye week during Week 14.

The Storm will kick off its 25th season in Tampa facing its “War on I-4” rival, the Orlando Predators, on Friday, April 1 at AMALIE Arena.  This will be the first of three games between these two storied franchises.  Tampa Bay will travel to Orlando on Friday, May 13 and Friday, June 24. 

The Storm will host its South Division rival, the Jacksonville Sharks, on Sunday, May 1 and Saturday, June 11.  The team will close out its 2016 regular season on Saturday, July 30 when it heads to Jacksonville.

Tampa will open its doors to the Cleveland Gladiators on Saturday, May 21 and the Philadelphia Soul will come to town on Saturday, July 16.  The Los Angeles KISS will make its return to Tampa on Saturday, June 18.

The National Conference Champion runner-up, Arizona Rattlers, will make its way to Tampa on Sunday, May 29.  This will be Arizona’s first trip to Tampa since the 2010 season, when the Storm defeated the Rattlers by a score of 62-61.  The Storm holds a record of 7-3 when hosting the Rattlers, including an impressive 43-29 victory in ArenaBowl XVII.

The Storm will head west three times in 2016, with the team playing in Arizona in Week three.  Tampa will then head to Portland for a Week 10 matchup and will face the KISS on Week 15.  The last time the Storm faced a team in Los Angeles was during the 2005 season when it visited the Los Angeles Avengers.

The team’s final home game will be versus the Portland Thunder on Saturday, July 23.

This season the Storm will play a total of 16 regular season games.  Four games will be played on Friday nights, 10 games will be played on Saturdays.  Additionally, for the first time since the 2011 season, the Storm will host two Sunday afternoon games.