The show is over, but the thrill lives on.

China's first Arena Football League game, an All-Star exhibition between the two best AFL teams, the Arizona Rattlers and the Philadelphia Soul, attracted a crowd of more than 8,000 spectators at the Beijing Capital Gymnasium on Nov 11.

"It was beyond our expectations," said Wu Hua, president of Ganlan Media International (Beijing) Co Ltd, one of the organizers.