The Roanoke Steam was an arena football team that began as a charter member franchise of af2, the developmental league for the Arena Football League. They played their home games at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke, Virginia. The Steam were unable to get into the playoffs during their only three years in the league. In early May of the 2002 season, the original ownership group, consisting of businessmen Harold Jordan, Richard Macher, and Richard Yancey, declared that the LLC controlling the franchise was bankrupt and subsequently fired all team employees. In order to preserve the existing af2 schedule, the league office assumed control of the team and hired back the remaining employees. After a two-month search for a new ownership group, the league ceased operations of the franchise in late July 2002.[1] Several reasons were cited for the collapse of the Steam, including poor attendance, inadequate marketing, and Roanoke being an unsuitable market to maintain a minor league football franchise.
The Steam were not the only minor league franchise in the Roanoke area to encounter problems in the 2000s. The Roanoke Dazzle of the NBDL were relocated after also never developing a consistent following; however, the team's attendance was similar to the other inaugural franchises of the NBDL which were located in small cities in the Southeast.
The Roanoke Express, a minor league ice hockey team who were owned for a time by the Steam's ownership group and had enjoyed an unprecedented level of popularity in the mid to late 1990s, began to falter in the early 2000s due to a lack of postseason success and an eventual decline in regular season performance and turmoil in ownership and management that contributed to bad press and less effective marketing than earlier seasons. The Express folded after the 2003-2004 season. A United Hockey League franchise, the Roanoke Valley Vipers, relocated to Roanoke for the 2005-2006 season to replace the Express, but this venture folded after just one season due to poor attendance blamed on a losing record, high ticket prices, and a general disconnect between the local fan base and the midwestern-based league and owners.
On May 1, 2004, nearly two years after the Steam folded, their turf field was sold to the owners of the Wichita Falls Thunder indoor football team for the non-negotiable price of $45,000 [2]
^Scoreboard: Roanoke files for bankruptcy, The Daily Gazette, May 15, 2002
^Last wisp of Steam dissipates with AstroTurf, Kathy Lu, The Roanoke Times website (roanoke.com), May 2, 2004
External linksedit
Roanoke Steam on ArenaFan.com
December 18, 2023
roanoke, steam, arena, football, team, that, began, charter, member, franchise, developmental, league, arena, football, league, they, played, their, home, games, roanoke, civic, center, roanoke, virginia, steam, were, unable, into, playoffs, during, their, onl. The Roanoke Steam was an arena football team that began as a charter member franchise of af2 the developmental league for the Arena Football League They played their home games at the Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke Virginia The Steam were unable to get into the playoffs during their only three years in the league In early May of the 2002 season the original ownership group consisting of businessmen Harold Jordan Richard Macher and Richard Yancey declared that the LLC controlling the franchise was bankrupt and subsequently fired all team employees In order to preserve the existing af2 schedule the league office assumed control of the team and hired back the remaining employees After a two month search for a new ownership group the league ceased operations of the franchise in late July 2002 1 Several reasons were cited for the collapse of the Steam including poor attendance inadequate marketing and Roanoke being an unsuitable market to maintain a minor league football franchise Roanoke SteamEstablished 1999Folded 2002Played in Roanoke Civic Center in Roanoke VirginiaLeague conference affiliationsaf2 2000 2002 American Conference 2000 2002 Eastern Division 2001 Atlantic Division 2002 Current uniformTeam colorsDeep purple green white PersonnelOwner s Roanoke Pro Football LLC 2000 2002 af2 Remainder of 2002 Team historyRoanoke Steam 2000 2002 ChampionshipsLeague championships 0 Conference championships 0 Division championships 0 Home arena s Roanoke Civic Center 2000 2002 The Steam were not the only minor league franchise in the Roanoke area to encounter problems in the 2000s The Roanoke Dazzle of the NBDL were relocated after also never developing a consistent following however the team s attendance was similar to the other inaugural franchises of the NBDL which were located in small cities in the Southeast The Roanoke Express a minor league ice hockey team who were owned for a time by the Steam s ownership group and had enjoyed an unprecedented level of popularity in the mid to late 1990s began to falter in the early 2000s due to a lack of postseason success and an eventual decline in regular season performance and turmoil in ownership and management that contributed to bad press and less effective marketing than earlier seasons The Express folded after the 2003 2004 season A United Hockey League franchise the Roanoke Valley Vipers relocated to Roanoke for the 2005 2006 season to replace the Express but this venture folded after just one season due to poor attendance blamed on a losing record high ticket prices and a general disconnect between the local fan base and the midwestern based league and owners On May 1 2004 nearly two years after the Steam folded their turf field was sold to the owners of the Wichita Falls Thunder indoor football team for the non negotiable price of 45 000 2 Contents 1 Season by season 2 Notable players 3 References 4 External linksSeason by season editSeason records Season W L T Finish Playoff results2000 3 13 0 7th AC 2001 7 9 0 4th AC Northeastern 2002 8 8 0 4th AC Atlantic Totals 18 30 0Notable players editAl Clark Matt D Orazio Derrick McBride Lindsey Fleshman Tee Jones Samuel Rice References edit Scoreboard Roanoke files for bankruptcy The Daily Gazette May 15 2002 Last wisp of Steam dissipates with AstroTurf Kathy Lu The Roanoke Times website roanoke com May 2 2004External links editRoanoke Steam on ArenaFan com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Roanoke Steam amp oldid 1170946322, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
