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“And if these folks manage to launch their global version of this incredibly niche entertainment option that had its best days long ago—I’ll happily cheer it on from the old ‘Beehive’ with a High Life in hand.”
Excerpt from “Discussing Arena/Indoor Football at the Beehive”
It ended up being a Keystone Light in the regular stands, but I made good on my word with the options available. After all, The International Arena League had not only managed to kick off its inaugural season, it was still alive and here a few weeks later.
That may sound like a mean-spirited dig at a local sports team whose players and staff are presumably doing their best to provide fun, family-friendly entertainment—but I’m not the only person to have looked at the flags in the league’s logo only to see bright red instead of a variety of nations.
The IAL was previously discussed in this story from November 2025.
Not to be confused with hockey’s Stingers of yore, the Slingers are the ninth “indoor football” franchise to call the Cincinnati area home and the fifth to play in what’s now known as the Heritage Bank Center.
They’re actually one of two new, local teams to debut this year—the other being the cross-river Kentucky Barrels. It’s a really interesting situation given that not only has indoor/Arena football declined well below the zenith it reached two decades ago, but it’s also never found any real, sustained success in this market.
Cincinnati Slingers logo.
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Announced for the Spring of 2026, the Slingers would be playing football in the shadow of the city’s NFL team with a season overlapping those of the local MLB, MLS, and minor-league hockey franchises. On top of that, the Kentucky Barrels had already established themselves months before and would be a direct, in-market competitor offering a product whose demand was already questionable.
Nevertheless, the Slingers slung.
Which is surprising, because almost nothing about this team or this league gave off even a slight impression of legitimacy back in November of 2025. Nearly everything—from the websites to the team logos—was clearly, and poorly, done by rudimentary AI. A concoction derived from the freest of all free trials, the lowest of low efforts. All of it completely lacking in the basic information you’d expect from even the most minor of minor-league sports teams.
Cheyenne Hollis of The Touchback has a great video that takes a detailed look at The IAL, as well as, some of the intrigue surrounding it. From the folks behind the scenes (and their awkward Microsoft Teams-esque videos) to questions of European travel logistics and player health insurance.
A typical IAL virtual meeting/announcement.
And look, I’m someone who’s a fan of these kinds of stories—the “fun while it lasted,” renegade and off-shoot sports teams that have come and gone, particularly in my home city/state/region. This was different, though. For a league with global ambitions, being unable to produce a schedule or a complete list of team names just a few months prior to starting the season raised eyebrows. And I assumed that the IAL would never play a down of football indoors.
I’m not saying it’s a scam.
Nor am I saying that where there’s “smoke,” there’s “fire.”
What I am saying is: When the Cincinnati Slingers score a touchdown, the smoke comes out of a machine resting atop a trash can:
Lammi and I had once been to a Super Bowl and already had plans on the books to go catch a UFL game up in Columbus, Ohio. We were no strangers to the notion of “spring football,” but we also weren’t complete saps. And who’s to say I’m not a maternal figure to him?
Promotional flyers at the Sixth St Starbucks.
As he stepped up to the box office and I laid low around the corner, we’d decided that it wasn’t worth $20 a piece to see the latest, local iteration of indoor football. So, we split the cost of one ticket and took advantage of the Mother’s Day special where “moms get in free.” Not that the ticket people batted an eye or really cared, they were probably just as surprised as we were that today’s event was actually happening.
When the Slingers had managed to play their first home game a few weeks ago, both their website and Ticketmaster seemingly only offered season ticket packages. Once single game tickets were finally made available, the prices were listed at ~$55 per ticket before fees. Eventually, they came to some sense and dropped the individual price to $20. We personally felt even that was a bit too steep for the product advertised, but on this particular game day—there was at least the added value of two matchups for the price of one.
The Stuttgart Stallions vs the Glasgow Tartans in Game 1 of the May 9, 2026 doubleheader at Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati.
