Albany Empire (AFL)

Albany Empire
Current season
Established 2018
Play in Times Union Center
in Albany, New York
TheAlbanyEmpire.com
HelmetLogo
League/conference affiliations
Arena Football League (2018–)
Team colors Fiery reddish orange, dark navy blue, grey
              
Personnel
Owner(s) Main owners:
George Randolph Hearst III
Dan Nolan
Ed Swyer
Partner owners (with Philadelphia Soul):
Ron Jaworski
Craig Spencer
Pete Ciarrocchi
Cosmo DeNicola
Martin E. Judge
Dick Vermeil
Marques Colston
Jahri Evans
Nicholas Giuffre
Philip Jaurigue
Stewart Anmuth
Gil Peter
Hal Brunson
President John Adams
Head coach Rob Keefe
Team history
  • Albany Empire (2018–)
Championships
League championships (0)
Conference championships (0)
Division championships (0)
Playoff appearances (1)
Home arena(s)

The Albany Empire is a professional arena football team based in Albany, New York, that began play in the Arena Football League (AFL) in 2018. Home games are played at Times Union Center.

The Empire is Albany's third arena football team and second AFL team; they succeed the original Albany Firebirds who began AFL play in 1990 and enjoyed great success (most notably winning ArenaBowl XIII) before moving to Indianapolis following the 2000 season, and later the Albany Conquest who played in the af2 from 2002 until that league folded after the 2009 season (and were known as the Firebirds for that last season).

History

After the American Hockey League's Albany Devils relocated to Binghamton, the Times Union Center was left without a full-time tenant. On March 14, 2017, Center general manager Bob Belber confirmed that it was in early discussions to bring an AFL team back to Albany.[1]

On October 24, the new Albany team was officially announced as a member of the AFL for the 2018 season. The local ownership group (led by George Randolph Hearst III) has partnered with that of their AFL leaguemates the Philadelphia Soul (which includes Ron Jaworski, Dick Vermeil, Marques Colston and Jahri Evans among others) to run both teams' business operations while keeping their football operations separate.[2] (This marks the second time that the AFL has announced two teams with common ownership and management but separate football operations, as the Washington Valor and Baltimore Brigade are both owned and operated by D.C.-area businessman Ted Leonsis but are competitors on the field and separately coached.) On November 7, Rob Keefe was named the Albany team's head coach.[3] On November 9, the Albany team announced that the four team name finalists were the Empire, Fire, Machine and Phoenix.[4] Voting ended on November 15 and the winning name was announced on January 23, 2018, as the Albany Empire.

The team played its first game on April 14, 2018, losing at home to the Philadelphia Soul 56-35 before a sellout crowd of 13,648.[5]

Players

Current roster

Albany Empire roster
Quarterbacks

Fullbacks

Wide receivers

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers
  • 13 Wesley Mauia
  •  8 Terence Moore

Defensive backs

Kickers

  • 19 Kenny Spencer
 Injured reserve

Other league exempt

  • Currently vacant

League suspension

Refused to report

  • Currently vacant

Inactive reserve

  • Currently vacant

Recallable reassignment

  • Currently vacant

Rookies in italics
Roster updated July 19, 2018
23 Active, 9 Inactive

→ More rosters

Individual awards

Notable coaches

Head coaches

Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
W L Win% W L
Rob Keefe 2018–present 8 4 .667 1 1

Staff

Albany Empire staff
Front Office
  • Albany Ownership Group – George Randolph Hearst III
  • Albany Ownership Group – Daniel Nolan
  • Albany Ownership Group – Ed Swyer
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Craig A. Spencer
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Ron Jaworski
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Pete Ciarrocchi
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Cosmo DeNicola
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Martin E. Judge
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Marques Colston
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Dick Vermeil
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Nicholas Giuffre
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Jahri Evans
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Philip Jaurigue
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Stewart Anmuth
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Gil Peter
  • Philadelphia Ownership Group – Hal Brunson
  • President – John Adams
  • Director of Operations – Chris Thompson
   Coaches
  • Head coach – Rob Keefe
  • Assistant head coach – Les Moss
  • Offensive coordinator – Chris Thompson[6]

References

  1. ↑ Dougherty, Pete (March 14, 2017). "Times Union Center eyeing return of Arena Football, indoor lacrosse". Times Union. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  2. ↑ Skodnick, Leif (October 24, 2017). "It's Official: Arena Football League returning to Times Union Center". Times Union. Retrieved October 24, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Albany AFL Names Rob Keefe as Head Coach". arenafan.com. November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  4. ↑ Skodnick, Leif (November 9, 2017). "Fans can vote for Albany AFL team name". timesunion.com. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ Singelais, Mark (April 15, 2018). "Empire open with defeat". timesunion.com. Retrieved April 15, 2018.
  6. ↑ "ALBANY AFL NAMES CHRIS THOMPSON DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS". Albany AFL team. November 14, 2017.
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