Everyone wants into Albany, GA.

[50 Yard Fan]

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

City reviews football proposals

J.D. Sumner
Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 06, 2009


ALBANY - City staff have begun reading through three new proposals for indoor football in Albany in hopes of having a team in Albany for the 2010 season, city officials say.

The four proposals, which include the existing, city-approved contract with the Arena Entertainment LLC, the parent company of the South Georgia Wildcats, include offers from three different indoor and arena football leagues, city of Albany Procurement Director Stephen Collier said.

Collier, who is overseeing the process, said that D.J. Daniels of Guy Buck Sports had entered a proposal for play in the newly formed Arena Football League 1; local businessman Peter Studl had presented a proposal on behalf of the American Indoor Football Association, and Andre Wright, who owns a team in North Carolina, had submitted a proposal on behalf of the Southern Indoor Football League.

The city had set a deadline last week to have proposals in, Assistant City Manager Wes Smith said. The three new proposals and the previous proposal by Arena Entertainment will be the ones considered.

Collier couldn't speak to a possible timetable, but said that several leagues had made it clear that time is an issue.

"We don't have a specific date set aside to have a decision made, but we understand that some kind of decision has to be made sooner rather than later," Collier said. "So we will begin going through the proposals and see what is being offered."

The future of arena football has been in doubt since officials with Arena Entertainment failed to meet a Sept. 1 deadline to sign a contract with the city that had taken months of negotiations to hammer out.

Last week, officials announced the formation of a new "super-league" that would combine elements of the old AFL and af2 leagues into the Arena Football 1 league. The South Georgia Wildcats were not included in the initial list of AF1 teams, but Commissioner Jerry Kurz has said that if Arena can get a lease agreement from the city by Oct. 9, the Albany franchise would be considered by the new league.