The doubleheader was made possible by the fact that the International Arena League was apparently struggling with the whole international aspect. In a press release rife with AI-assisted adjectives, the league announced that they were folding their Zurich club and buying plane tickets for their remaining overseas squads.
This whole “strategic realignment” was spun as a momentous occasion that would showcase “the first European teams in history to play arena football on American soil.” We entered the building just as one of these unprecedented events was wrapping up; Germany’s Stallions of Stuttgart battling Scotland’s Tartans of Glasgow.
Glasgow managed to win, I remember that. As to what the final score was, well, I didn’t write it down and both team websites still have the game listed as being in Europe with no results. Such is the communications crux of the IAL—you can’t find any substantial information online unless it’s through a team’s Facebook page. Even there, quality information is sorely lacking. Which probably explains why most of the teams have barely moved tickets—a fact clearly seen when they manage to get a stream up or post a social media highlight showing tens of fans in the stands.
One of the few mentions of the Slingers in their home arena.
A lap around the concourse revealed no merchandise, no information booth, and very little branding—hardly any acknowledgement of the Slingers existence within the building they called home. The only knowledgeable person we came across was a beer vendor at one of the few open stands. She told us that certain cans were $5 and that we likely wouldn’t need to worry about lines on this particular evening.
Reds fans departing the nearby ballpark pass by the Heritage Bank Center concourse.
A steady stream of people were leaving the nearby ballpark following a Reds win, but none of them seemed to be stopping into the arena for more Queen City sports action. While wondering if that passing crowd even knew the arena was open, we bumped into some friends who relayed two things:
“We saw the owner argue with the security guards at the entrance when they asked him for a ticket.”
“Season tickets were the only option a few weeks ago, so we just went ahead and got ‘em.”
Our comrades were banking on a promise that the league had initially touted, but seemed to have rolled back in recent months. According to the IAL’s “fans win too” promotion, season ticket holders get the next year’s tickets free if their team happens to win the championship (assuming the league survives into 2027, much less makes it a whole season). This lofty promise didn’t appear in the game program I borrowed from these guys, but it did at least feature team rosters and some information.
Imagery from IALFootball.com on November 23, 2025 highlighting the “$2 MILLION PRIZE” and “Fans Win Too” promotions.
In fact, the program looked more official than anything that’d ever been shared online. Clearly, someone had been trying at the team level despite the laissez faire attitude towards basic promotion, marketing, and fan engagement demonstrated by the league. The arena itself looked decent, the turf seemed new, and despite all the scoreboard graphics clearly being generic—the production value wasn’t too bad. There was even a team anthem screaming through the speakers. We assumed it was AI like everything else, but damn if it wasn’t catchy.
As the Slingers took the field for warmups, they donned gray t-shirts with a QR code. No one stood still long enough for us to successfully scan it, but we did find out later that it links to the team website. A website that’s still rife with conflicting information and looks more like an offshore sports betting platform.
Attempting to scan a QR code.
Despite liberal use of the copyrighted term “Arena Football,” the Slingers and IAL apparently weren’t playing the patented version of that game with its distinct uprights and field setup. Rather, their red-painted PVC pipe goal posts were more indicative of generic “indoor football.” It’s all a legal grey area that was hard to explain to Lammi over an excruciatingly loud, yet tastefully edited rendition of DMX’s “Party Up.”
Pre-game prayer.
Once the players dipped back into their locker rooms, it was time for the festivities to begin. Not many more people showed up compared to the day’s first game, but the stands did get peppered by some players from the earlier matchup coming out to watch. Speaking with a few of the Glasgow players, we were surprised to find that they were actually from Scotland and not Americans who’d been recruited to play overseas.
The Aiken High School NJROTC presents the colors before the game. Note the RC Cola advertisement.
The master of ceremonies was a disc jockey from one of the local country stations. He started things off by interviewing the “Slingers Sirens,” the team’s dance squad. The speakers in the arena were so loud, however, that it was really difficult to understand not only what the guy was saying, but why he was asking each dancer what their favorite ice cream flavor was. Following the frozen treat facts, the following interaction played out:
“How old are you now?”
