AISL Unveils 2006-07 Schedule

(Cleveland, OH-August 21, 2006) -- American Indoor Soccer League commissioner Paul LaPointe announced this afternoon the league’s 2006-07 game schedule and list of teams for the upcoming campaign.

The AISL will consist of five clubs for the league’s fourth season: the defending champion Cincinnati Excite, the Massachusetts Twisters, the Memphis MOJO, the Rockford Thunder, and the league’s newest entry, the New York Empire.

The 2006-07 schedule consists of 36 games, with all but five being played on Saturday nights. Each team will play a sixteen-game schedule (eight home games and eight road games) with the exception of the New York Empire, which will play an abbreviated schedule of four home and four road games. The Empire will play a full schedule for the 2007-08 season.

“We’ve come up with a schedule that appeals to both our teams and our fans,” said LaPointe. “As our main fan base is made up of soccer families, having the majority of our games on Saturday evenings allows families to attend games as a group.”

The AISL’s fourth season will start with AISL Kickoff ’06 on November 11th, when the Rockford Thunder visits the Cincinnati Excite at the defending champion’s new home arena, Game Time Indoor Soccer Training Facility. The Excite will be presented with the league’s championship trophy that evening, and 2005-06 AISL most valuable player Tiest Sondaal will also receive his award.

The Thunder were originally scheduled to set up shop in Chicago for the 2006-07 season, but after the MISL’s Chicago Storm announced in July its move to a new arena in suburban Hoffman Estates, Thunder owners Mike O’Flaherty and Oscar Albuquerque felt that having a second indoor team in the Chicago suburbs would not be a prudent business decision. O’Flaherty and Albuquerque then decided to move the team 70 miles to the west to Rockford, where Albuquerque was a member of the Illinois Thunder of the NPSL in the early nineties.

The two retain the AISL franchise rights for Chicago, and the league still looks to place a team in the “Windy City” in the near future.

The home arena for the Thunder will be announced next week, and the home venue of the New York Empire will be announced the first week in September. More information on the league can be found on the AISL's official website, www.aisl.org.

AISL 2006-07 SCHEDULE
All Times Local for Home Team