All Systems GO for the MOJO

On Friday afternoon May 12th, the Memphis MOJO was officially announced to the Memphis media at a press conference held at the Hilton East Memphis.

At the press conference, MOJO president Chris Talley not only introduced the team name and logo, he also announced that long-time Memphis soccer administrator Bobby Fox will be the team's first general manager, and Gareth O'Sullivan, a former player at the University of Memphis will be the MOJO's head coach.

The club will split their eight home games for the 2006-07 AISL season between the Agricenter Showplace Arena in suburban Cordova and the DeSoto County Civic Center, which is located just south of Memphis in Southhaven, MS.

"We plan to build our fan base from the ground up, not just with a bunch of billboards out there and some TV," Talley said. "We're going to be dealing with people face to face. It's none of this impersonal stuff that people have experienced with other sports organizations in this city."

The press conference was covered by all four major television stations in the Memphis area, as well as by the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the region's major daily newspaper.

Talley, along with co-owner Louie Watkins, a Memphis physical therapist, also announced that the plans for a 9.2 million dollar sports training center. The Memphis Sports Training Center, which will have two full-sized indoor soccer fields, six basketball courts, five "multi-purpose" courts, and four outdoor soccer fields. The MSTC, which will be privately financed, is scheduled to open in January 2007.

For more information on the Memphis MOJO, see the club's official website at www.mojoindoorsoccer.com

The American Indoor Soccer League completed its third season in March, and will announce the 2006-07 lineup of teams and schedule in late spring. The league has offices in West Springfield, MA (Administrative) and Cleveland, OH (Media Relations). For more information on the AISL, contact commissioner Paul LaPointe at (413) 569-0088 or director of media relations Rich Paschette at (216) 741-4144. Information on the league can also be found on the AISL's official website, www.aisl.org.