Indoor/Arena Football Expansion & Realignment Update Part 3

In part 3 of our 2026 Expansion and Realignment article, we will look at all of the indoor football, and arena football teams that are building a new team from the ground up, and the established teams that are changing leagues in advance of the 2026 season. Will this offseason eventually rival the 2023 offseason when the CIF disbanded and turned into the AF1 and NAL as we know them today?

Table of Contents

1 Expansion:
2 Realignment:

Expansion:

Tyler Crude

Owners: Richard Rodgers

League: AIF

Location: Tyler, Texas

Home Arena: Oil Palace

Capaciry:6,960

When the news broke for the Tyler it was a bit of a shock to most of us, not only because they are the most illogical fit for a league, but also because of the list of localish NAL teams they could have used as regional playing partners. The socials have been relatively quiet since early August but several sources have announced that this squad will be joining the AIF. While the AIF is better than nothing it isn’t ideal, being the weakest of the “Pro” leagues that only had three members in 2025.

Hopefully, Tyler can survive the extreme travel in a shaky league, but only time can tell. The Oil Palace, despite its age will be a solid venue to hold a team, in a state that has always been football hungry, if the staff can up their game, get sponsorship, and restart the outreach they could very well survive the AIF and possibly move on to bigger and better. Outside of a logo branding and field aren’t really out there for this squad, definitely keep tabs on socials, and let’s all hope we actually see them put turf shoe to leather.

Kentucky Barrels

Owners: Corey Cunningham

League: AF1

Location: Highland Heights, Kentucky

Home Arena: Truist Arena

Capacity: 9,400

Not enough good can be said about the ownership of this franchise, Cunningham is as committed to the team and furthering the AF1 as a new owner can be. Not only that, he played a pivotal part in the Corpus Christi Tritons being able to finish the 2025 season due to buying the team mid-way through the season! Kentucky has even gone out and found a championship-caliber coach in Cedric Walker, formerly of the Billings Outlaws.

Apart from solid coaching hires, they have plans to honor local indoor football legends and to pay respect to the university that they play at. The overall situation is Wonderful for the modern version of the game as they plan to work closely with UNK on everything from interns, promotion all the way to on-field and in-arena work. Even within the league the team is set up for success, as the move gives the potential Ohio franchise and Nashville very regional playing partners.

In the end, this is what an expansion team is supposed to be, using the resources they have, growing local support, and even the branding being a nod to the local history and industry. Look for for franchise to make a splash in 2026, if not in the win column, definitely the quality column.

New Mexico Chupacabras

Owners: Michael Fietz & Bob Pitre

League: IFL

Location: Albuquerque, NM

Home Arena: Tingley Coliseum

Arena Capacity:11,500

The Duke City Reboot is headed back to the arena that saw the Gladiators win the CIF twice. The new ownership, killer branding, and overall outlook are about as solid as you can get for an expansion franchise. Named for the entire state instead of a region or city is key here, Duke City suffered towards the end(at the Rio Rancho Events Center), and getting butts in seats will be pivotal here. .

The franchise has already hired experienced head coach Kyle Moore-Brown, most recently the Offensive Line Coach with Vegas. Keep an eye on the socials and transactions for this squad, they should cause a stir in the IFL. As with all new additions to the IFL lately, the construction of the franchise has its finances, backbone, and set up to become yet another strong part of the IFL machine.

The two owners mentioned above are committed locals who sponsored the team when they were the Gladiators, Todd Tryon, even being quoted as saying: “Both Mike and Bob are the type of owners that will not only elevate the Gladiator brand but the IFL as a whole”.

Realignment:

Columbus and Wheeling out of NAL! To AAL?

Following the NAL Owners meetings in Vegas, it was pretty obvious that these two weren’t coming back. The NAL Website scrubbed of logos and branding. Outside of this nothing has come out from either team. Nothing solid except that both plan on playing in 2026 and both are set to have open tryouts next month.

Many sources have come out pointing at an AAL reboot with these two acting as leadership for the league, but as we get closer and closer to the new year and many teams begin to lock into their plans for 2026 it makes you wonder how many and how many legit organizations you will see launch AAL 2.0 with them.

Columbus is the king of Tier three arena and indoor football (check out our Rivalry article for details linked below) league jumping, especially now that the NAL is a mostly Midwestern league. Official news was posted earlier today confirming these moves. As of right now, Wheeling and Columbus are the first two teams to join the rebooted version of the AAL.

While most would say; “you can’t have a league with only two teams” keep in mind the AAL has the AAL2 to lean on to build out these schedules in 2026. While I don’t believe these are the only two teams AAL will have in 2026, only time will tell what the overall structure of this league looks like.

Beaumont to AF1

This one was big. Just past the NAL title game the Renegades announced they wouldn’t be back in the NAL. Between the announcement and their deciding where they were going several regional playing partners were announced had they stayed put. Instead of staying grounded though they bolted to the AF1, a league with higher player salaries and infinitely more travel.

Even with the move it would appear from the outside that the Renegades have the backing and organization to make it. They have resigned some key peices from thier NAL championship run, as well as invested in new turf. With improvements all the way down to a logo update Beaumont may take some time to adjust to the arena style rules but will be a middle of the road to good AF1 team.

