The Sabres had wished to place the team in South Florida, but the AHL balked because a team there would have effectively been isolated from the rest of the league; their nearest rivals would have been the Tidewater Wings, over 500 miles away.

Although they were in existence for only three years, the Swords were immensely popular with Cincinnati fans.

They qualified for the playoffs in their first season; they swept the Hershey Bears and lost 4-2 to the Baltimore Clippers in the second round.

After a sweep over the Richmond Robins and a 4-2 series win over the Virginia Wings in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, the Cincinnati Swords defeated the defending league champions, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs to win the Calder Cup - one of the youngest AHL teams to take the title.

The third season was the final one for the Swords; in the playoffs, they lost to the eventual Calder Cup champions, the Hershey Bears, 4-1.