Albany arena football deal inches closer

ALBANY — The return of arena football to the Albany Civic Center inched closer Tuesday as the Albany City Commission discussed details of a proposed contract with the local 340 Creative Group to bring an X-League team to the city.

And while the once-, twice-, three-times burned commissioners admitted to being wary of any agreement that left them in danger of dishing out taxpayer money to keep the popular sport afloat, they were obviously leaning toward approving the contract that would allow the South Georgia Heat to begin play at the Civic Center in March of 2016.

“You come back next week, tell us everything about this team and this league, explain clearly what you want from us, and I think you’ll see that we’re willing to raise our hands (in support of the deal),” Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher said to 340 principle Justin Andrews after a lengthy discussion of the group’s proposal.

“I understand your sensitivity in moving forward, with what’s happened (with the defunct Albany Panthers Arena 2 League team) in the past,” Andrews said. “But our proposal is different. We’re offering more money than you’ve ever gotten before ($6,000 rental fee per game), and — especially — we’re not asking the city for any money whatsoever.”

City Recreation and Parks Director Joel Holmes got the discussion started by asking commissioners, “Are you ready for some football?” Holmes said he’d worked with City Attorney Nathan Davis, Assistant City Manager Wes Smith and with 340 to put together a “rough draft” of a contract for the commission to look over.

“We’re only looking for your permission to move forward with this proposal,” Holmes said.

Andrews, meanwhile, offered a brief overview of 340’s plan, which calls for the newly named South Georgia Heat to begin play in the X-League during the 2016 season. Andrews said the current 12-team league has teams in Rome; Birmingham, Ala.; “as far north as Bloomington, Ill., and as far south as Lakeland, Fla.”

“We’re not asking for any money from the city, we’re just asking for a long-term deal so that our team can play here for a long time to come,” Andrews told the board.

The prospective owner said the X-League has been in existence for three years and is “one of the largest arena football leagues in the country.” He said the league adds elements of entertainment to the play on the field.

“We were supposed to have a contract in place in February, so, obviously, the sooner we can get this done the better,” Andrews said. “We’ve been approached by other cities interested in having a team, but we’re from Albany and we want our team to play here. Plus, there is a great deal of excitement about the team throughout the community.”

Ward II Commissioner Bobby Coleman said that while he’s aware of widespread support for the arena team throughout Southwest Georgia, there are still “too many unanswered questions.”

“If you guys can get all of these questions answered and work out a deal that is advantageous to the city, then I can support it,” Coleman said.

Ward VI Commissioner Tommie Postell questioned Andrews about his statement that the team would not cost the city.

“We will simply pay rent on the Civic Center, just as a Disney on Ice or a wrestling show would,” Andrews said.

Postell responded: “The Panthers failed here, and we just don’t have enough heat in the fire to move forward now. We’ve been burned before, and right now this is all hy-po-thetical. When Mr. Davis gives it to us as fact, then we’ll be ready to move forward.”

Asked how the 340 plan stacks up against past arena agreements, Davis said, “When you factor in the flat fee (for rental), on first blush the cash flow looks substantially better.”

Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff told Andrews 340 is “in charge of your own destiny.”

“This certainly sounds better than any agreement we’ve had before, but the devil is in the details,” Langstaff said. “I want to make sure Nathan says this is a good deal, so if you get him the information he needs, we’ll be ready to vote (next week).”

When Coleman asked, half-seriously, how the team could play its games if “we’re going to tear down the Civic Center (a reference to a consultant’s suggestion for downtown redevelopment),” Mayor Dorothy Hubbard quickly cut off that line of discussion.

“That’s something that has not been discussed at this table, and until it is and gets four votes, it’s not going to happen,” Hubbard said. The mayor then told Andrews, “Understand, we owe it to the taxpayers to discuss this fully, but we want you to succeed.”

Threeforty partner Evan Barber said after the meeting he felt good about the discussion and that he expected to have everything the commission needs worked out by next Tuesday’s night meeting.

“We knew the commission would have questions and want more details,” Barber said. “I’m 100 percent confident we have it set up to get Nathan everything he needs to move forward with our proposal by next Tuesday. The commission has a job to do, to ask these questions, and, frankly, I support them because they’re doing everything they can to make sure we do things right.

“We’re excited about the way everything’s moving. The general response we’ve gotten throughout the community has been incredible. This is something the people here love.”