Syracuse Salty Dogs

Despite high attendance in the A-League over both years of play and reasonable success on the field, the team faltered financially. The club's budget had been strained as a result of using P&C Stadium (now known as NBT Bank Stadium), which is run by the SkyChiefs. During their first season, the team was forced to play several home games at the Liverpool Athletic Complex at Liverpool High School, which was primarily a football field in Liverpool, NY[1] (also shared by the CNY Express, an amateur American football team). During its second season, the team's playoff home games were in Cortland, NY for similar reasons.

During the 2004 season, there were proposals to build a downtown soccer stadium near Armory Square. After the team's folding, Matt Driscoll, Syracuse's mayor, stated that realization of such a stadium is only feasible if a team returns. The Syracuse Pro Sports group filed for bankruptcy and folded the team in October 2004.[2]

The Syracuse-based Monolith Athletic Club had been working to return professional soccer to Syracuse. After over a year of negotiations, the group has cleared two out of the four hurdles necessary to bring USL soccer back to Syracuse. The second hurdle, seen as the pivotal one, involving the Chiefs baseball team, was cleared in April 2006. The final two steps involved a settlement on territorial rights with the Rochester Raging Rhinos and expansion approval from the USL.

In September 2007, Matt Michael of the Syracuse Post-Standard reported that Monolith Athletic Club owner, Vito William Lucchetti, was no longer involved with bringing pro soccer to Syracuse, citing his intent to focus on his other business dealings.

Professional soccer did return to Syracuse in 2011 when the expansion Syracuse Silver Knights began play in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Salty Dogs roster for their final 2004 season.[3][4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Byron Foss 28 GK Paul Nagy 2 DF Timothy O'Neill 3 DF Scott Schweitzer 4 DF Kupono Low 5 MF Ryan Mack 6 DF Jason Perry 7 MF Lars Lyssand 8 MF Tommy Tanner 9 MF Matthew Barnes-Homer 10 FW Cjaba Kerekes 11 FW Anthony Maher 12 DF Mike Kirmse 12 DF David Lara 13 DF

No. Position Player 14 MF Temoc Suarez 15 MF Frank Sanfilippo 16 FW Machel Millwood 16 Template:Country data MF Nuno Almeida 17 DF Christian Neagu 17 FW Mauro Carabajal 18 MF Ian Woan 19 MF Christopher Dore 20 Template:Country data MF Paul Buckley 22 FW Jonny Steele 24 Template:Country data DF Chris Fehrle 25 DF Benito Kemble 25 FW Attila Vendegh 26 MF Rene Rivas