The Albany Firebirds were a professional

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

team of the AF2 based in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

. Albany was granted an expansion team in 2002 and began play as the Albany Conquest. The Firebirds played their home games at the

Times Union Center The MVP Arena (originally Knickerbocker Arena, and then the Pepsi Arena and Times Union Center) is an indoor arena located in Albany, New York. It is configurable and can accommodate from 6,000 to 17,500 people, with a maximum seating capacit ...

. They are the second arena football team for Albany, as the city was granted an expansion team, the Albany Firebirds, in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

in 1990. The team moved to

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mar ...

in 2000 and played as the

Indiana Firebirds The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League. The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana ...

through 2004 before disbanding. Then the city of Albany ventured into the world of arena football again, this time joining the AF2 in 2002, creating a new franchise by the name the Albany Conquest. The team enjoyed little success and in 2009 for marketing purposes changed their name back to the Albany Firebirds before disbanding in 2010. They cited low attendance and poor fan support. Due to financial difficulties and low support, the Conquest were expected to fold following the 2008 season when a new investor could not be found. The franchise had notified the league in late September that it would not return, but following a meeting with the ''

Albany Times Union The ''Times Union'' is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Sa ...

'' and the operator of the Times Union Center, an agreement was reached that would allow the team to return for

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

. The team also acquired the rights to the old Firebirds name and logo in a rebranding effort to raise interest in the team, hoping to bring back fans from the days of the original Firebirds team. On April 28, 2009, it was announced that the Albany Firebirds had offered former NFL quarterback Michael Vick a contract. Under the terms of this contract, Vick would be required to donate $100,000 to a local animal shelter. The following day, the team retracted the announcement, claiming that it had been a publicity stunt created by the team's marketing department. The team's owner,

Walter Robb Walter Robb is an American businessman. He has been the Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market with John Mackey since 2010 and he joined the Whole Foods Market Board of Directors at that time as well. Early life Robb was born and raised on the East Coast ...

, who knew nothing of the stunt, was cited as saying, "I’m a dog lover and I don’t want anything to do with (Vick)."

Original team name

In a September 2016 article in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'', it was discovered that the Conquest/Firebirds almost became known as the Albany WarBirds. In 2001, 20-year-old college students Jason Klein and Casey White of branding firm Brandiose were chosen to come up with a new catchy name for a new franchise for Albany. The name that was chosen was the "WarBirds" and logos, helmet and uniform designs were created. They filed for a trademark on August 15 and set September 12 as the day to unveil the name, logo and uniforms. Then, the

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occurred in

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and in

Shanksville, Pennsylvania Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census. It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located southeast of Pittsburgh and west of Philade ...

. It was then determined that all parties involved agreed that the concept, which Klein described as a “weaponized airplane,” would have to go. The “Empire” was the frontrunner for the new team name but they ran into a trademark issue, so they eventually settled on “Conquest”. However, in 2018, the new AFL franchise became known as the Albany Empire with no trademark issues.

Final roster

Season-by-season

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , Albany Conquest , - , 2002 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st AC Northeast , , Won AC Round 1 (

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

31–26)
Lost AC Semifinal ( Cape Fear 46–30) , - , 2003 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st AC Northeast , , Lost AC Semifinal ( Macon 59–47) , - , 2004 , , 6 , , 10 , , 0 , , 3rd AC Northeast , , – , - , 2005 , , 4 , , 12 , , 0 , , 5th AC East, , – , - , 2006 , , 5 , , 11 , , 0 , , 6th AC East , , – , - , 2007 , , 6 , , 10 , , 0 , , 4th AC East , , – , - , 2008 , , 5 , , 11 , , 0 , , 3rd AC East , , – , - , colspan="6" align="center" , Albany Firebirds , - , 2009 , , 7 , , 9 , , 0 , , 2nd AC East , , Lost AC 1st Round ( Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 78–21) , - !Totals , , 60 , , 72 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including playoffs)

References

External links

Official website

ArenaFan Online page
{{Upstate New York Sports Defunct af2 teams Sports in Albany, New York American football teams in New York (state) Defunct American football teams in New York (state) American football teams established in 2002 American football teams disestablished in 2009 2002 establishments in New York (state) 2009 disestablishments in New York (state)