On June 12, the Syracuse Soccer community took a major hit when the Syracuse Silver Knights were bought by Robert Esche and the Utica Comets organization. With the purchase, the Syracuse Silver Knights ceased to exist and Utica City FC was born. Utica welcomed the announcement with great joy. In Syracuse, reactions were mixed, some happy the team was still alive and ready to make the 45 minute trip to cheer on the boys. Others, like myself, were left with a terrible taste in our mouths. Season ticket holders were given little to no notice of the buyout and little explanation of why the buyout even happened. For me, I would go on to write an article featured in Turf and Boards where I took a stance against the move, disapproving of General Manager Tommy Tanner, and only standing by the actual players on the team and the several local fans that were left hurt.
Flash forward a month and a half later, I and several others were still stewing about the move and how everything had transpired. After writing the Turf and Boards article, Tommy Tanner did reach out to me and tried to convince me to give the new management a chance. Being the stubborn ass I am, I stood by my stance. A couple days later, a friend of mine from the local supporters group for Syracuse FC of the NPSL reached out to me, saying the new team management wanted to meet with some Syracuse fans, or as they called us "die-hards" about continuing to support the team and gaining support from the Salt City. While several loyal supporters of the Knights had checked out and sworn off the team for good, I decided to to take up the offer for a meeting, even though I was very offended by the "die-hard" label. For the next couple weeks, I would spend hours researching the city of Utica, the Comets organization, and the MASL, coming up with over a dozen questions to ask the group I would be meeting with. I wanted to know their plan for the first year, the first five years, and beyond, how would they sell tickets to people in a city with a low overall yearly income, and how they planned to attract fans from Syracuse. Most importantly, I wanted to know how they were going to avoid failing like the Silver Knights in Syracuse did. On July 30, Rich (the friend) and I took the forty five minute jaunt down I-90 for the meeting at 6pm. When we first pulled up to the arena, we noticed how the updated exterior stood out amongst the other dated buildings and vacant lots of Downtown Utica. We went up to the front doors of the arena, next to the new 72 Tavern and Grill, where a person was suppose to be there to greet us. However, the doors were locked and no one was there to open them. After waiting five minutes, I sent a text to Tommy Tanner (whose number I somehow didn't end up deleting after the move) and were informed everyone was waiting in the tavern. Not a good start. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by Tanner, Vice President of Communications Lindsay Mogle, and Dave Abel, the Creator of the City Keepers Supporter Group. We sat down at one of the tables and ordered drinks before I opened up by asking a series of questions. Now, I'm not going to lie, I was coming off as a complete a**hole, trying to make the Utica group the enemy and prove they had no idea about indoor soccer. To my surprise, they were ready for me, having answers to all my questions and several details into their plans for the coming season. Here are a couple of the questions I asked and their answers. What is your one year plan? Five year plan?- Of course, to be successful and win MASL championships. More importantly, they want to grow the sport in Utica and help grow the MASL. They believe their success will gain the attention of many AHL Hockey team owners, thus those owners starting their own MASL franchises. Their goal is have the MASL be a thirty team league. What's your plan to get people to the matches?- While the Syracuse Silver Knights ran with a very tight budget (complete debt,) Utica City FC has a vast budget with major plans of promotion and advertising. This has been seen already with their media outreach, almost every news outlet in the Utica Rome region constantly writing and reporting about the team. Syracuse news outlets rarely ever gave the Silver Knights the light of day. True fact, the Utica City FC spent more money on the team announcement than the Knights spent, possibly even made, in their seven years of existence. What's going to be different from when the team was in Syracuse- New turf, new jerseys (no special or third jerseys), a beer garden, mostly Sunday games, and no music during the matches. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alright folks, it is now November. I have been quite busy with a new job, getting married, and trying to start a family while enjoying life to the fullest. I could drone on about what else happened with the meeting, but I'm just going to keep it short at this point. They toured Rich and I around the arena, we met Robert Esche, the new owner, I ate dinner with everyone and even paid for Tommy's dinner (I owed him that after how much of a d**k I was.) Overall, I trust what the new ownership group is doing and I'm happy there is still an arena team is Central New York. I'm not going to bog my life down being pissed about the team not being in Syracuse any longer. I'm just accepting it and going to cheer on the guys this winter. This afternoon in a press conference, the Syracuse Silver Knights announced they are moving to Utica and rebranding as Utica City FC. Tommy Tanner and the team's front office has partnered with Robert Esche, owner of the Utica Comets AHL franchise, to move to the Utica Aud starting this 2018-19 season. As part of the move, the team will gain the majority of the Comets' front office and new carpet will be coming to the Aud. Please stay with TFCSR as more details emerge.
After a lackluster start of the season with a 1-0 loss to Erie last Saturday, Syracuse FC was looking to pick up their first win of the 2018 campaign tonight. Down in the Southern Tier, Syracuse FC rebounded after a slow start to deliver a 7-1 drubbing to the Thunder.
After GBFC went up 1-0 in the 34th minute, Syracuse would score seven unanswered goals. Djimon Johnson would get the scoring starting with a goal in the 38th minute off a cross from Manny Chancelo. With the score knotted at one at the half, Syracuse came out thirsty for goals in the second, their second coming in the 57th minute from Haris Brkovic. Then, Joe Falcone would sub into the match and put on a show, scoring a hat trick with goals in the 59th, 89th, and 90th minutes. Johnson would add another goal along with a score from Maalo in the second half to complete the dominating performance from Syracuse FC. Now 1-1-0 on the season, Syracuse FC next travels west down Interstate 90 to take on FC Buffalo on Sunday, May 27th. That match is scheduled for 7pm. After another road trip, this time to Erie on June 2nd, Syracuse returns home on Wednesday, June 9th to host arch rival Rochester Lancers. The match with the Lancers is scheduled for a 7pm start. Scoring Recap: Syracuse FC: 7 - Greater Binghamton FC Thunder: 1 34th: Binghamton, 1-0 Binghamton 38th: Johnson, Syracuse, tie 1-1 57th: Brkovic, Syracuse, 2-1 Syracuse 59th: Falcone, Syracuse, 3-1 Syracuse 73rd: Maalo, Syracuse, 4-1 Syracuse 80th: Johnson, Syracuse, 5-1 Syracuse 89th: Falcone, Syracuse, 6-1 Syracuse 90th: Falcone, Syracuse, 7-1 Syracuse |
Nicholas Episcopo
Broadcasting Graduate Archives
November 2018
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