The league champions were the Colorado Crush, who defeated the Georgia Force in ArenaBowl XIX.
Previously, the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs, regardless of their conference.
Also, there was no inter-conference play in the playoffs until the Arena Bowl starting in 2005.
The division champions also received an automatic playoff berth.
This was probably brought on by the fact that the year before the Eastern Division champion New York Dragons missed the playoffs.