“Eighteen.”
“How old were you when it happened?”
“Fourteen.”
Awkwardly exchanging inquisitive glances and conferring with the few other spectators in our section—we were able to clarify that he was asking this young woman about a time when her parents had her call into his radio show as a kid. Context that would’ve been difficult to discern even if we would’ve heard it all play out properly.
Apparently, she’d told him a “dad joke” on-air that he enjoyed so much, he was now having her repeat it for those of us in attendance.
“What happens when you hit Dwayne Johnson’s butt?”
“You hit ‘rock bottom.’”
Mercifully, the Sirens then welcomed the hometown Slingers beneath bright spotlights and pyrotechnics as the game got underway.
Both the hometown boys and the visiting “Great 8’s” of Utah were donning generic International Arena League jerseys whose only discerning features were the team’s colors.
“Re-set the game clock to…” was an order repeatedly and frustratingly shouted by the officiating crew over their microphones.
The first quarter flew by and then the second slowed to a crawl. As to what exactly was going on, we really had no idea, but the fans who had lined up around the first rows were at least pretty into it.
At halftime, the Slingers Sirens were welcomed back to the field for a choreographed performance set to AC/DC’s “Back in Black” which only lasted a few seconds before the music abruptly cut off. For the remainder of the break, all kids in the arena were invited onto the field to participate in the “chicken banana dance,” a supposedly popular social media trend that no one seemed to know despite its alleged virality. After some confusion, everyone settled on just doing the traditional “Chicken Dance.” A few children, but not all, were rewarded with coupons to a semi-local chicken restaurant for their efforts.
A Slingers player in the arena concourse at halftime.
We stringently watched the clock run down in the third quarter so that we could properly time our beer strategy. By this point, the Slingers were putting the game to bed with a statement. This certainly wasn’t the UFL or even the NFL, but there were some good plays and decent action from time to time.
Heritage Bank Center exclusively sells RC Cola and 7UP.
Someone must’ve snuck in a rival cola product.
What was the final score? Couldn’t tell you as per my earlier complaints about basic communication, but the Slingers did secure a victory which called for a field-level celebration for all in attendance.
On-field fun.
That’s where we met number 32, Darius Meadors—a nice guy beaming with a big smile and signing autographs for any kid who approached him.
FB/LB No. 32 for the Cincinnati Slingers—Darius Meadors.
Sure, most of our experience had done little dissuade us of our fly-by-night feelings for the International Arena League, but there were some good moments and kind people.
And maybe such moments and people will right the ship of the fledging league and its global ambitions.
Or maybe the IAL will eventually go bust like so many other similar ventures, including the ones that had functioning websites.
On our way out, we ran into a few fans donning Slingers-branded t-shirts. Always a sucker for souvenirs from semi-obscure teams, I asked where they got them.
“Online,” was their reply.
Where online? Who knows. But if the Facebook page is to be trusted, the Slingers will be back in action at Heritage Bank Center on May 23, 2026 as they host Reading Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin Skeletons.
And I guess we have to go to a Barrels game now too.
Souvenirs and salsa.
• • •
A couple things I managed to track down after the fact:
I still couldn’t find the first game’s final score, but the second game ended with Cincinnati 47, Utah 35.
Merchandise is available here (but only mentioned on the IAL website/in the game program and not the Slingers actual website).
The game program mentioned that the league has “approximately ten teams.” As of this writing, there are technically nine, but the currently posted IAL schedule isn’t entirely up to date and still shows the now defunct Zurich, Switzerland franchise.
• • •
For a history of Cincinnati’s various indoor/arena football teams, check out this story.
Since 2007, the content of this website (and its former life as Queen City Discovery) has been a huge labor of love.
If you’ve enjoyed stories like The Ghost Ship, abandoned amusement parks, the Cincinnati Subway, Fading Ads, or others over the years—might you consider showing some support for future projects?
