HARRISBURG,
PA – United Soccer Leagues announced today the founding of the Harrisburg City
Islanders, an expansion club set to begin play in the USL Pro Soccer League in
the 2004 season, at a press conference in the Harrisburg City Government
Center.
The new
franchise will call Skyline Sports Complex in City Island home.
“We are excited
to bring Harrisburg into the USL family,” said USL COO and Executive Director
Dave Askinas. “We have been working on bringing a team to Harrisburg in the two
years since the popular Hershey Wildcats team ceased operations. We were impressed by both the business
acumen and the soccer passion that Eric Pettis and his group bring to the
project. City Island is an ideal
location in downtown Harrisburg and with the planned stadium improvements this
franchise can look forward to a solid future.”
The club will
fill the void of professional soccer in the city following the loss of the
Major Indoor Soccer League’s Harrisburg Heat, which averaged over 4,700 a game
in attendance over the team’s 11-year existence.
United Soccer
Leagues also announced today that it has officially changed the name of the PSL
to Pro Soccer League due to trademark issues related to the former Pro Select
League moniker.
The A-League’s
Pittsburgh Riverhounds will be moving to the PSL for the 2004 season while the
organization focuses on the development of a stadium project in the greater
Pittsburgh area. The club won 10 of its last 12 matches in the league to finish
just shy of reaching the playoffs. Riverhounds forward Thiago Martins won the
scoring and goal scoring championships and was named league MVP.
The regular
season champion Carolina Dynamo will be moving to the Premier Development
League for the 2004 season. USL Hall of Fame member Joe Brown also announced he
is stepping down as general manager and coach and will be taking the position
as Executive Vice President. Assistant general manager Scott Zapko was promoted
to general manager.
The Atlanta
Silverbacks Professional Soccer Club announced plans to construct Phase One of
Atlanta Silverbacks Park at the intersection of I-85 and I-285. Upon
completion, Atlanta Silverbacks Park will be the one of the premier soccer
facilities in the South-Eastern United States and will provide DeKalb County
and the metropolitan Atlanta area with a state of the art facility and soccer
fields.
Stephen
Pratten, President of the Atlanta Silverbacks, stated that upon completion of
the final phase of construction, “Atlanta Silverbacks Park will insure that the
metropolitan Atlanta area in general and Dekalb County in particular will
become and remain a premier soccer venue in the Southeastern United States.”
Phase One of
Atlanta Silverbacks Park will consist of three regulation size soccer fields
with state of the art lighting and adequate parking. Phase Two, which is still
in the planning stage, will consist of a soccer specific stadium and club which
will be home to the Atlanta Silverbacks Professional Soccer Club.
In discussing
this milestone, Pratten stated “we are very excited about the opportunities
that this will open up for soccer in the Atlanta area and the region. This
project has required a tremendous amount of patience, persistence and a great
deal of cooperation between various organizations and governmental bodies, but
as construction progresses, the hard work of so many dedicated people will be
rewarded.”
The Atlanta
Silverbacks Professional Soccer Club will host an invitation only Phase One
groundbreaking ceremony in October. All questions regarding Atlanta Silverbacks
Park should be directed to Stilian Shishkov at 770-248-0492 ext 222.
The Rochester
Raging Rhinos Soccer Club announced that they have received a $15 million grant
from the NYS Public Authorities Control Board to build a 17,500-seat downtown
soccer stadium on the Smith and Oak Street section of downtown Rochester.
“On behalf of
Frank DuRoss, Chris Economides and myself, we are both excited and relieved
that the vote today was a positive outcome. Our group, led by Frank DuRoss, has traveled a long and
winding road for the last four years to get to this point,” said Rhinos Chief
Executive Officer Steve Donner.
“Frank DuRoss’ efforts epitomize the ‘never-say-die’ spirit of our
organization. I believe the entire
community appreciates his efforts, along with the efforts of our local
politicians, to finally give us an opportunity to break ground on PaeTec Park.
“We look
forward to announcing a formal groundbreaking as soon as possible,” added
Donner.
The Rhinos plan
to break ground in the next 10 to 14 days. Locally owned LeChase Construction
will build the state-of-the-art multi-purpose facility. The Rhinos and the Rochester Rattlers
of Major League Lacrosse are scheduled to begin play at the stadium in 2004.
The
construction of PaeTec Park will come in two phases. Phase I of the stadium construction will consist of 13,000
permanent lower bowl seats and 4,500 upper bowl temporary bleacher-style seats.
The facility will also be handicap accessible. The approximately $22 million
stadium will include the $15 million grant from New York State, Rhinos’ private
investments and infrastructure improvements by the city of Rochester.
The
facility will also have a state-of-the-art video scoreboard, lighting, turf and
TV monitors throughout the stadium.
PaeTec Park will also be outfitted with a food court, restrooms, locker
rooms, administrative building and team store. In addition, PaeTec Park will have club-level seating, a
club lounge and up to 20 temporary suites and a press box.
In Phase 2, the
Rhinos will contribute $3.5 to $4 million for development, rehabilitation and
construction of the permanent suites, press box, club-level lounge and
additional food concession and catering areas.
PaeTec Park
will not only serve as the home for the Rhinos and Rattlers, but host events
such as Buffalo Bills’ controlled scrimmages, men’s and women’s high school and
collegiate soccer, lacrosse and field hockey, women’s professional soccer, and
high school and collegiate football. Drum and bugle competitions, community
events, concerts, youth sporting events and outdoor shows will also be
scheduled into the stadium.
The stadium was
designed by HOK Sports Facility Group of Kansas City, Mo. HOK has worked with
29 of the 32 National Football League franchises and 22 of the 28 Major League
Baseball teams. Clients of HOK include numerous professional and collegiate
soccer, basketball, hockey and rugby teams. HOK has recently designed soccer
stadiums throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The Rochester
city council unanimously approved the lease of the city-owned property of the
stadium site Tuesday night. The lease, in part, calls for the Rhinos to pay one
dollar per year over a 45-year span while covering any construction cost
overruns on the $22 million project, the industrial waste contamination
clean-up costs and property taxes.
The Indiana
Blast will be moving to the Premier Development League for the 2004 season. The
seven-year old club moves to the PDL after five years in the A-League.
United Soccer
Leagues announced the formation of the USL Hall of Fame Election Committee. The
committee will include inaugural inductees Lynn Agee, Mike Balson, Joe Brown,
Pat Ercoli, Bob Gansler, Charmaine Hooper, Neil Macpherson, Pat Parker,
Devinder Sandhu, USL founder and president Francisco Marcos and USL COO and
Executive Director Dave Askinas.
USL also
announced the USL Hall of Fame will include players and coaches from the
A-League prior to it joining USL in 1997.
“It is the
right thing to do,” said Marcos. “As the new home of the league, we have an
obligation to recognize the achievements of those who helped make the A-League
what it is today and helped professional soccer stay alive after the loss of
the NASL.”
In addition,
the waiting period for players was changed from three years to one year for
inactive players and two years for active players.
Copyright © 2003, mysoccer.com