During the 2025 Arena Football One season, Corey Cunningham was involved in the operations of the Corpus Christi Tritons, a team that had seen much of its roster quit midseason after disputes with ownership over finances. [8] After the regular season ended, Cunningham left the Tritons and contacted commissioner Jeff Fisher inquiring about a franchise for the northern Kentucky area; Cunningham is a Northern Kentucky University alumnus. [8] In a later statement, Nashville Kats CEO Bobby DeVoursney indicated that this team would serve as a replacement for the Tritons, a move the Tritons protested. [9]
Northern Kentucky is in the Cincinnati metropolitan area; Cincinnati, Ohio had previously been identified as a host city in AF1's predecessor, the 2024 Arena Football League, but all of Cincinnati's arenas had rejected that league's advances and the team never played. [10] [11]
On August 18, 2025, just days after the announcement of the addition of the Beaumont Renegades to the league, they officially welcomed the Kentucky Barrels as the newest expansion team, with Cunningham as its owner. They also announced that the team's inaugural head coach and general manager would be former Billings Outlaws head coach and ArenaBowl champion Cedric Walker. [12] The Barrels are the latest team to play in the Greater Cincinnati area. The area has a brief history with arena football with former Arena Football League and af2 teams such as the Cincinnati Rockers (1992–1993), Cincinnati Swarm (2003) and Cincinnati Jungle Kats (2007). They are the latest team to play in Highland Heights, Kentucky, since the Northern Kentucky Nightmare (American Indoor Football in 2016).
