Syracuse Soldiers

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Syracuse Soldiers

Founded	2006
Arena	War Memorial at Oncenter
Based in	Syracuse, New York
Colors	Black, steel green, white
League	American Indoor Football League
Head coach	Kirby Dar Dar
President of Football Operations	Andrew Haines

The Syracuse Soldiers was a 2006 expansion member of the American Indoor Football League. They played their home games at the War Memorial at Oncenter in Syracuse, New York until the AIFL ended their season on Friday, May 19, 2006.

The team was originally scheduled to play as the Binghamton Brigade and have their venue be the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. However, insurance problems forced Binghamton to fold.

With the complications, the AIFL rushed to find a placeholder. On January 23, 2006, they announced the Soldiers would begin play. They played their first game, at home, on March 6, losing to the Miami Valley Silverbacks 54-30.

On Saturday, April 8, 2006, after losing five-straight games, the Soldiers finally got their first and only win, in a 43-31 road victory over the Steubenville Stampede.

Until the team folded, all of its games were broadcast on WJPZ 89.1 FM Syracuse. The Soldiers opener was called by Todd Robbins and Chris Villani, while the only win in team history was called by Jeff Tiberii.

After ten games, the Syracuse Soldiers suspended operations. They were replaced by the Cumberland Cardinals, an amateur outdoor team that was part of the North American Football League, which briefly tried to acquire the AIFL in 2006. However, Soldiers and AIFL owner Andrew Haines said the Soldiers had not folded, but were rather reorganizing their schedule. Haines has since been ousted from the organization, and so it is safe to assume that the team is dead.