The fledgling Alliance of American Football announced Thursday that San Antonio will be the site of its first leaguewide training camp beginning in January.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg hailed the decision by the eight-team spring league as an opportunity for the city to “witness a new era in football unfold” and promised it would have a “positive economic impact.”

But there’s a lot of work still ahead.

To pull off what Alliance head of business operations Tom Veit called a “massive undertaking,” the league needs eight sites to host practices that would stretch over a month. The league begins its 10-game season Feb. 9.

Veit said the Alliance has “agreements in place” with facilities around town but would not disclose the sites.

“We are finalizing times and what days we will be practicing and all that,” Veit said. “We want to release all that to the community in the not too far future.”

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However, athletic directors at two school districts contacted by San Antonio Sports on behalf of the Alliance said no such agreements are in place.

“We have been talking to them about it, but there is no agreement,” said Todd Howey, the San Antonio Independent School District athletic director. “We have a procedure in place with our business people we have to follow, and the board would have to approve any agreement.”

Alamo Stadium is the SAISD facility targeted by the Alliance. The league also is looking at using football stadiums operated by the North East ISD and the Northside ISD.

“We don’t have anything finalized,” Northside athletic director Stan Laing said. “We have a process we have to go through with our business people. There is no agreement.”

North East athletic director Karen Funk, however, said her district has sent the Alliance a “tentative contract” and that she “fully expects” it to use Comalander Stadium and Heroes Stadium.

“Their practice times won’t interfere with anything we do at our schools,” she said. “We think it will be good for everybody.”

A source said Trinity University also was contacted by the Alliance, but only for use as a regular season practice site.

Officials with San Antonio Sports did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.

In the release from the Alliance announcing the training camp, Nirenberg said: “Since our very first conversation with the Alliance, we knew this would be a positive relationship for our entire city. We’re pleased to offer all eight teams state-of-the-art training facilities and the city’s support as they work to build their teams’ foundation.”

The Alliance announced during June at a news conference at City Hall that San Antonio would be its eighth and final franchise. It’s scheduled to play its home games at the city-owned Alamodome, but San Antonio officials have declined to discuss terms of a proposed rental agreement.

Veit said the Alliance also is looking at using the Alamdome as one of its training camp facilities.

“We will be using the Alamodome,” Veit said. “Obviously, there are a lot of events in it. … But that is one of the facilities we will be looking at.”

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However, the city’s Convention and Sports Facilities Department said the dome would not be involved.

During the training camp, each team will trim its roster from 75 to 52 players. The event will bring an estimated economic impact of $8.8 million and 15,000 to 16,000 hotel room nights, according to the Convention and Sports Facilities Department.

According to the mayor’s office, the city will submit later this month an application to the state’s Events Trust Fund for reimbursement of local expenses.

The Events Trust Fund is designed to defray the costs of some large events by paying state taxes collected during the events back to event organizers.

Veit said the Alliance hopes to train long term in San Antonio. The league chose San Antonio primarily because of the warm reception it received from Nirenberg and because of the city’s reputation as a “great convention town,” Veit said.

“We looked at multiple cities across the country and there were some great options, but we really felt San Antonio was the best for us,” Veit said. “And San Antonio is a football city. You guys have some of the best facilities for football I have seen in my career.”

The league’s other teams are in Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Memphis, Tenn.; Orlando, Fla.; Phoenix; Salt Lake City; and San Diego, Calif.

The league is the brainchild of Bill Polian, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame after a long career as an NFL general manager, and Charlie Ebersol, a TV and film producer.

“To have the opportunity to launch our inaugural season within the football rich state of Texas, but more importantly, the dynamic city of San Antonio is a testament to the passion and commitment this city has for the game we all love,” Ebersol said in a statement.

Tom Orsborn is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | torsborn@express-news.net | Twitter: @tom_orsborn