2026 American Indoor Football Season Preview

Welcome to the second year, of the third version of American Indoor Football. Considering the growth seen from the AIF, we at Shady Sports only saw fit to bring you a look inside the league. We look back on 2025, see where improvement can be made, how the league has progressed and preview each individual team.

2025 Recap

The 2025 American Indoor Football season was anything but typical. The league relaunched after every single team left, and the second version had ceased operations after the 2024 season. Essentially, this league was only the AIF in name.

The result that followed was a very obscure version of a “league” that left many of us wondering if it would even last the season. Despite all the doubts, the 2024 season would finish with the spearhead of the league, the Ironmen, winning all six league games and walking away with the title a perfect 7-0.

The majority of the season was senseless murderball at the expense of the Chaos and then River Kings. West Michigan would beat both of them a combined 135-7 in the first two games of the year. As the abbreviated season wound on, the improvements to the River Kings would become apparent. The final game of the entire Ironmen regular season would end up a 28-20 slug fest that felt more like mini outdoor ball.

AIF Regular Season Standings of 2025

1.W. Michigan: 6-0

2.Coralville: 2-2

3.Cedar Rapids: 1-3

The American Indoor Football 2025 season was heavily reliant on “Travel” and Developmental teams to finish filling out a home schedule for each team. It is similar to how the AAL and AAL2 will function this year, though it was way less organized than the AAL plans to be.

Said lower-level teams got plenty of experience, and a fair number of them moved up players to the AIF and other leagues based on play against league teams.

Overall, 2025 is something that most will remember as a bit of a building year; it wasn’t pretty at times. The foundation to build on was laid, and as you’ll find later in this season preview, they raised the league standard a bit going into 2026

2026 Overview

Front Office per

https://aif-indoorfootball.com/

Commissioner: Terry Foster

Director of Operations: Larry Clark

Director of Media & Marketing: Keith Russ

Senior Consultant: Patrick Johnson

Grandiose plans were hatched early on in the off-season, but like what happens often in the indoor football world, plans fall through, and you have to press on. The AIF had plans for a North and South Division, but that won’t be the case come kickoff in January. Odessa and Tyler would have been the first of several teams south of the Mason-Dixon, but due to arena issues, Tyler ultimately never materialized. Many fans, mostly casual fans, have doubts about the validity of the AIF, and 2026 will be pivotal in winning back the trust of local and national fans.

Here are the three key ways they could manage to legitimize and draw fans back in:

1. Competitive Football

With four core teams, a travel team, and a non-regional Home only squad, you run the risk of more senseless murderball. All signs would indicate that you will have a couple of horrid blowouts, but if the vast majority of games are well officiated and somewhat close, fans will notice. No one outside of Muskegon wants to see yet another year of “Ironmen & friends”.

The ability of your worst team to play competitive football while losing is an earmark of a strong, stable league.

2. Finish Strong

This one is huge, and something everyone except the IFL has struggled with most of this decade. If the AIF can manage to start with every team that is currently expected to play, it would be a start that not even the AF1 can boast. There is no better way to burn a market and scare fans from the game than folding teams mid-season. The core four making it from kickoff through the ‘26 offseason is pivotal to keeping butts in seats and eyes on streams. Leading us to the final point:

3. Upgraded Streams

This one is simple, but expensive. Last season, watching a game that wasn’t a West Michigan home game became increasingly hard. Then not possible unless in person. The Arena League and NAL, for the most part, have pushed themselves further each season in this department. Last year, the only team in either of the aforementioned leagues to fail and entirely lose streams was Idaho. If we get the ability to watch even a subpar stream of teams like the Muskies or Cavalry, it will boost fan support and add a layer of legitimacy that is desperately needed.

Only time will tell if we see this in the upcoming season. Either way, if you want to stay up to date and look for streams, come the time for kickoff in late January and early February, we will link to the AIF YouTube and each team’s socials.

Schedule Breakdown

Usually, a schedule doesn’t require a breakdown beyond key matchups and media-pushed hype, but this schedule will. With all due respect to each team and the entire league, this schedule takes some deciphering. Here are a few takeaways we had from the overall schedule.

