By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Welcome to Arena Football, Kentucky Barrels’ fans.
In a Wednesday decision this week to make up for the failure of the Oregon Lightning to finish out their schedule and return their home-and-home game with the Kentucky Barrels last Saturday, Arena Football One has been forced to shake up the rest of the season’s schedule.
The league is calling them “a series of strategic schedule updates” after the Oregon team was bounced to, as they say, “reinforce the league’s commitment to competitive balance, operational excellence, and delivering a complete, high-quality experience for players, teams, partners, and fans.”
Not necessarily for you, Barrels’ fans. No more home games for you. Nor you, Barrels’ players and coaches as you prepared this week for a return game against league-leading Albany June 27. That game has been cancelled.
But to replace it, the Barrels — after losing the chance for a home game to a West Coast team no longer in the league — were just assigned a new opponent to give them a game this weekend and avoid a two-week midseason bye.
The problem: the game against the Washington Wolfpack will be in Renton, Wash., this Saturday with the Barrels forced to fly into Seattle, where the city is hosting the biggest game of the World Cup this weekend with the USA team playing Australia.
“We got the bad end of it,” Barrels’ head coach and GM Cedric Walker says, “that’s just how things are,” with his team having to replace Oregon on the Washington schedule “and that’s after we had to play at Oceanside (Calif.) already.”
So that’s three trips to the West Coast in barely more than a month, something no NFL, MLB, NBA or Big Ten team would ever be asked to do. That’s a total right around 15,000 miles from Highland Heights.
So how did this happen? “That’s a good question,” Walker says, “a great question. We gotta’ do what they ask us.” In the end, the Barrels took one for the league.
But getting 22 players, four coaches and a trainer into Seattle at the last minute on maybe the busiest travel weekend of the World Cup travel season is not all they’re asking of the Barrels. Redeye, anyone? “No wonder we were having trouble getting flights,” Walker says.
And this will not be the normal day-and-a-half-before-the-game redeye. They’re going to practice here Friday and then head to the airport for the late flight to Seattle and then be ready to play a Washington team “that’s won three of its last four games,” Walker says, the next night. “We’ll probably be a little rusty to start.”
But the travel issues for the Barrels don’t end there. Their next game is also on the road — at Minnesota. In Duluth. If that sounds familiar, the Barrels have already been there this season. For a 69-32 loss.
And while most football people have heard about home-and-home scheduling, where you give your opponent a home game and get one back, the concept of an away-and-away series – in the same season – is something as novel as heading to the West Coast three times in five weeks.
“Duluth isn’t a bad city,” Walker says, making the best of a second trip to the far north outpost where even folks from Minneapolis don’t go to twice in the same season except maybe for ice fishing.
“It does balance the schedule,” Walker says. “Everybody has the same number of home and away games now.” Thanks to the Barrels, they do.
One game the Barrels had to give up was a return home game next weekend against the first-place defending champion Albany Firebirds after losing earlier there this season.
Doing the math here, other than the host of frequent flier miles for owner Corey Cunningham, it’s hard to see the benefit for the Barrels.
And Barrels’ fans, who will next see their team in the first playoff home game, if there is one. That’s eight weeks away from the team’s Truist Arena home with the final game on the road at the Beaumont (Tex.) Renegades.
But with Albany (8-1) and Nashville (7-1), the two teams just ahead of the 7-2 Barrels playing one another next weekend, and if the 7-2 Barrels can win out despite their league-imposed travel woes, they still have a shot at finishing in the top two which would get them both a first-round playoff bye and a guaranteed home game.
“I’m not thinking about that,” Walker says, “although we’d like a home playoff game.” And finishing third or fourth would get them that. Which is something that return game at fourth-place Minnesota (5-3) could decide.
So what do you have to do to turn around that big loss there, Walker is asked. “Show up,” he says. “Don’t beat ourselves.”
Something his team can’t do over the travel bounces that haven’t gone the Barrels’ way.
‘I just don’t get all caught up in that,” says Walker, who has been through the travel wars as a player, once getting into a game in Albany, coming from the West Coast after a flight got them stuck in Chicago that didn’t have them arriving until 3:30 the afternoon of the game.
“Having too much time can be good for you,” Walker says, “having too much time can be bad for you.”
One of those won’t be the Barrels’ problem the rest of the way although they will get a bye week next weekend with the cancellation of the Albany home game.
Here are the league’s Barrel schedule changes:
Week 11: The Kentucky Barrels will travel to Washington to face the Wolfpack on Saturday, June 20 at 9:00 PM EST.
Week 12: The scheduled matchup between the Albany Firebirds and Kentucky Barrels HAS BEEN CANCELED, resulting in a bye week for both organizations.
Fans who purchased tickets to the June 27 game will receive full refunds at point of purchase. If you purchased through Ticketmaster or at the Truist Arena Box Office with a Credit Card. No action is required to obtain a refund. It will be processed to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, which is usually completed within 30 days. This would include any Season Ticket Holders. Season Ticket Holders will be refunded for this game only.
If you purchased at the Truist Arena Box Office with CASH: Please bring your tickets to the Truist Arena Box Office Monday through Friday between 10am and 5pm to get your refund. The Truist Arena Box Office CANNOT refund tickets purchased through Ticketmaster or any secondary ticket market reseller. Please call the box office with any questions, 859-442-2651.
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X @dweber3440.