In this week’s AC St. Louis podcast, Dave Trotter and Gerry Wittmann discuss the current financial situation at AC St. Louis.
We look at all of the current financial possibilities at the club. We also discuss the Athletica (somewhat) and how they are connected to this financial situation as well.
Finally, we do a recap of the FC Tampa Bay Rowdies match, which AC lost 3-0.
Enjoy
Click here for the podcast.
Filed under: AC St. Louis, Podcast, Tampa Bay Rowdies |
The NASL Fanatic! 
Nice podcast. You are correct that material misrepresentation of the management (yes, this means Cooper) caused the current problems.
However, you are incorrect in that NASL required a bond or is fronting cash to assist AC St. Louis. NASL is a phantom conference, as is USL.
USSF, under FIFA regulations, requires a performance bond. As has been reported,USSF released a portion of the bond to allow them to meet their payroll obligations.
Let’s keep the facts straight, otherwise this was a good podcast! Keep up the good work, and go AC St. Louis!!
I appreciate the podcast, especially since no one in the Front Office is making a statement. I guess my question is about the organization. Technically we are a first year team and maybe the team was thrown together a bit hastily, but the staff that runs AC STL has been in place and running a professional soccer team at Soccer Park for a year now with Athletica. I would have thought a lot of these expansion team problems would have been ironed out over last year with Athletica and they could use some of that blueprint in running AC.
I do know that almost all the people in the Front Office are doing double duty- that is, the marketing department has to market both the men’s and the women’s team. Do you think its a mistake having them split their time? Are they stretched too thin to do both teams any good? Certainly some jobs have more overlap than others, perhaps this explains why things aren’t running as smoothly as they could be.
Also, I’d like to know how our payroll compares with other teams in the league. Obviously Ralston is probably getting paid over league average, but where exactly are we spending the money? If its tied up in player contracts then we may have to re-evaluate our roster.
Your facts about payroll being met, are incorrect as well. Payroll last Friday May 21, 2010 was not paid to the AC St. Louis players. As of this morning Tuesday May 25,2010 the players have NOT been paid. No one in the front office has talked with the players since May 21, 2010 about being paid. On May 21, 2010 the players were told they would be paid Monday May 24, 2010, that did not happen. Players did show on Monday and conducted training like professionals. Today, Tuesday I am told all players will show and train as professionals again. All players have rent and other financial obligations due in just five days. No player will talk with anyone about this situation because they are embarrassed of the situation they have been put in. If you have ever been a professional athlete you know the gut wrenching feeling, that is going on inside each player. They want to play! They want to win! They want to be a team!
We did this podcast early on the 24th, so we didn’t know if they were paid or not. But we have been told, along with a number of other media sources, that they would be paid out of the bond. Now, as far as when that date is, we do not know.
I guess that we know that they are going to be paid, but nobody has told us that specific date.
I believe that owning soccer park is hurting us in the short run because we are responsible for every aspect of the complex. If we leased the park from someone else then you wouldn’t have to pay for day to day upkeep and would only be paying when you need the park.
Yes you would not be making as much in concessions and parking revenue, but you also wouldn’t have to pay for landscaping and other overhead.
There will be a point that owning the complex is more beneficial, but we have to get there with continued fan support!
I just figured that the team might have some income coming in from the park, from hosting events and conferences as well. But, again, I have no clue.