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Head Coach Rob Keefe leads the crowd with a small chant as he speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessHead Coach Rob Keefe leads the crowd with a small chant as he speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union
... more
Former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski shows his NFC Championship ring before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessFormer NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski shows his NFC Championship ring before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union
... more
Former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessFormer NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23,
... more
Former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessFormer NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski speaks during a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23,
... more
Season ticket holders and management mingle during a VIP cocktail hour before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessSeason ticket holders and management mingle during a VIP cocktail hour before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union
... more
Former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, second from left, mingles during a VIP cocktail hour before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessFormer NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, second from left, mingles during a VIP cocktail hour before a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team
... more
Season ticket holders Dave Gibson of East Greenbush, left, and Jonathan Andreadakis of Saratoga Springs hold up their new t-shirts they bought after a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany Empire" as the name of the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessSeason ticket holders Dave Gibson of East Greenbush, left, and Jonathan Andreadakis of Saratoga Springs hold up their new t-shirts they bought after a news conference at the Palace Theater to reveal "Albany
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Ed Nolan, one of the team owners, stands on stage as the name "Albany Empire" and logo is revealed at a news conference at the Palace Theater for the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 in Albany, N.Y. (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
lessEd Nolan, one of the team owners, stands on stage as the name "Albany Empire" and logo is revealed at a news conference at the Palace Theater for the Arena Football League team based at Times Union Center on
... more
Albany
At times, it seemed like a good old-fashioned revival meeting at the downtown Palace Theatre Tuesday night.
One speaker after the next appeared on stage in the darkened facility to get the modest crowd of approximately 350 in the mood for some Arena Football. And that did not take much doing.
Albany's AFL team, which begins play in April, has been waiting for a team name. Tuesday night it got one as the organization held a little bash at the Palace to unveil the new tag.
And the winner is....
The Albany Empire.
That is the moniker the 21 players will answer to once the season starts. That will be on Saturday, April 14 when the Empire play the defending AFL champion Philadelphia Soul at Times Union Center. More on the schedule will come later. Tuesday was a night to digest the new name and logo and team colors. The Empire logo is of a battle mask and shield and a football; the colors are a fiery reddish orange, dark navy blue and gray accents.
Everyone who was at the Palace — it was open to season-ticket holders (there are approximately 1,200 of those) — applauded the name when the logo was shown for the first time on the big screen on stage.
Empire was one of four choices fans had to choose from in a contest held on timesunion.com. More than 11,500 unique votes were submitted and Empire won easily, with 44 percent of the total votes. The other nicknames in the running were Phoenix (21 percent of the vote), Fire (20 percent) and Machine (15 percent).
After the name was announced, Dan Nolan and Ed Swyer, who are part of the Albany-based ownership group along with George R. Hearst III, the publisher and CEO of the Times Union, got on stage to speak. So did Ron Jaworski, the former NFL quarterback who is also part of the ownership group (he also has ties with the Philadelphia Soul).
Coach Rob Keefe also made an appearance and revved up the crowd with chants of "Go Empire!" He talked of winning and the commitment the team would have not only on the field, but to the community as well.
When the 45-minute show was over, everyone seemed in agreement that Empire was the way to go.
"Absolutely," Hearst said when asked if that was his choice. "It was clear that the people wanted to see Empire. It feels good. The Machine was kind of cool, but I ran into the mayor (Kathy Sheehan) and she said don't call the team the Machine!"
The Albany Machine was a political term referring to Democratic political control in Albany County dating back to the 1920s.
Jaworski would not say which name he preferred, saying he "stayed out of it."
He was more excited, he said, about the Empire's open tryout Saturday at Sportsplex in Halfmoon. Jaworski, who said he will be at the tryout, said there are approximately 300 wannabe Empires who will show the Albany coaching staff what they've got.
"I'm the football guy," Jaworski said. "We have smart guys on the business end. I can't wait for Saturday."
The new fans of the new team name filed out with smiles on their faces. Some had already gotten their hands on Empire shirts, which were available in the Palace lobby. Everyone seemed to be happy with the Empire.
"It's perfect. It fits," Sandy Tatem of Albany said as she left the Palace with her husband Bill. "It's going to be exciting!"
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
http://www.timesunion.com/sports/article/Arena-welcomes-Empire-12520056.php
