Edmonton Aviators
Encyclopedia
The Edmonton Aviators were a soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2003 as a member of the United Soccer League
's North American A-League and folded after playing only one season, 2004. Midway through the season, with the club in financial trouble, the league took it over to save it from folding. The renamed Edmonton F.C. only lasted until the end of the year.
at Commonwealth Stadium
to tremendous success and similarly had success in hosting a number of the Canadian men's international games.
The group that brought the Aviators to Edmonton claimed that they were in it for the long haul, believing that they could keep the team in Edmonton for three years at a minimum, offering both men's and women's soccer to the city of Edmonton. However, the owners were planning for average crowds of 11,000 at Commonwealth Stadium, which some members of the local press held as unrealistic. This would have placed the Aviators, a mere expansion team, near the top of the A-League in attendance. On April 29, 2004, they announced their men's roster, including former Drillers Kurt Bosch, Rick Titus, Nikola Vignjevic
, Eric Munoz
, and Sipho Sibya, as well as a number of highly regarded local players such as U-20 National Team player Chris Lemire
. To round out the roster, internationals Claudio Salinas, Jaime Lopresti
, and Jose Luis Campi
were added. There was great hope and optimism for the local teams success.
According to the local press, one of the main problems was the venue. Commonwealth Stadium was the home of the Canadian national soccer teams, but with a seating capacity
over 60,000 people, the smaller crowds were utterly dwarfed by the large stadium. Rent was extremely high, and the Edmonton Eskimos
had priority with Commonwealth's facilities. As a result, the Aviators were constantly restricted in what they could do at Commonwealth. Smaller Clarke Stadium
was just across the street, but the Aviators did not move there until late in the season. Also, as a result of the venue choice, the Aviators were unsuccessful at getting weekend dates for their games. Only 3 out of 11 matches were scheduled for the weekend, owing to previous bookings for the Edmonton Eskimos
, the local CFL
football team, and the international rugby tournament, the Churchill Cup
.
Moreover, the men's team had the worst performance in the league, as might be expected for a new team, but still to the displeasure of Edmonton sports fans. The team's performance was not helped by difficulties between the players and the team's administration. Rick Titus, one of the veteran players, encountered some friction between him and the former president Wylie Stafford, through to head coach Ross Ongaro
, and on down to several teammates. According to the Edmonton Sun (July 4, 2004), the centre of this dispute was the requirement that approximately half of the team had to consist of local players. As a consequence, Titus was released by the Aviators in midseason, eventually joining the Toronto Lynx
. Shortly thereafter, Titus attempted to amend this area of difficulty but as was reported, Joe Petrone, then heading the club, maintained that the damage was done and that the player was not going to be accepted back. In the same atmosphere, as noted in the Edmonton Sun (July 6, 2004), Waldemar Dutra, a promising local goal-scorer who trained with the Aviators, left for Schweinfurt
, a Third Division team in Germany.
Further, as cited in the Edmonton Journal (July 20, 2004, p. A4), the business plan of the team's owners was a source of some concern for local soccer officials. As noted in the press, with lower attendance than expected and higher costs than anticipated, the owners returned their franchise on August 15, after it failed to meet its revenue expectations for the three months it existed. The club’s ownership group, Edmonton Professional Soccer (EPSL) Ltd admitted to the league that the business plan, put in place at the start of the franchise, was flawed. With ticket sales much closer to the league average of 3000 people, the EPSL was suffering large operating losses. The club’s 19-person ownership refused to provide immediate cash injection to keep both the men and women’s teams afloat, and chose to see the franchise fold. As a consequence, the league took over operation of the Aviators, renaming the team Edmonton F.C. as the old owners took the rights to the Aviators name with them. The team was run on a shoestring budget, transferring away what few skilled players the Aviators had acquired and moving to the much smaller Foote Field
where, incidentally, attendance was noticeably better.
