Albany

The Aurora Games are gone. Long live the Aurora Games.

Despite paltry attendance figures throughout the six days, the inaugural all-women sports festival will return to Albany, not only in 2021, but in 2023, as well.

And plans for a women's sports training facility appear to be coming to fruition.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy made the surprise announcement Sunday after the beach volleyball event at Times Union Center brought the Aurora Games to a close.

"We laid out the red carpet here in Albany County and let them know how special the Capital District is, especially Albany County," McCoy said. "This is just a foundation to build off of."

The Games brought 109 athletes from 25 countries into the area. Beginning Tuesday, competitions were held in tennis, gymnastics, basketball, ice hockey, figure skating and beach volleyball. The total attendance announced by Games organizers was 20,423, an average of 3,404 per session. Turnstile count for some events appeared lower than the announced figures.

Aurora Games executive producer Jerry Solomon said beforehand that keeping his creation in Albany would be based on attendance, reception of the athletes, and willingness to build a training and research facility for women athletes.

The athletes were well-received by those who did attend, according to Solomon, and it appears that he will get his wish with a new training facility.

"Let's put it this way," Solomon said, "we're having a discussion that goes beyond, 'Yeah, it sounds like a good idea.' Hopefully we'll be able to develop that in a way that makes sense for everybody. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have all these athletes here in this area training on a regular basis."

McCoy confirmed that there have been talks about "a sports complex, first of its kind, all-women's sports complex, here in Albany County, so these women won't just be here once every two years, they'll be here year-round, training at this facility."

Asked if it was a done deal, he replied, "Stay tuned. That's all I'm going to say. Stay tuned."

Solomon's idea would be to create an Aurora Games Training and Research Center that would extend beyond the conditioning of women athletes. He envisions developing products for women in sports and enabling research into medical and training elements.

"This would be a great place to do it," he said. "Relatively speaking, it's a pretty easy place for athletes from all over the world to get to, and that is damn important to what we're doing."

As for the Games themselves, a lot of changes could be made before their return in two years.

"We have some thoughts on how we're going to expand and add some venues and do some other things to make it even that much bigger," Solomon said. "It already, in many ways, is bigger than I thought it would be, just coming out of the week. I have people talking to me about how we're going to deal with some of the demand that has come as a result of this week."

One item that will be near the top of discussion list will be the date. The Aurora Games chose Travers week — when most of the Capital Region's attention is on the horse racing at Saratoga — for its venture. The Travers drew 48,213, and the Premier Lacrosse League, which brought its traveling circuit to the University at Albany over the weekend, attracted more than 10,000 over two days.

"I'm not sure whether being the week of the Travers is a plus or a minus," Solomon said. "On the downside, everybody's focused on the race, and there are a lot of people on vacation. On the upside, there are a lot of people here for the race but are looking for other things that will attract them. All these things will work both ways. We will for sure look at the dates. Having said that, it's going to be at a time where we can be outdoors with events as well as being indoors."

Times Union Center general manager Bob Belber, whose arena was host to the main events, added a different take on scheduling.

"I like personally the mid-April dates, around the second or third week of April," he said. "By that time, NFL is over, NCAA major championships are over, the kids are still in school, which is a plus, being able to reach out to sports teams from all levels of different schools as well as colleges. It gives the marketing arm of the Aurora Games a better opportunity. I like those dates, but the athletes may not be available. There might be other World Championships going on. Those are all things we have to look at."

pdougherty@timesunion.com • 518-454-5416 • @Pete_Dougherto