Spread out

The league schedule begins on January 30th, with the Iron Men welcoming the single AIF road team, Penn Union. That will, in fact, be the only game that is played that week. The single-game weeks don’t stop in week one. Weeks 1,4,6,8,10,11,12 & 13 all have a single game. Don’t hate on the league for this; any rebuilding league is going to have to fight for arena availability, and they have done what they need to do. We would all much rather see this than a team calling itself pro while playing in a soccerplex. Overall, if you dig deep, you’ll find that most teams have no control over when they can play. No matter the league.

Travel Team?

This is the single part of the schedule that has us perplexed. It would seem that the Penn Union only play one game. We can’t say for certain, but the likelihood of that being the case is slim. It seems much more like a move to ensure all teams always have an opponent. The league hasn’t confirmed, but there is a chance the Union is mobilized to take on the lone AIF South Squad, the Odessa Drillers.

Odessa? Where?

The Drillers had regional playing partners that never quite got the steam or facilities to make it to kick-off. Odessa came out and made a post stating their plans to play an all-home schedule against (assumably all) local opponents. Rumors are also circulating about one or more of the North teams making a trip down to play on one of the league-wide bye weeks (weeks 3 and 5). Overall, expect the Drillers to fill out a 6-10 game schedule against mostly 8-man and local semi-pro indoor teams.

7 to 8 Game schedule

This part is by far the most normal part of the schedule; everyone plays at least 7 games, and non-league games against developmental or semi-pro teams aren’t frowned upon. The fact that Penn only has one officially cemented in writing shouldn’t be a concern, as a road team will find spots, but that will heavily depend on the season and situations that arise from it.

If we had to rank the schedule length and structure, it wouldn’t be at the top of our list. Although, as we said, this is the second year of a ground-up rebuild, and if not a single game is moved or canceled, it will be a major success. The best feature? The AIF starts nearly five weeks before anyone else, and gives us fifty-yard junkies a little taste before the other five leagues kick off. This allows the AIF maximum exposure.

Team-By-Team Previews

Of Note: Listed signings are possible to change during the offseason, and limited information is available for this league. If you’re reading and find a change or error, don’t hesitate to comment on it.

West Michigan Ironmen

EST:2016

Owner: Mario Flores

Head Coach:Terry Mitchell

Location: Muskegon, MI

Arena: Trinity Health Arena

2025 League Record:7-0

Preseason Rank: 1st

Website: https://westmichiganironmen.com/

2026 Outlook

Before restarting this version of the AIF, West Michigan created an entire league to have opponents, Great Lakes Arena Football. A league that would disperse into the AAL2 and developmental ranks with various names after 2024. All this being said, they are essentially in the same role in the AIF (though Dom Montero owns 60% of the league), but the competition will be fairly elevated.

The Ironmen will be the best or near-best team in 2026 and the foreseeable future. They are the only team not to publicly display most of their signings, signaling that they may be signing good enough talent to be fearful of poaching. They haven’t lost a game since helping reboot the league they call home, but the chance of finally losing elevates heading into the back half of the schedule.

Why? Well, because of scheduling issues (with the local government and arena) they will have to play the last four games all on the road. The core four are somewhat regional, but no matter the case, a long road stretch wears on any team. We would be remiss if we didn’t mention off-field distractions, a good bit of the team’s equipment, and the team trailer being hauled off by a thief.

All the worse is the timing, West Michigan’s first game against a non-league opponent is January 23rd. According to an article from Muskegon Sports, Flores (the Majority Owner) even considered Dormancy if equipment couldn’t be found in time for the season. Though he did decide to push on a replace what his team needed. This team could be competitive in the AAL or NAL , expect them to play like it once they enter league play in a league much weaker than the afore mentioned. If they raise another trophy, it won’t come as a shock.

Signings:

DE Danny Wheeler

DB Jair Nowlin

LB Diovonald Tomassello

Cedar Rapids Titans

EST:2024*

Owner: Mike Thorson

Head Coach: Rick Kranz

Location:Cedar Rapids, IA

Arena:Allegiant Energy Powerhouse

2025 League Record: 1-5

Preseason Rank: 2nd

Website: https://crtitans.com/

2026 Outlook:

We won’t blow smoke and pretend that the 2025 season was anything but miserable for the then River Kings. The overall product was that of a middle-of-the-road Semi-pro squad through the first few games, even managing to lose by 25 to the Knoxville Bandits team (a Developmental team) at home in a postseason match.