The team was folded by the league after the 2004 season. After the club's folding was announced, it was speculated by some in the local press that the team could have worked if a better business model was arranged from the outset.
The team's only coach was Ross Ongaro
.
, 26 August 2004
Rick Titus Nikola Vignjević
United Soccer League
The United Soccer League was a professional soccer league in the United States in the mid-1980s.After the demise of the second incarnation of the American Soccer League in 1983, four ASL teams founded the USL...
's North American A-League and folded after playing only one season, 2004. Midway through the season, with the club in financial trouble, the league took it over to save it from folding. The renamed Edmonton F.C. only lasted until the end of the year.
History
Expectations that Edmonton could support an A-League team were high, as the city had recently hosted the inaugural FIFA U-20 Women's World ChampionshipFIFA U-20 Women's World Championship
The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA , for national teams of women under age 20. The tournament is held in even-numbered years. It was first conducted in 2002 as the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship with an upper age limit of 19...
at Commonwealth Stadium
Commonwealth Stadium (Edmonton)
Commonwealth Stadium is a sports stadium located in the Norwood Area of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, primarily used by the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. The stadium is owned and operated by the City of Edmonton.- History :...
to tremendous success and similarly had success in hosting a number of the Canadian men's international games.
The group that brought the Aviators to Edmonton claimed that they were in it for the long haul, believing that they could keep the team in Edmonton for three years at a minimum, offering both men's and women's soccer to the city of Edmonton. However, the owners were planning for average crowds of 11,000 at Commonwealth Stadium, which some members of the local press held as unrealistic. This would have placed the Aviators, a mere expansion team, near the top of the A-League in attendance. On April 29, 2004, they announced their men's roster, including former Drillers Kurt Bosch, Rick Titus, Nikola Vignjevic
Nikola Vignjevic
Nikola Vignjević is a former Serbian soccer player, who currently works as Technical coach by Alberta Golden Bears and the Greater St.Albert Sports Acadamey...
, Eric Munoz
Eric Munoz
Eric Munoz, M.D., MBA, FACS was an American Republican Party politician, who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2001, where he represented the 21st legislative district, until his death on March 30, 2009...
, and Sipho Sibya, as well as a number of highly regarded local players such as U-20 National Team player Chris Lemire
Chris Lemire
Chris Lemire is a Canadian soccer player.-Professional:Lemire played professionally with the Calgary Storm, Montreal Impact and the Edmonton Aviators old USL First Division, and is the only former Aviator to play for both the old and new Edmonton professional soccer franchises.Lemire was signed by...
. To round out the roster, internationals Claudio Salinas, Jaime Lopresti
Jaime Lopresti
Jaime Lopresti Travanic is a former Chilean football defender. He last played for the Edmonton Aviators of the A-League. Before that he played in his native Chile for teams Unión Española, and Colo-Colo. He played one match for the Chilean national team. He was born in Vancouver, Canada.-External...
, and Jose Luis Campi
José Luis Campi
José Luis Campi is a former Argentine footballer currently played for clubs of Argentina, Chile and Canada....
were added. There was great hope and optimism for the local teams success.
Franchise Failure
The team was dogged by a number of problems:According to the local press, one of the main problems was the venue. Commonwealth Stadium was the home of the Canadian national soccer teams, but with a seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
over 60,000 people, the smaller crowds were utterly dwarfed by the large stadium. Rent was extremely high, and the Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...
had priority with Commonwealth's facilities. As a result, the Aviators were constantly restricted in what they could do at Commonwealth. Smaller Clarke Stadium
Clarke Stadium
Clarke Stadium, in its original incarnation, was a Canadian football stadium located in Edmonton, Alberta.-History:The stadium was originally built in 1938 on land deeded to the City for the purpose of constructing public sports fields by Mackenzie King...
was just across the street, but the Aviators did not move there until late in the season. Also, as a result of the venue choice, the Aviators were unsuccessful at getting weekend dates for their games. Only 3 out of 11 matches were scheduled for the weekend, owing to previous bookings for the Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...
