Could the Albany Empire or even the Albany Firebirds once again be playing in the Times Union Center? Well, maybe. We should know more today after a Thursday morning press conference.

Multiple sources are reporting that it will be announced today that the National Arena League will place an expansion franchise in Albany. This announcement comes just after the one the year anniversary of the Albany Empire’s Arena Football League championship.

The question is, will Capital Region support another arena football team or have fans been burned too many times by leagues and expansion teams that have come and gone from the Times Union Arena?

The Times Union reported last week that the owners of the Orlando Predators of the National Arena League have purchased another team and have also signed a three-year lease with the Times Union Center.

So all signs point to the return of arena football to the Empire State. I guess we'll find out more details Thursday morning at the press conference.

It seems to me that football fans are still pumped up and want to support another team in Albany. The Albany Empire had some of the highest attendance numbers in the league and fans were shocked when they closed up shop after the league declared bankruptcy.

We'll update this story after the news conference Thursday, August 13th.

UPDATE

It's confirmed. Albany's getting an expansion team owned by the Orlando Predators owners in the NAL. When asked during the press conference what the team nickname would be they said they were leaning toward "Firebirds", but nothing had been decided. The owners are looking into options to acquire the "Empire" and "Firebirds" names.

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