While the situation looks much better this season, on and off the field, I wouldn’t expect this team to raise a trophy after the final whistle blows. Kranz, the head coach, has managed to bring more improved talent than was in Cedar Rapids in 2025, bringing in a ton of talent from his AIF 2.0 squad, the Amarillo Venom. Overall, the product, especially on Offense, should improve, although it doesn’t have to do much to improve. If Kranz and Staff can put together a front three to pair with the already full QB room, this squad could actually be suiting up past the regular season.

On a side note:

Even if they never improve, they will look pretty good doing it. Pictured above is one of the coolest helmets in indoor ball. We aren’t sure who came up with it, but the 2001 XFL-style lids are only second to the wild look seen on the Washington Wolfpack.

*rebranded from River Kings

Signings:

DL CJ Wight

WR Davia Kates

WR Mason Pierce

K Trevor Spalding

LB Jurrinte Davis

WR Isiah Johnson

DL Teirre Turner

RB Nigel Sealy

QB Aldon Clark

DB Rodlenick (Teso) Kirkland

LB Pat Green

QB Clayton Krousle

WR Khalil Steward

OL/DL Patrick Coe

DB Rashawn Benners

RB Ceejay Legget

WR Rodney Frutrell

OL/DL Wayne D. Callwood

OT Jayden Bridgers

QB Hassan Brockman

WR Tez Chaney

RB Dalton James

WR Khalil Steward

North Michigan Muskies

EST:2025*

Owner: Dom Monterro

Head Coach:Sean Eastridge

Location:Traverse City, MI

Arena: Howe Ice Arena (cap. 1800)

2025 League Record 2-3

Preseason Rank: 3rd

Website: https://northmichiganmuskies.com/

2026 Outlook:

After a second-place (out of three) finish in 2024, ownership saw the writing on the wall with less-than-good fan support, compounded by other issues. The solution, of course, was a move and complete rebranding. It is a tale as old as the sport itself, but of all the AIF moves this offseason, this one made the most sense.

Howe Ice Arena only holds around 1800 people, in a city of just over 15,000. While most would see this as a move down, it may have the opposite effect on attendance and overall fan support. A small town, with a local team to support, feels similar to how “The Arena League” was founded and grew its brand, and it can work for North Michigan (it’s the second smallest Pro Market, only ahead of the Mississippi Wolfpack of the AAL)

Opposed to the Mississippi Wolfpack, the coaching staff will be fairly experienced coming into the season. The staff and players will, for the most part, be Developmental and semi-pro move-ups. This doesn’t always mean the worst for a team, but it will show through early in the season as players and coaches try to mesh. Overall, from what could be found, everyone involved seems to be more than ready to push forward and give it everything they can. The Muskies won’t be the only “new” team, as the next team on this list (also owned by Monterro), the Wyoming Cavalry, will be kicking off for the first time, also.

The opportunity to put on a well-played game between the two, a game that can only be known as the Dom Bowl, is crucial to drawing in locals and keeping fan support; they may not get many other chances. Muskie Social post indicated that this franchise is well-sponsored, only second in partnership post to Cedar Rapids. They will make it through a full schedule. On the personnel side, not a ton is public; we could only find two official signings as of January 1st. The Muskies roster page is linked below if you want to check it closer to kickoff.

Signings:

Rico Lebron DT/DE

Maurice Mojo QB

*Relocated and Renamed from Coralville Chaos to North Michigan Muskies

Wyoming Cavalry

EST:2025

Owner: Dom Monterro

Head Coach: Ken Hessler

Location:Gillette, WY

Arena:Cam-Plex Wyoming Center (9500)

2025 League Record: N/A

Preseason Rank: 4th

Website:https://wycavalry.com/

2026 Outlook:

Yes, this is the only true expansion team for ‘26, but the way they are functioning is very different than that of a traditional expansion team. The signings seem more akin to those of a mid-level NAL team that has experienced several seasons of trial and error. We found plenty of player signings. Which seem to consist of higher-level arena & indoor rebounds. The list contains anyone from former AAL2 players all the way to former NFL players. One signee even revealed the extra eyes that may be on the team during the season. Check HERE for more on that.

