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• The city commission will decide the future of the South Georgia Wildcats in Albany at tonight’s meeting.

Paul Dehner

ALBANY — For months, speculation has surfaced that the South Georgia Wildcats could leave Albany. Tonight, we find out if that happens.

Officials from the Wildcats and city will meet to discuss the specifics of a new agenda for the team before the city commission. The commission will then cast a vote whether or not to approve a new draft of the lease and keep the team in town.

Both sides expressed optimism a common ground would be found at the 7 p.m. meeting.

The team must send a letter into the arenafootball2 offices by Friday stating whether or not it will be playing in the league next season.

The Wildcats are asking the city for assistance in keeping the team financially afloat, while the city must judge the big picture pros and cons of monetary concessions to keep the team around.

Regardless, an inability to work out a deal would almost certainly end the teams’ four-year tenure here.

“Basically, if the city turns me down and says they are not willing to help, obviously, we can’t have a team in a city that won’t help like all the other cities do,” part-owner Silvio Fazzini said. “Then we would look at our options of getting moved or whatever that would be.”

If city manager Alfred Lott gets his way, the Wildcats won’t be going anywhere.

Lott sees the overall benefit of the team and will be recommending the commission accept the agreement.

“The Wildcats are an important boon to the economic development and redevelopment and life of downtown,” he said. “Albany will be a better place to live if the Wildcats are here.”

There are currently three main points under contention. The first, and most important, involves the distribution of concession money. Currently the Wildcats pay $50,000 a year in rent and operate concessions for all events at the Civic Center. They give back 10 percent of their gross concession money at the end of every month and make up the difference to equal the $50,000. Due to a decrease in the number of events in the Civic Center this past year, the concession revenue dropped from over $30,000 to below $20,000.

Add in the second point of distributing gameday labor costs and the commission will have to approve the allocation of anywhere from $150,000 to $180,000, depending on whose figures are used.

The Wildcats are also asking for the city to sponsor the team and buy up tickets to distribute to city employees. The city did just that for the playoff game on Aug. 2 against Manchester, adding up to almost 900 tickets according to Lott. The city manager also said he sponsored a game earlier in the season.

This is the fourth year of the original five-year deal the Wildcats signed when moving from Cape Fear, N.C. They have an option in that contract to renegotiate after four years and leave if an agreement isn’t reached.

South Georgia has never finished in the red during any one season in Albany.

“This ownership group wants to keep the Wildcats in Albany,” general manager Darren McPhail said. ”We are asking the city for some help...we will work through that and see if we can’t come up with something and have that help us financially.”

On the field, South Georgia turned around a bad team over the past two years under head coach Derek Stingley. After two 3-13 seasons, the Wildcats went 23-12 the last two years including consecutive playoff berths. The playoff game against Manchester earlier this month was the first home postseason game in franchise history.

The excitement caught on as 6,409 people came out for the final regular season game, the highest attendance figure in the past two years.

“The Wildcats are an extraordinary economic generator for downtown,” Lott said. ”You cannot ignore that. The fact they get 6,000 people in town 8-10 times a year, is an exceptional event. Also, I know many, many, many Albanians love the Wildcats and look forward to those events. Therefore, it is a significant economic impact.”

By the time the calendar flips to Wednesday, we’ll all know if they will continue to be.