| 2018 Albany Empire season | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Main owners: George Randolph Hearst III Dan Nolan Ed Swyer Partner owners (with Philadelphia Soul): Ron Jaworski Craig Spencer Pete Ciarrocchi Cosmo DeNicola Martin E. Judge Dick Vermeil Marques Colston Jahri Evans Nicholas Giuffre Philip Jaurigue Stewart Anmuth Gil Peter Hal Brunson |
| Head coach | Rob Keefe |
| Home field | Times Union Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 8–4 |
| League place | 1st |
| Playoff finish | Eliminated in semifinals |
The 2018 Albany Empire season was the first season for the franchise in the Arena Football League. The Empire play home games at the Times Union Center.
| 2018 Arena Football League standings | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Overall | Points | Records | ||||||||
| W | L | PCT | PF | PA | Home | Away | GB | STK | |||
| (#)-Albany Empire | 8 | 4 | .667 | 646 | 564 | 4–3 | 4–1 | — | W3 | ||
| Baltimore Brigade | 7 | 5 | .583 | 605 | 562 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 1 | L3 | ||
| Philadelphia Soul | 7 | 5 | .583 | 612 | 577 | 3-2 | 4-3 | 1 | L1 | ||
| Washington Valor | 2 | 10 | .167 | 482 | 642 | 1–5 | 1–5 | 6 | W1 | ||
(#) - clinched regular season title
Quarterbacks
Fullbacks Wide receivers
| Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
| Linebackers Defensive backs
Kickers | Injured reserve
Other league exempt
League suspension
Refused to report
Inactive reserve
Recallable reassignment
rookies in italics → More rosters | |||
Front office
| Coaches | |||||
The 2018 regular season schedule was released on February 13, 2018. [2]
| Week | Day | Date | Kickoff | Opponent | Results | Location | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score | Record | ||||||||
| 1 | Saturday | April 14 | 7:00 PM EDT | Philadelphia Soul | L 35–56 | 0–1 | Times Union Center | 13,648 | |
| 2 | Bye | ||||||||
| 3 | Saturday | April 28 | 3:00 PM EDT | at Baltimore Brigade | L 49–52 | 0–2 | Royal Farms Arena | 4,796 | |
| 4 | Saturday | May 5 | 7:30 PM EDT | Washington Valor | W 47–23 | 1–2 | Times Union Center | 10,065 | |
| 5 | Friday | May 11 | 7:00 PM EDT | at Washington Valor | W 53–42 | 2–2 | Capital One Arena | 9,037 | |
| 6 | Saturday | May 19 | 6:00 PM EDT | at Philadelphia Soul | W 41–36 | 3–2 | Wells Fargo Center | 9,715 | |
| 7 | Saturday | May 26 | 6:00 PM EDT | Washington Valor | W 48–21 | 4–2 | Times Union Center | 7,847 | |
| 8 | Saturday | June 2 | 7:00 PM EDT | Baltimore Brigade | W 61–53 | 5–2 | Times Union Center | 8,057 | |
| 9 | Saturday | June 9 | 7:00 PM EDT | Baltimore Brigade | L 56–59 | 5–3 | Times Union Center | 8,767 | |
| 10 | Saturday | June 16 | 6:00 PM EDT | Philadelphia Soul | L 74–75 | 5–4 | Times Union Center | 9,534 | |
| 11 | Saturday | June 23 | 7:30 PM EDT | at Baltimore Brigade | W 56–49 | 6–4 | Royal Farms Arena | 5,552 | |
| 12 | Friday | June 29 | 7:00 PM EDT | at Washington Valor | W 55–41 | 7–4 | Capital One Arena | 5,044 | |
| 13 | Saturday | July 7 | 7:00 PM EDT | Philadelphia Soul | W 71–57 | 8–4 | Times Union Center | 10,082 | |
| Round | Day | Date | Kickoff | Opponent | Result | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semifinal #1 | Saturday | July 14 | 7:00 PM EDT | at Washington Valor | W 57–56 OT | Capital One Arena |
| Semifinal #2 | Saturday | July 21 | 7:30 PM EDT | Washington Valor | L 40–47 | Times Union Center |
The Arena Football League (AFL) can refer to one of three successive professional indoor American football leagues in the United States. The first of these was founded in 1986, and played its first official games in the 1987 season, running for 22 consecutive seasons until going bankrupt following the 2008 season. The second league, consisting largely of teams from the first AFL and arenafootball2, purchased the first league's assets out of bankruptcy and resumed play in 2010 as a continuation of the first AFL; this second AFL ran for ten further seasons, before again going bankrupt following the 2019 season. A third AFL, which is not directly connected to the previous two iterations of the league but claiming their histories and trademarks, intends to launch in 2024.
The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The franchise was one of the original four that launched the Arena Football League for its inaugural season in 1987. The club was relocated to Tampa Bay area for the 1991 season, being the last of the original teams to either fold or leave its market. After 26 years in the Tampa market, the team ceased operations in December, 2017.
MVP Arena 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 capacity of 15,500 for sporting events.
The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The Well".
Maurice Lamar Leggett is a former American football cornerback. He was previously a member of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in May 2008. He played college football for Valdosta State University. He was the last interim head coach of the National Arena League's Albany Empire in 2023 before the team was removed from the league.
Rob Keefe is a former arena football defensive specialist and coach. Keefe has five championship victories and is the only person in arena football history to win ArenaCup (af2) and ArenaBowl (AFL) titles as both a player and a coach. As of the 2022 season, he is an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator with the Bay Area Panthers in the Indoor Football League.
Thomas Grady is a former American football quarterback who primarily played in the Arena Football League (AFL).
Les Moss is an American football coach and current head coach of the Northern Arizona Wranglers in the Indoor Football League (IFL). He was the head coach of the Jacksonville Sharks of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2010 to 2016 and the assistant head coach of the Albany Empire of the AFL from 2018 to 2019. He was the head coach of the IFL's Iowa Barnstormers for the 2021 season. He is the son of former NFL, AFL, CFL and NCAA head football coach Perry Moss, who is enshrined in the AFL Hall of Fame.
Arthur Hobbs is an American football defensive back for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League (AFL). Hobbs attended Mount Miguel High School in Spring Valley, California. He first enrolled at Grossmont College before transferring to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Hobbs has also been a member of the San Diego Chargers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calgary Stampeders, Orlando Predators and Tampa Bay Storm.
Varmah Sonie is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Northern Iowa.
The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. For the upcoming 2024 season, the league consists of six teams.
The Albany Empire was a professional arena football team based in Albany, New York, that began play in the Arena Football League (AFL) in 2018. Home games were played at MVP Arena located in downtown Albany.
The 2018 Arena Football League season was the 31st season in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL). Prior to the start of the season, the league contracted from five to four teams with one team folding, one going on hiatus, and one added expansion team. The 12-game regular season began on April 13 and ended on July 7.
The 2018 Washington Valor season was the second season for the franchise in the Arena Football League. The Valor play at the Capital One Arena. The team finished fourth at the end of the regular season. After losing the first game of their semifinal series against the Albany Empire, the Valor won the second game and advanced to ArenaBowl XXXI by virtue of aggregate score. The Valor would go on to win the Arena Bowl by defeating the Baltimore Brigade 69–55.
Malachi Fitzgerald Jones is an American gridiron football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football at Appalachian State.
Darius Prince is an American football wide receiver for the Albany Firebirds of the Arena Football League (AFL). Before joining the San Antonio Commanders of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) in 2019, he played on various indoor football teams including the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks from 2016 to 2017 and the Soul from 2017 to 2018. Prince received 1st Team All-NAL team honors with the Steelhawks and the ArenaBowl MVP Award with the Soul during ArenaBowl XXX in 2017.
The 2019 Arena Football League season was the 32nd season in the history of the Arena Football League (AFL) before filing for bankruptcy. Prior to the start of the season, the league expanded from four to six teams with two added expansion teams. The 12-game regular season began on April 26 and ended on July 21.
The 2019 Columbus Destroyers season was the 11th and last season for the franchise in the Arena Football League, their sixth season in Columbus, and their first season following a 10-year hiatus. The Destroyers played their home games at Nationwide Arena and were coached by Matthew Sauk for the 2019 season.
ArenaBowl XXXII was the 32nd and most recent ArenaBowl and the championship game of the 2019 Arena Football League season. The game took place on August 11, 2019, with kickoff at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. It featured the winners of the two semifinals, the No. 1 seed Albany Empire and the No. 3 seed Philadelphia Soul.
The Albany Empire was a professional indoor football team based in Albany, New York. They were members of the National Arena League from 2021 to 2023 and played home games at MVP Arena. They are named after the defunct Arena Football League (AFL) team of the same name that won the last ArenaBowl before the AFL folded.
