Albany Patroons cancel 2021 season

“Unfortunately not,” head coach Derrick Rowland said. “Just too much going on. COVID just killed our program and there’s nothing we could do about it, so just made a decision we’re not going to attempt to even play.”

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo is allowing stadiums and arenas that hold 10,000 or more fans to open at 10 percent capacity, that doesn’t apply to Washington Avenue Armory, with a capacity of about 3,000 for basketball.

“What can you do?” general manager Michael Corts said. “Our situation, we can’t play a basketball game at the Armory (without ticket sales) … Not at this level. Not even close. We kind of anticipated it the entire time watching the world and what’s happening. It’s unfortunate because the league has grown substantially.”

Both Rowland and Corts said the Patroons will return to play a 2022 season.