, the local CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
football team, and the international rugby tournament, the Churchill Cup
Churchill Cup
The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams from a wide array of countries....
.
Moreover, the men's team had the worst performance in the league, as might be expected for a new team, but still to the displeasure of Edmonton sports fans. The team's performance was not helped by difficulties between the players and the team's administration. Rick Titus, one of the veteran players, encountered some friction between him and the former president Wylie Stafford, through to head coach Ross Ongaro
Ross Ongaro
Ross Ongaro is a retired Canadian soccer player who earned one cap each with the Canada U-20 men's national soccer team and Canadian Olympic soccer team. He played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance and American Indoor Soccer...
, and on down to several teammates. According to the Edmonton Sun (July 4, 2004), the centre of this dispute was the requirement that approximately half of the team had to consist of local players. As a consequence, Titus was released by the Aviators in midseason, eventually joining the Toronto Lynx
Toronto Lynx
Toronto Lynx is a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference....
. Shortly thereafter, Titus attempted to amend this area of difficulty but as was reported, Joe Petrone, then heading the club, maintained that the damage was done and that the player was not going to be accepted back. In the same atmosphere, as noted in the Edmonton Sun (July 6, 2004), Waldemar Dutra, a promising local goal-scorer who trained with the Aviators, left for Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt is a city in the Lower Franconia region of Bavaria in Germany on the right bank of the canalized Main, which is here spanned by several bridges, 27 km northeast of Würzburg.- History :...
, a Third Division team in Germany.
Further, as cited in the Edmonton Journal (July 20, 2004, p. A4), the business plan of the team's owners was a source of some concern for local soccer officials. As noted in the press, with lower attendance than expected and higher costs than anticipated, the owners returned their franchise on August 15, after it failed to meet its revenue expectations for the three months it existed. The club’s ownership group, Edmonton Professional Soccer (EPSL) Ltd admitted to the league that the business plan, put in place at the start of the franchise, was flawed. With ticket sales much closer to the league average of 3000 people, the EPSL was suffering large operating losses. The club’s 19-person ownership refused to provide immediate cash injection to keep both the men and women’s teams afloat, and chose to see the franchise fold. As a consequence, the league took over operation of the Aviators, renaming the team Edmonton F.C. as the old owners took the rights to the Aviators name with them. The team was run on a shoestring budget, transferring away what few skilled players the Aviators had acquired and moving to the much smaller Foote Field
Foote Field
Foote Field is a multi-purpose sports facility on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, built as a legacy facility for the 2001 World Championships in Athletics...
where, incidentally, attendance was noticeably better.
The team was folded by the league after the 2004 season. After the club's folding was announced, it was speculated by some in the local press that the team could have worked if a better business model was arranged from the outset.
The team's only coach was Ross Ongaro
Ross Ongaro
Ross Ongaro is a retired Canadian soccer player who earned one cap each with the Canada U-20 men's national soccer team and Canadian Olympic soccer team. He played professionally in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, Western Soccer Alliance and American Indoor Soccer...
.
Final squad
vs. Toronto LynxToronto Lynx
Toronto Lynx is a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1997, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League , the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference....
, 26 August 2004
Notable former players
Jaime LoprestiJaime Lopresti
Jaime Lopresti Travanic is a former Chilean football defender. He last played for the Edmonton Aviators of the A-League. Before that he played in his native Chile for teams Unión Española, and Colo-Colo. He played one match for the Chilean national team. He was born in Vancouver, Canada.-External...
Rick Titus Nikola Vignjević
Nikola Vignjevic
Nikola Vignjević is a former Serbian soccer player, who currently works as Technical coach by Alberta Golden Bears and the Greater St.Albert Sports Acadamey...
Year-by-year
| Year | Division | League | Reg. Season | Playoffs | Open Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 2 | USL A-League | 6th, Western | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |