SA Talons logo courtesy of the Talons.
The official fan club of the San Antonio Talons created an online petition to show community support to potential ownership prospects and the drive has garnered the endorsement of two large business organizations and gathered more than 1,000 signatures since Sunday.
“We need to show the City of San Antonio and its civic leaders that this football team can succeed,” Steve Canto, president of the Black N Blue Crew fan club, said in a news release. “If you consider yourself a sports fan here in San Antonio, you want to keep this team.”
In 2014, the Arena Football League ran the Talons, which have been without official ownership since last December.
The San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed the effort on their respective social media pages, urging followers to sign the petition. As of early Thursday afternoon, the petition had more than 1,250 supporters. You can view the petition by clicking here.
San Antonio Talons Executive Vice President Keith Recine said the show of support for the team and the response have been overwhelming.
“Steve came to me and asked about getting our help and I told him that we would support the effort if they got the first 750 signatures. I never thought that they would get them in less than two days. The response has been truly incredible,” Recine said in a news release.
While attendance numbers for the Talons did decline, which Recine attributed to turmoil because of ownership situations, the team still averaged more than 5,700 in attendance this year, including a crowd of 8,217 at the season finale, according to the news release.
“This franchise has been handicapped for its existence here by unlucky ownership situations. All of the previous owners had good intentions and the community in mind, but at times things don’t work out. Despite that, the franchise is in a fairly healthy state relative to other AFL and similar sports franchises,” Recine said. “Given stable ownership, this team could become one of the premier franchises in the AFL.”
In their last home game of the season, the Talons lost a 50-47 heartbreaker in overtime against the Cleveland Gladiators, the San Antonio Express News reported. The Talons will take on the LA Kiss on Saturday in Los Angeles.
