HowieHanson.com Section
Duluth has always supported teams that show up honestly and invest consistently. The formula hasn’t changed. Don’t overpromise. Don’t disappear when things get hard. Build something people can recognize as theirs. When that happens, this city responds — not with blind loyalty, but with earned trust.
1. Vegas Knight Hawks (IFL) 2. Albany Firebirds (AF1) 3. Green Bay Blizzard (IFL) 4. Nashville Kats (AF1) 5. Arizona Rattlers (IFL) 6. Minnesota
Twelve games per team. A defined start in April. A defined finish in July. Balanced home-and-away slates. Built-in byes. Repeat matchups that suggest geography matters again. It reads less like a marketing flyer and more like an operating plan.
Minnesota’s home schedule begins in Week 7, when Nashville visits. Kentucky comes to Minnesota in Week 8.
AF1 teams Minnesota, Michigan and Washington announced several roster moves today. Minnesota added depth on defense and size up front, Michigan bolstered its offensive
The Minnesota Monsters have hired legendary veteran football executive and longtime coach Jaysen “Yogi” Howard-Smith as the team’s special teams coordinator. Howard-
Stability is the real product. If teams stay in their markets, if players get paid on time, if the community sees the league year after year, the perception changes. But you can’t fix 30 years of history overnight.
The Minnesota Monsters AF1 team reshuffled its roster this week, signing a Division I defensive lineman and releasing a wide receiver. Minnesota signed Shaki
Javonte Haynes, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound defensive back, returns to the Minnesota Monsters as one of the most productive defensive players from
Note: This is the second column in six-part series on the state of arena football — from the sport’s bruised past to its uncertain future — with a sharp focus on AF1, the upstart league the Duluth-based Minnesota Monsters will join when they relaunch in Spring 2026.
Arena Football One saw steady roster movement this week, as Minnesota continued reshaping its defense, Oregon added an SEC-tested defensive back and Beaumont
AF1 is trying to prove that there’s still room for stable, professional arena football in mid-sized American markets — if the game is built more deliberately, more honestly and more humbly than the leagues that came before it.
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.
The Arena Football One league released its November 25 transaction report Tuesday, highlighted by roster moves in Minnesota’s secondary, two league suspensions in
Minnesota signed wide receiver Jahmal Banks, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound target from Nebraska. Banks brings size and catch-radius to the Monsters’ evolving offensive system, adding another option for a team that has emphasized physical receivers throughout the offseason.
Minnesota officials framed the signing as another example of the franchise’s aggressive push under new owner Jacob Lambert, who has vowed to go “all-in” as the former, rebranded Duluth Harbor Monsters — winners of two straight league titles — move up to the stronger AF1.
