Albany is interested in getting a MISL team

[Fran]

Would Albany be a good fit.


Indoor soccer chief in Albany for talks

Staff reports
First published: Sunday, November 25, 2007

The comissioner of the Major Indoor Soccer League will be in Albany on Monday to dicuss bringing a franchise to the area.

Commissioner Steve Ryan and Jim Coyne, executive vice president of Washington Avenue Armory, will be at a news conference at noon Monday to discuss the process and interest of both the Armory and the MISL in placing an expansion team.

Talks between both parties are in the early stages, Coyne said, and approval of the Armory as a MISL facility is expected to be a first step.

The MISL has 10 teams, including such major cities as Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Baltimore. The league's regular-season schedule runs from October to April.

[Rojodi]

I doubt that Albany will be able to join, for several reasons. One, the Armory is relatively too small, it holds maybe 3,000 for CBA Albany Patroons games. Secondly, the only person in the area with the amount of coin to run the franchise owns the River Rats and AF2 Conquest, Dr. Robb, and I don't think he or his sons will own a team not in the Times Union Center.

I would LOVE to see a team in the area, having grown up in a nearby city, having seen the ASLII New York Eagles, the NPSL New York Kick, the APSL/ASLIII Albany Capitals, the USL Albany Alleycats - a team that had home games in my hometown Schenectady - play and fold.

[Pounder]

http://www.compuwarehockey.com/aboutus.html

If the MISL let this in, they'll likely take almost anything. They've been in a sort of downsizing mode for years now.

[Fran]

Here's an article from the Albany paper, they are probably going have a hard time finding enough people to invest with franchise fees being 750,000.


MISL is eyeing Armory
But team investors would need at least $750,000

By TIM WILKIN, Staff writer
First published: Tuesday, November 27, 2007

ALBANY -- If you want to see the Major Indoor Soccer League come to Washington Avenue Armory, give Jim Coyne a call. He wants your money.

Coyne, the Armory's executive vice president, and MISL commissioner Steve Ryan held a news conference Monday to talk about the possibility of the MISL coming here.

Both men say they think it would work in Albany though pro soccer has failed several times before in the Capital Region.

To get a franchise, Coyne needs investors with deep pockets. Ryan said the expansion fee is $750,000.

Coyne -- who says he won't be an investor -- admits the $750,000 is an ambitious number. He said Albany Patroons owner Ben Fernandez has expressed an interest. But he would need partners.

"That could be a tough number to get if we only get two or three people," Coyne said. "If we can get between 10 and 15 people to invest, it might become more reasonable."

"I think the odds of a team coming here are better than 50-50," Ryan said. "I am optimistic it can work here."

There are nine teams competing in the MISL this season, the closest being Newark, N.J. The other franchises are in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Orlando, Fla., Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Stockton, Calif. and Monterrey, Mexico.

Historically, pro soccer has had a bad run in the Capital Region. Remember the Albany Alleycats? They lasted four years in the United Soccer League. The Albany Capitals of the American Soccer League went from 1989-90.

The area's only indoor pro soccer team was the New York Kick of the American Indoor Soccer Association. They were here for one season, 1990-91, and played in Knickerbocker Arena (now Times Union Center) and Glens Falls Civic Center.

That team drew about 1,800 a game. Afrim Nezaj was the Kick's director of operations and, for a time, coach.

Nezaj runs Afrim's Sports Indoor Soccer Facilities in Colonie and Latham and coaches the New York Shockers, a semi-pro indoor team. Being a soccer fan, he would like to see the MISL succeed if it comes here. But he has his doubts.

Nezaj said he has over 5,000 people come into his buildings every week to play soccer. He said there is no doubt soccer is popular here, but he wonders if the same people who like to play it would go to the Armory to watch it.

"I am skeptical," he said. "It would take a lot of work, and there would have to be major changes in the soccer community I have not seen yet. I am going to stand back and watch. I am just skeptical because I have tried it and it didn't work."

[hawk174md]

How about the Union Times Center in Albany (51 South Pearl Street)?