was not only a bad owner but made sure he didn't lose one penny on the Athletica. Stuck some guy with the $3M he lost. i can see why the mls looked with way when he showed up. i guess he can't go after the guys in london to recoup money from them. Jeff Cooper to recover $3 million after St. Louis club’s fallout BY JEFF KASSOUF, ON APRIL 29TH, 2011 Reports out of St. Louis state that former St. Louis Soccer Club owner Jeff Cooper stands to recover $3 million from a Missouri man who failed to carry out an agreement to purchase a controlling interest in the club. According to the Madison Record, Cooper agreed to sell his controlling interest to Gateway Sports, a company owned by St. Louis native Ryan Woods. Gateway Sports was supposed to transfer $3 million to Cooper once the deal closed and, according to Cooper, the deal did in fact close but no money was received. That of course helped lead to the mid-season demise of WPS’ St. Louis Athletica, which abruptly closed up shop and released all players last May. The men’s team, A.C. St. Louis, soon followed, officially shutting down earlier this year. Part of the old Collinsville, Ill. site that was supposed to be part of a $572 million soccer complex is now for sale. WPS fans were irate over the collapse of St. Louis Athletica, although the league would have been worse off had it decided to financially support the team through the end of the season. Following the collapse of Athletica, the issue of off-contract compensation was raised as teams found ways to work around the salary cap.
I read that a couple of days ago. It may come to pass that Jeff Cooper may be the only one who never lost money on WPS as an owner. How ironic.
But IF the deal in fact did close then WOODS is the one at fault for not paying Cooper. Of course you can blame Cooper for other things. Like you said we don't know all the details but IF the deal went through the Athletica could still be alive in Woods kept his word. WHY didn't he pay?? He wouldn't close the deal if he didn't have the $3 million to pay Crapper!
Just imagine if the deal went through and Woods paid up. WPS would have the minimum 6 teams and league might not have folded after all! Cooper and Woods screw up seemed to cause a domino effect of teams folding across WPS! JUST THINK WHAT MIGHT'VE BEEN!
Woods' deal was for AC, not the ladies. the time lines don't match. cooper is a douche and was dumping his depth off on anyone willing to sit at a table with him.
...wow, can someone lock this thread (and many others)? Four more days and that would've been a full year-old necropost.
wow, it's amazing you keep track of the dates on threads. i thought it was just started. i guess dating threads isn't that important to me. then again, it's just a board.