Peter Schwartz, general manager of Long Island's newly-formed ENTFLA arena...

Peter Schwartz, general manager of Long Island's newly-formed ENTFLA arena football team, poses for a portrait at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Credit: James Escher

Peter Schwartz had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea. But seeing his new job spelled out in print on Wednesday made the surreal finally feel real.

“When I saw the business card for the first time, it really hit home,” he said. “I'm the general manager of a professional football team.”

It is true, a turn of events so improbable that it has been fodder for segments in which WFAN colleagues Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti have expressed genuine pride and happiness for him — mixed with bemused incredulity.

Schwartz himself called the entire thing “crazy,” a fill-in WFAN update man and occasional host charged with hiring a pro football coach, among many other tasks.

It began in December, when he got wind of a new arena football team coming to Nassau Coliseum. The sport had been a passion of his since his days as play-by-play voice of the New York Dragons, who played at the Coliseum from 2001-08.

“No disrespect to any of the other ones I’ve had, because I've had some really cool jobs, but it was the best job I ever had,” he told Newsday in an interview at the Coliseum.

Schwartz had dabbled in front-office duties with the team and league, but that league folded in 2009, and arena football was gone from Long Island. Until now.

After that December tip from a former Arena League executive, Schwartz was put in touch with Tommy Benizio, an official with the new ENTFLA, for Entertainment Football Association.

That led to Schwartz being hired as a “local adviser” because of his ties to Long Island’s football and media communities.

He was assigned to assemble journalists, businesspeople, politicians and others for an introductory news conference on Jan. 15. ENTFLA would have been happy to have 50 people show up. Instead, there were 80 to 85.

Five minutes after the news conference ended, league founder and CEO Doug Freeman offered Schwartz a full-time job as general manager.

“Peter showed that he's a gamer,” Freeman said. “We thought, here is a fellow who's taken a relatively small task and knocked it out of the park. He has a passion and love for indoor football. Why don't we talk to him at least and see if he has interest? And he had tremendous interest, and great ideas.”

William Rolack, the league’s COO, lived in Amityville and Massapequa for 27 years and knew of Schwartz.

“I’ve known Peter's name for many years, knowing that he's a standout guy, and knowing that he's well-respected and well-connected,” Rolack said. “Those two things are characteristics of Long Island that make things work.”

The ENTFLA initially will feature four teams — the Long Island entry, plus Morristown, New Jersey; Danbury, Connecticut; and Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Each will have a nine-game schedule, with Long Island hosting games on June 14, June 21, July 26 and Aug. 2.

Schwartz is confident that the team can fill the Coliseum’s lower bowl, which holds about 5,000. The least expensive ticket is $30, with discounts for children 12 and under and season-ticket holders.

The league aims to make its games day-long events, with tailgate parties before every game and concerts after them.

Schwartz plans to hire a coach with strong Long Island ties in the next couple of weeks, then let that person build a team.

“My hope is that whoever the coach winds up being takes all 18 roster spots and makes them all Long Island players,” he said. “That's what I would love to see.”

After that, Schwartz will focus on sales, sponsorships and marketing, filling the gaps in his experience by hiring experts in those areas.

The name and logo are to be unveiled on Feb. 21. Bringing back “Dragons,” or some variation of it, is among the contenders.

Schwartz was quick to point out that his job is akin to being the general manager of a minor-league baseball team, not to the Giants’ Joe Schoen or the Jets’ Darren Mougey.

But still, for a guy who moved from Forest Hills, Queens, to East Meadow in the fall of 1979, just in time for the Islanders’ Stanley Cup run, this is a special job in a special place.

Schwartz, 57, now lives in Wantagh with his wife, Sheryl, and sons Bradley, a long snapper at Western Connecticut State, and Jared, a high school freshman.

The league agreed to let him continue with his regular WFAN update shifts on Saturday mornings and Sunday nights, as well as his twice-weekly podcast.

“That was very important to me,” he said. “At the end of the day, yes, I'm general manager of a pro football team, but I'm also a radio guy with 35 years in the business.”

He also hopes to continue filling in occasionally doing updates on WFAN’s morning show, a high-visibility job Schwartz said changed his professional life.

The fact that Esiason and Giannotti frequently poke fun at him is part of the deal. (In 2023, Giannotti and then-Jets GM Joe Douglas poured two buckets of ranch dressing over Schwartz’s head at a “Boomer & Gio Live” event.)

“Gio obviously stretches the truth with a lot of things that I do, which is fine,” Schwartz said. “I giggle at it. My wife giggles at it, my kids . . . I don't mind it. I embrace it. I understand it. It's entertainment. It's sports radio.

“A lot of things that have happened to me the past few years, I owe a lot of it to Boomer and Gio. I don't even know if I get this job without Boomer and Gio.”

Freeman said interest in the new team spikes when it is mentioned on WFAN.

“It's so wonderful,” he said. “I'm tickled pink just listening. They’re just so hilarious. Good for Peter for being such a good sport, because Boomer and Gio, you know they have so much love for the man, but boy, they can rib him.”

Giannotti said on the air that he plans to attend the news conference when Schwartz introduces his coach and will ask pointed questions.

“The whole thing is cool,” Schwartz said. “I'm excited. This building means so much to me . . .  It's still Nassau Coliseum, with less banners hanging. That's why I want to hang some banners in the building.

“I couldn't be happier. I’m pumped up for this. I'm ready to make this a huge success.”

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