Storm and Liberty to NAL

A recent statement almost solidified that this pair was jumping ship to Indoor football, see below. The Indoor league they were referencing in fact would turn out to be the NAL. Both were originally a part of the CIF before it merged with this disaster that would become AFL 3.0 in 2024.

The CIF, very similar to what the NAL is becoming, was a regional league primarily in the Midwest. All that being said this makes for a more cost effective move for both teams. Currently as it stands in the NAL, the longest trip Salina or Southwest Kansas would take is shorter than the shortest trip they would have in the AF1.

Many critics will say this is a good move for the AF1, and we firmly disagree. Both of these teams were in the playoffs in 2024, and 2025. Southwest Kansas finished with the second most wins in the AF1 in 2025. Salina made a comeback for the ages and their performance sparked a twitter feud of sorts among the creators covering the league. Now two of the teams that formed the backbone are out, replaced by teams that are either brand new, or established teams with question marks.

It’s laughable to say the league is better off without Southwest Kansas, and Salina when they still retained teams like Oregon, Washington, and brought in a team like Beaumont. You give up two teams that have been around for at least 5 years leaning instead on an entire league full of teams launched in the last two years. The Firebirds rose from the ashes of the ugliest collapse in arena football in 2023, Nashville was new for 2024, Washington was new for 2024, Oregon was new for 2025 replacing the Black Bears of 2024, Beaumont was new for 2025, Kentucky Barrels is new for 2026.

More importantly, these are not the only two teams that may be out of the league. Corpus Christi has been extremely quiet, and lost their angel investor, Corey Cunningham, who stepped in and saved the 2025 season for the Tritons. The Billings Outlaws have been vocal about their desire to leave Billings, but no news is not good news at this point. So as it stands you have a 6 team league currently, with the potential of Michigan coming, and at least one other team.

This puts the AF1 back at 8 teams, but in the most instable manner possible. Losing 4 or more of your teams every year for three years straight is not a good look for any league. Keep in mind in 2024 AFL had 16 teams, by seasons’ end it was 8. In 2025 they had announced Wilkes Barre, Monterrey, Stockton, and Arizona Bandits but all four teams failed to play a snap in 2025. Now heading into 2026, you are losing your 2024 Champion, and two teams that were in the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

AF1 is not going anywhere yet, but one has to wonder how much more stable and cost effective this league would be via a merger with the NAL. Currently the NAL has two Texas teams, and the Shreveport team that would make travel much more manageable for Corpus Christi if they choose to return, and Beaumont giving this new super league 4 Texas teams. Adding Omaha, Sioux City, the two teams in Colorado, and keep the Kansas teams, suddenly you fill out the center of the country and make it to where the East coast teams can avoid travel to the opposite coast and vice versa.

While the NAL is losing Idaho, and they would be a big help to teams like Washington and Oregon now with Billings out, that is the only real downside to this arrangement. On top of all of this, adding teams more on the Eastern side of the country with Albany, Nashville, Kentucky, on top of Shreveport may have swayed teams like Wheeling, and Columbus to stay with the league and not form yet another competing league.

Out of all the moves made on this list, this one makes the most sense, travel will mostly be bus rides in the NAL and they both bring a competitive edge and solid ownership with them. Don’t be surprised if you see both in the 2026 NAL playoffs, just like you did in 2025 AF1. Long Live the Indoor Sunflower Showdown!

Arizona Horsemen?

As you can see below when the NAL shop went online to the public one thing was fairly off for the former AWFC powerhouse:

All of their merchandise said Arizona, not Idaho. We all knew from the recent announcement that they wouldn’t be back in Nampa come 2026, but planned on being back next season. From everything we have collected, there is an attempt to make the move happen for 2026 but it is way more likely to see it happen come 2027 out of a year of reorganizing in dormancy.

Chris Reynolds and his team was the outlier in 2026, the one west coast team left to travel across the country for most of their away games. Reynolds also happens to be a very strong asset to any league because he has experience owning and operating the AWFC, he also had a hand in launching the Oregon High Desert Storm which provided opportunities for Chuck Jones the Head Coach of the Oregon Lightning to get where he is today.

Reynolds and his family have reportedly moved to Arizona full-time which is why this move happened, and why there could be a fourth Arizona team coming in the next two seasons. There is doubt surrounding his ability to get the team off the ground in 2026, but the league to my knowledge is keeping the backdoor propped open for the time being. Something tells me the NAL would gladly revise a schedule if it meant keeping the Horsemen on it in 2026. However he is quickly running out of time to make this happen in 2026.

Final Words

So far this offseason has been atypical in the sense that not a lot of teams have come out and outright folded, and the additions to the various leagues have heavily outnumbered the subtractions. Nevertheless, we have a feeling here at Shady Sports that this is the tip of the iceberg as far as movement and expansion is concerned! As they happen we will bring you all the verified and up-to-date news on the ever-changing landscape of indoor and arena football!

With more news expected from the AF1, IFL, and TAL, the expansion season is far from over yet. Check back in soon for the next edition of the 2025-2026 Expansion (and now also realignment) Update!

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