The revived Arena Football League will have 16 — or maybe 17? — teams, but not a single one in our backyard.

The AFL announced its team locations Tuesday ahead of its scheduled 2024 relaunch. And the tri-state area was shut out. Travelle Gaines, the league’s deputy commissioner, said on Twitter the AFL tried to have a franchise in Albany, “but it didn’t work out, not by our efforts.”

Apparent Albany complications aside, it is not a huge surprise the region was skipped over. Spring/summer football just does not work here. If it did, the XFL would have put a team here for its relaunch. And the USFL would not have the “New Jersey Generals” playing in Ohio. That said, past AFL teams have resided in Atlantic City, East Rutherford, Hartford, Long Island and Manhattan, in addition to Albany. And the AFL had teams there and in AC when it last played in 2019.

The AFL announced eight cities — Austin, Boise, Chicago, Orlando, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Tallahassee and Washington — along with eight nebulous state/regions –California, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and West Texas. Which seems straightforward. But it is not.

It the AFL appears to have told media outlets, including The Washington Post, that it will have a team in San Antonio instead of St. Louis. So who knows. Cincinnati, Denver, Nashville and St. Paul will all reportedly get teams, plus four off-the-beaten-track locations: Salem, Oregon; Lake Charles, Louisiana; Odessa, Texas and Everett, Washington.

Our take: The original AFL lived far longer than it ever should have, including its brief moment of semi-prominence back in the early 2000s. The second version (and all the shambolic knockoffs nationally) seem like wastes of time. But people need things to watch on streaming services and bet on. If the AFL can establish a professional operation, feed all the mouths that 16 teams require and produce a quality product, it has a puncher’s chance at a viable business in theory. Because 16 teams and a 10-game schedule would give it double the inventory the USFL and XFL provide, which would be appealing to media partners.

James Kratch can be reached at james.kratch@xlmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jameskratch.

James Kratch is the managing editor of ESNY. He previously worked as a Rutgers and Giants (and Mike Francesa) beat reporter for NJ Advance Media.