Examine individual changes

'{{Infobox indoor American football team | name = Albany Empire | current = 2018 Albany Empire season | logo = Albany Empire.png | helmet = Albany Empire Helmet Logo 2018.png | founded = 2018 | city = [[Times Union Center]]<br>in [[Albany, New York]] | misc = [http://www.thealbanyempire.com TheAlbanyEmpire.com] | uniform = | colors = Fiery reddish orange, dark navy blue, grey<br>{{colorbox|#FF4500}} {{colorbox|#202946}} {{colorbox|#B1B4B0}} | coach = [[Rob Keefe]] | owner = '''Main owners:'''<br>[[George Randolph Hearst III]]<br>Dan Nolan<br>Ed Swyer<br>'''Partner owners (with [[Philadelphia Soul]]):'''<br>[[Ron Jaworski]]<br>Craig Spencer<br>Pete Ciarrocchi<br>Cosmo DeNicola<br>Martin E. Judge<br>[[Dick Vermeil]]<br>[[Marques Colston]]<br>[[Jahri Evans]]<br>Nicholas Giuffre<br>Philip Jaurigue<br>Stewart Anmuth<br>Gil Peter<br>Hal Brunson | chairman = | president = John Adams | mascot = | pastnames = | nicknames = | league = '''[[Arena Football League]] ({{AFL Year|2018}}–)''' | team_history = *'''Albany Empire''' (2018–) | no_league_champs = 0 | no_conf_champs = 0 | no_div_champs = 0 | league_champs = | conf_champs = | div_champs = | playoff_appearances = * {{AFL Year|2018}} | no_playoff_appearances = 1 | arena_years = * [[Times Union Center]] (2018–) }} 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 Arena Football League season|1990]] and enjoyed great success (most notably winning [[ArenaBowl XIII]]) before moving to [[Indianapolis]] following the [[2000 Arena Football League season|2000 season]], and later the [[Albany Firebirds (af2)|Albany Conquest]] who played in the [[af2]] from [[2002 af2 season|2002]] until that league folded after the [[2009 af2 season|2009 season]] (and were known as the Firebirds for that last season). ==History== After the [[American Hockey League]]'s [[Albany Devils]] [[Binghamton Devils|relocated]] to [[Binghamton, New York|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.<ref name="afltalks">{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Times-Union-Center-eyeing-return-of-Arena-10999070.php |title=Times Union Center eyeing return of Arena Football, indoor lacrosse |last=Dougherty |first=Pete |date=March 14, 2017 |work=[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]] |access-date=October 24, 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref name="albanyaflannounced">{{Cite news |url=http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/It-s-Official-Arena-Football-League-returning-to-12301704.php |title=It's Official: Arena Football League returning to Times Union Center |last=Skodnick |first=Leif |date=October 24, 2017 |work=[[Times Union (Albany)|Times Union]] |access-date=October 24, 2017}}</ref> (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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.arenafan.com/news/?page=pressrel&article=13717 | title=Albany AFL Names Rob Keefe as Head Coach | publisher=arenafan.com | date=November 7, 2017 | accessdate=November 7, 2017}}</ref> On November 9, the Albany team announced that the four team name finalists were the Empire, Fire, Machine and Phoenix.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111200821/http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Fans-can-vote-for-Arena-team-name-12345379.php | title=Fans can vote for Albany AFL team name | publisher=timesunion.com | date=November 9, 2017 | accessdate=November 11, 2017 | author=Skodnick, Leif}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Empire-open-with-defeat-12835240.php | title=Empire open with defeat | publisher=timesunion.com | date=April 15, 2018 | accessdate=April 15, 2018 | author=Singelais, Mark}}</ref> ==Players== ===Current roster=== {{Albany Empire roster}} ===Individual awards=== {{col-begin}} {{col-3}} {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |- | colspan="4" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| '''Offensive Lineman of the Year |- ! style="width:50px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Season ! style="width:150px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Player ! style="width:100px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Position |- |{{AFL Year|2018}}||[[Hayworth Hicks]]||OL |} {{col-3}} {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |- | colspan="4" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| '''Defensive Lineman of the Year |- ! style="width:50px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Season ! style="width:150px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Player ! style="width:100px; {{NFLAltPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire}};"| Position |- |{{AFL Year|2018}}||[[Joe Sykes]]||DL |} {{col-3}} {{col-3}} {{col-end}} ==Notable coaches== ===Head coaches=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! rowspan="2" style="width:140px;"|Name ! rowspan="2" | Term ! colspan="3" | Regular season ! colspan="2" | Playoffs ! rowspan="2" | Awards |- ! W ! L ! Win% ! W ! L |- |- | style="text-align:center;"|[[Rob Keefe]] | style="text-align:center;"|{{AFL Year|2018}}–present | style="text-align:center;"|8 | style="text-align:center;"|4 | style="text-align:center;"|{{winperc|8|4}} | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|0 | style="text-align:center;"| |} ===Staff=== {| class="toccolours" style="text-align: left;" |- ! colspan=7 style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Albany Empire|border=2}}; text-align:center;" | Albany Empire staff |- |colspan=7 align="right" | |- |valign="top"| | style="font-size: 95%;" valign="top" | '''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 |width="35"|&nbsp; |valign="top"| | style="font-size: 95%;" valign="top" | '''Coaches''' *Head coach – [[Rob Keefe]] *Assistant head coach – [[Les Moss (American football)|Les Moss]] *Offensive coordinator – Chris Thompson<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.albanyafl.com/news/story/?id=13869 |title=ALBANY AFL NAMES CHRIS THOMPSON DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS |publisher=Albany AFL team |date=November 14, 2017}}</ref> </div> |} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.thealbanyempire.com Official website] {{Albany AFL team}} {{Arena Football League}} {{New York Sports}} [[Category:Albany Empire| ]] [[Category:Arena Football League teams]] [[Category:American football teams in New York (state)]] [[Category:Sports in Albany, New York]] [[Category:2017 establishments in New York (state)]] [[Category:American football teams established in 2017]]'