Should The NAL Target The Las Vegas Kings For 2026?

The Las Vegas Kings are an independent semi-professional football team. Playing a unique 2025 schedule that featured games against professional indoor football teams and semi-pro indoor teams, and even scheduled some games against professional 11-man outdoor football teams as well.

The Kings are not a new team, they have been playing games across the country for a decade building up brand recognition in the indoor/arena football realm. This includes many of the most recognizable names in indoor, and semi-professional football; Columbus Lions, West Texas (Amarillo) Warbirds, Idaho Horsemen, Arlington Longhorns, United Firepower, Carolina Predators and so many more.

Before the 2025 season, they began to make a push toward the professional level by first announcing they would join the International Football Alliance, before seeing the writing on the wall and attempting to join the AF1 instead.

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1 Las Vegas Kings; Left Without a League

Las Vegas Kings; Left Without a League

Neither of these moves panned out at the time, in part because the ownership group wants to do it right. Knowing they need to find some more outside investment, and further build up their sponsor base to make the leap, the Las Vegas Kings are trying to play the long game to ensure they don’t meet the same fate as so many teams before them.

For an indoor/arena football fan, this approach is refreshing. Too often we see teams launch and announce big dreams that their wallets can not back up, only to see the organization fold before making it through a season. The Las Vegas Kings have been actively playing against quality opponents to build connections, and hopefully, finally take the Las Vegas Kings to a stable professional football league.

AF1 Announcement Leads to Awkward Situation for Las Vegas Kings

The Kings attended the Arena Football Summit put on by the AF1 before the 2025 season. This event was to educate teams on some of the pitfalls of arena football ownership, but also to network with up and coming teams attempting to someday play professional football. Your Dallas Bulls, and Las Vegas Kings of the world. Shortly after this event, the Kings confident in the direction they wanted to go with their team let slip they were in communication with the AF1 about joining the league.

This was no doubt an effort to put themselves in a new light to any potential investors in Nevada. Going from an independent team who has been closely aligned to leagues like the American West Football Conference, and American Indoor Football Allicance with sporadic streaming availability, and no real home arena for games, to a team with an established league playing on nationally broadcasted and streamed platforms, and securing a home arena would be a huge change to the perception of the team, and could potentially spur action from potential sponsors or investors.

The problem is, the AF1 was not thrilled about this post, and it is believed they asked the Las Vegas Kings to take it down, given that the team had not been announced by the league to that point. There is no way of telling if that move in 2025 stunted the growth of the Las Vegas Kings at this time, however, I would imagine it did not do them any favors when looking for investment groups. Ultimately, the Las Vegas Kings played an independent season once again. I am told the Kings still have an open invitation to the AF1 once their funding is in order.

2025 Schedule for Las Vegas Kings

Opponent	Date	Location	League	8-Man or 11-Man	Notes
Arizona Bandits	3/2/25 3 pm MT	Pinnacle High School	AF1	8-man Arena Rules	Cancelled by Bandits
Colorado Spartans	4/12/25 7 pm MT	Denver Coliseum	NAL	8-man Indoor Rules	69-18 Colorado Wins
Idaho Horsemen	4/26/25 7 pm MT	Ford Idaho Center	NAL	8-man Indoor Rules	62-24 Idaho Wins
Bay Area Aggies	5/31/25
Visalia Sharks	6/14/25
Vegas Gladiators	6/28/25
Tampa Tornadoes	7/5/25	Leto High School	IFA	11-man Outdoor Rules
Tampa Tornadoes	7/26/25	Leto High School	IFA	11-man Outdoor Rules

Location, Location, Location

A man I trust and respect in the indoor football business once said “indoor football is a lot like real estate.” What he meant was location is the most important factor in any successful football team. You could have the greatest set up in the world financially, but if the market doesn’t support the team eventually the team is inevitably going to fail.

Part of what dictates a great location for indoor football is the teams you will be playing against where they are located. That is precisely why the Las Vegas Kings make so much sense for the National Arena League. The Las Vegas Kings would instantly have playing partners in neighboring states like Colorado, Nebraska, Texas, and Iowa. Some of these states are expected to field multiple teams as well.

These teams make travel a lot easier to stomach for a team making the jump from semi-professional to professional football. As if that wasn’t enough, the Las Vegas Kings have a previous relationship with Chris Reynolds owner of the Idaho Horsemen. They have played each other several times over the years, with the most recent matchup coming during the 2025 season. In fact, the Las Vegas Kings played against two different NAL teams in 2025, the Horsemen, and the Colorado Spartans.

Could Adding the Las Vegas Kings Add More Fuel to the Fire for Other Teams?

Adding Las Vegas to the current arrangement of the NAL would also assist in cutting travel costs for other teams currently in the league. This would potentially help make an expansion team in Pueblo, Colorado even more viable early on, it could dramatically help reduce cost for Idaho as they would instantly become one of the closest playing partners the Horsemen have in the league.

Another man I highly respect involved in this industry has said on several occasions that travel is what will make or break a team. While every league wants to have a national footprint to some extent, there has to be a focus on how each market affects the travel for each team. Adding Las Vegas as a market would be the definition of a logical addition.

If certain stones tumble in the right direction, the NAL could quickly hold a monopoly on indoor football in the center of the country. So much so, it could eventually lead to other teams considering a move as well. States like Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming, would make sense in the future. All of these markets already have teams set to play in the 2026 season.

This situation would only become more advantageous for all teams involved when Columbus and Wheeling exit stage left. This immediately positions the NAL as a very attractive destination for other mid-West teams new or established to find a home. Teams like Southwest Kansas, Salina, Wichita, maybe even teams like Sioux Falls, or Duke City could be swayed by the footprint of the new look-NAL. If your worst travel is currently the Idaho Horsemen, and the Eastern teams are removed entirely, this makes for cost-effective travel for all parties involved.

Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance

The Las Vegas Kings may be in the ideal location for the NAL but that doesn’t mean they are automatically a fit. Having the necessities in place is a must, this includes a home arena, team-provided housing, and the budget to make all of this work. That is why I like how the Kings have approached it, they are not trying to be anything they are not.

They understand that rushing into trying to be a professional football team has doomed many franchises during the Las Vegas Kings’ decade-long run as an organization. Until they can secure the funding to move up ownership has said rather bluntly: “We are in a holding pattern.” They saw firsthand what can happen when you promise things you can’t deliver this season.

Just about a week before the Las Vegas Kings were set to play the Arizona Bandits, the game was cancelled by the Bandits. Not long after the team had to announce they could not play in 2025. No word yet as to whether they will make a run at 2026. The Kings are content continuing on their current path, slowly building a larger following while laying the foundation for what will hopefully be a professional franchise very soon.

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