USL D3 Pro League (1997)
USISL A-League (1998)
Tombstone
Born: 1997 – USISL D3 Pro League expansion franchise
Moved: October 14, 1998 (Sacramento Geckos)
First Game: April 12, 1997 (L 3-0 @ Arizona Aztecs)
Last Game: September 6, 1998 (L 5-1 vs. Nashville Metros)
USISL D3 Pro League Champions: 1997
USISL A-League Championships: None
Stadium
University of New Mexico Track & Soccer Stadium (5,000)
Opened:
Surface: Grass
Marketing
Team Colors:
- 1997: Chartreuse, purple, red, gold & green11997 United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues Media Guide
Ownership
Owners: Pierre Koshakji, Johan Schotte & Terry Fisher
Background
The Albuquerque Geckos were a short-lived lower-division pro soccer club during the late 1990’s. The Geckos were part of the sprawling United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues, joining the USISL’s 39-team nationwide D3 Pro League as an expansion club in 1997.
The Geckos replaced the USISL’s recently folded New Mexico Chiles club in the Albuquerque market. Rod Underwood, the Chiles’ head coach from 1996, was hired to lead the Geckos in 1997.
Expansion Year Success
The Geckos won the South Central Division of the D3 Pro League during the summer of 1997, besting five Texas-based clubs. The D3 Pro League was the 3rd division of American pro soccer at the time, beneath Major League Soccer (D1) and the USISL A-League (D2).
22-year old Mexican forward Luis Labastida was the Geckos’ top offensive threat. His 20 goals and 9 assists ranked second on the D3 Pro League point-scoring table.
The Geckos hosted the league’s championship weekend in September 1997. After slipping past the New Hampshire Phantoms 2-1 in overtime on Friday, September 6th, the Geckos pasted the Charlotte Eagles 4-1 in the final two days later. The Eagles were (and still are) a club with an overt Evangelical Christian mission, owned by Mission Athletes International. The club has drawn criticism for its discrimination against gay players and religious test questions on tryout forms.
“Winning doesn’t mean as much to us as to other teams,” Eagles forward Jon Payne told The Charlotte Observer (9/8/1997). “But it still hurts.”
Promotion & Demise
The Geckos stepped up a level in 1998, joining the 2nd Division A-League.
The club’s sophomore campaign rapidly devolved into a brutal case study on promotion/relegation. The Geckos’ revenue remained paltry. The Geckos drew barely 1,000 fans per match at the University of New Mexico Track & Soccer Stadium. The team’s thin game program featured only a handful of sponsor advertisements, several of which were clearly trade-outs. But on the expense side, Albuquerque was now committed to nationwide play and air travel costs. The team’s 1998 schedule included road trips to British Columbia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Tennessee and elsewhere.
The Geckos reportedly had the 2nd lowest payroll in the 28-year A-League in 1998 (Albuquerque Journal 9/22/1998). And it showed. The defending 3rd Division champs went 5-23 in 1998 and were outscored 108-41. Much of the damage came during the season’s final month when the organization stopped paying its players. Seven Geckos walked off the team in protest.
The Geckos moved to Sacramento, California in October 1998. The original plan was for the team to former a partnership with the Sacramento Knights of the World Indoor Soccer League and have year-round play with shared rosters and front office resources. But that plan collapsed in early 1999. The Sacramento Geckos got off to an 0-13 start in the 1999 A-League season, lost their ownership and saw their franchise re-possessed by the league. The ex-Geckos finished out the season as “Team Sacramento” and never picked up a win. They finished 0-28 and went out of business.
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