Our biggest question is the head signal caller, a man familiar with indoor football and Gillette, but not as familiar as a head coach. While he isn’t the only inexperienced coach, the lack of experience at holding together a franchise could spell trouble, or be a rise from the ashes moment. The key to the season is a strong start. If they start 0-2 or 0-3, don’t expect a midseason rebound.

The local market is already primed for the sport; it has seen several indoor teams pass through. Most recently, the Gillette Mustangs of the CIF, a team that folded just prior to the CIF-AFL merger. The Mustangs had no real issue drawing in crowds, and we are under the impression they won’t this time around. Like most teams in this league, the sponsorship and partner posts are plentiful.

Signaling that this market may not have been burned when the Mustangs left, Dom and his front office have made a point for year one to be a year of affordability. Offering some season tickets for less than $80. We could go on and on, but the truth is, we won’t know much about this team until they grace the Cam-Plex on February 14th.

Signings:

QB TK Repress

QB Jayden Myers

WR/KR Kemijah Williams

DB/WR De’Anze Lazard

WR Todd Sinisim

WR/QB Anthony Ellison

LB Claytan Schutt

LB/DE Ben Desmarais

K Michael Scott Hall

DB Antwan Smith

OL D K’hari Whitfield

Odessa Drillers

2026 Home-Only Team

Website: https://odessadrillers.com/

We covered some of this team earlier, but the situation is very fluid for the only AIF team in Texas. While they have announced the all-home schedule, an actual schedule hasn’t been announced thus far. The plan for a Southern Division is still very much in the works; it will not be until 2027. All signs point to the league moving pieces around to fit the new team, meaning we may see multiple teams make a trip south. While this seems impractical, you have to consider that Dom Montero is the owner of the majority of the AIF’s teams.

We won’t be as concerned about the wins and losses, nearly as much as seeing if they can get buts in seats. Fanship will be a major deal if Montero wants to get the Drillers into a legitimate schedule and situation come 2027. The social media for this squad has been active, the website is underway, and football will be played. We wish the Drillers only the best. But will reserve criticism until we still see the franchise in action.

Pennsylvania Union

AIF Travel Team

As mentioned multiple times, the Union is a Travel team. If you’re new to the sport and haven’t been around for over ten years, that’s a team that has no home, only around to fill out a schedule. Penn would have been a full-time team in ‘26 had the venue not fallen through early in the offseason. Similar to the Drillers, this could be a bid to get the name and product on the field before a full launch.

That being said, if they only ever take the field once this year, expect it to be more of a semi-pro filler team than a buildup. Overall, we know very little about this team, and we at Shady Sports will only know more once the January 30th game against West Michigan has played out.

Dickinson Dragons

2027 Expansion Team

Website: https://dickinsondragons.com/

Once again, there is very little known on this front. They apparently will be a 2027 expansion team out of Dickinson, ND. They already have a website, and according to the said website, they will be playing at West River Ice Arena. Shady Sports will bring more information on this squad in our next Expansion Update.

Our Thoughts

If you’re a fan of Indoor football and its history, the name AIF carries a lot of weight. The name was tarnished in 2024, as were many. This year’s version will be a year of comebacks. To some, a comeback in image, showing the world that they aren’t who they once were.

For some it’s an opportunity to rebound after a rough couple of seasons, and for some it will be a chance to show indoor football to a city that has never seen it, All in all, the 2026 American Indoor Football season can, and in my humble opinion, be a good fun to watch bid to show the world the AIF matters in the landscape of Indoor Football. Long live the AIF. If you want recent and up-to-date info on the AIF, check out Around the Indoor Football world every Saturday morning on Shady Sports Network.

AIF Socials

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EVuU4ioVk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Website: https://aif-indoorfootball.com/

YouTube: Unavailable

Disclaimer: All Graphics with the AIF logo and all helmet logos are property of American Indoor Football

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2026 American Indoor Football Season Preview