Howie's column is powered by Lyric Kitchen · Bar | eMail Howie
Arena Football One is deep in its annual November tradition — the period when the league office barricades itself inside a conference room, fires up a dozen Zoom calls, and tries to convince itself that a national football schedule really is possible if you squint hard enough and don’t ask too many follow-up questions.
It’s the quietest stretch of the offseason. It’s also the busiest. And as always, nobody knows anything.
This is where AF1 executives juggle expansion hopefuls, half-finished arena contracts, outgoing teams, incoming teams, and owners who are “just waiting on one last signature,” which always seems to be true for about six weeks straight.
Arena football folks call this “the sprint.” Veterans call it “Tuesday.”
You don’t release a national schedule until every team has proven it actually exists — financially, geographically, spiritually. In this league, that’s a moving target.
So what’s happening right now in the league office?
My best guess: A lot of phone calls that end with, “Let’s circle back,” and a lot of Google Sheets being updated by people who had no intention of working past 5 p.m. ever again.
You’ve got: Teams in. Teams out. Teams maybe. Teams are waiting on city councils. Teams switching leagues when the wind changes direction. Teams are joining because someone found an empty arena on a Thursday night in April.
And through all that, AF1 still needs to stitch this thing together like the world’s strangest quilt: a national map of teams ranging from rock-solid operations to organizations that couldn’t find a defensive back if you spotted them the D and the B.
This is arena football. If everything made sense, nobody would trust it.
Which brings us to Minnesota.
While the league office is playing whack-a-mole with arenas, contracts and owners who suddenly discovered how much hotels cost, the Minnesota Monsters are just sitting there like the adult at the kids’ table.
New owner Jacob Lambert? Committed. Actual money? Already spent some. Marketing plan? Running. Front office led by co-owner/general manager Steve Walters? Experienced. Fan base? Showed up from day one. Sponsors? Signed on without being asked twice.
That combination — ownership, management, fans, sponsors — might not sound revolutionary, but in arena 50-yard football it’s essentially the four gospels.
There are teams in this sport that don’t have one of those things. Minnesota has all four, and they’re not bragging about it. They’re just doing the work.
Imagine that.
Meanwhile, AF1 is trying to build a schedule without a crystal ball.
The league’s biggest offseason challenge is the annual “Let’s build a national travel plan without destroying everyone’s budget” puzzle.
That means trying to place these teams in some kind of logical order on a map — a map that keeps changing every 48 hours.
It’s like setting up a wedding seating chart, except half the guests haven’t RSVP’d, three moved out of state, and someone just announced they’re bringing a surprise expansion team.
At the end of this, AF1 will have a 2026 lineup. And a schedule. And media graphics. And probably five more teams insisting they’ve been “approved pending paperwork.”
But the Monsters? They’ll be ready. They already are.
The league needs stability. Minnesota is providing it.
This isn’t complicated: leagues like AF1 survive because a handful of teams hold things together while everyone else tries to catch up.
Minnesota is one of those teams.
New owner who actually cares? Check. General manager who knows what he’s doing? Check. Fans who aren’t going anywhere? Check. A sponsor base that didn’t need a pep talk? Check.
In arena football, that’s a dynasty.
AF1 will finish the job. They always do — somehow, some way, somewhere between optimism and duct tape. But when the league finally unveils its 2026 lineup, don’t forget this: Some teams enter the season hoping the details get sorted out.
Minnesota enters the season already sorted out.
And in arena football, that’s as close to a competitive advantage as money can buy.
Howie, 71, is a veteran Duluth print journalist and publisher of HowieHanson.com, which he has operated for 21 years. He is the region’s first and only full-time online columnist, covering local news, politics, business and sports with an independent, community-centered voice. Hanson has spent more than five decades reporting on issues that shape the Northland.
