ALBANY — Summer camp in Albany is over for the New York Giants.

The National Football League team announced Friday that, after training at the University at Albany for 16 of the past 17 years, they won't be back. At least not for this summer.

Instead, training camp in 2013 will be held at the Timex Performance Center, the Giants' year-round headquarters next to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

"I'm not happy about this because I loved having them here," Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings said by cellphone Friday afternoon. "This is Giants' country."

The Giants were in Albany for 19 days last summer and had 14 practices. One practice was lost due to rain, and only half of it. Under the new NFL's collective bargaining agreement, only 15 summer practices are allowed. If one is rained out, it doesn't get made up.

Two-a-day practices, once a staple in NFL training camps, are no longer allowed per the bargaining agreement.

UAlbany does not have an indoor football facility. If inclement weather forced the Giants indoors, they practiced on the basketball courts at SEFCU Arena. They won't have that problem at the Timex Performance Center, which opened in 2009.

That facility has three grass and one turf field outdoors as well as a full-sized indoor field. The Giants held summer camp there in 2011 because of ongoing NFL labor negotiations.

Last summer, 37,684 fans attended training camp at UAlbany. The Giants won the 2012 Super Bowl. The team did not make the playoffs this season.

"I always felt the Giants enjoyed it here," UAlbany athletic director Lee McElroy said. "I know (Giants) coach (Tom) Coughlin was a big proponent for having it here."

Even though it looks as though the Giants are done with the Capital Region, team executives John Mara, the president and chief executive officer, and Steve Tisch, the executive vice president, did not close the door entirely on a return one day.

"We have told Mayor Jennings and (UAlbany athletic director) Dr. (Lee) McElroy that we will evaluate our training camp situation on an ongoing basis, and certainly would not rule out a return to Albany in the future if it makes sense for both parties," the two said in a joint statement.

Right now, it doesn't make sense. Because training camp is so much shorter, the Giants want the luxury of having an indoor facility.

"It's tough to compete with that," Jennings said.

Jennings said he won't give up on the Giants ever returning here. The team began summer workouts at UAlbany in 1996, and the 16 camps at the school are the most at any site in their 88-year history.

With the Giants leaving, Jennings said there will be a financial impact felt by hotels and restaurants that are near the UAlbany campus.

"When you bring in 40,000 fans, of course there is a negative impact when they're not here," he said. "I am not surprised by the decision. I know the Giants enjoyed being here. We just left it open. We will work with the university to make sure, that if they decide to come back, how we could accommodate them."

twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin