Riverhounds file Chapter 11

Discussion in 'Pittsburgh Riverhounds' started by Vesty, Mar 27, 2014.

  1. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Uh oh... this email went out this morning.

     
    msilverstein47 repped this.
  2. SoccerPrime

    SoccerPrime Moderator
    Staff Member

    All of them
    Apr 14, 2003
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    On the bright side it sounds like the problem was the last owners not Tuffy the guy who bought them in the offseason. And they promise 2014 will go on.
     
  3. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds



    Speculation is all over the place but after the knee jerk reactions it seems like this isn't a horribly big deal.

    A shock jock radio guy says he's got the "real story" on his show later. He has a bit of a vendetta against the Hounds so it'll be interesting to see what he says.
     
  4. mikehurst21

    mikehurst21 Member

    Oklahoma City Energy FC
    United States
    Nov 6, 2013
    Moore Oklahoma
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Not really expansion news, rumor or wishful thinking. This is not a catch-all USL Pro thread.
     
  6. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Because if there's one thing shock jock radio guys are great at, it's at finding out the truth.

    It's not Madden, is it? Because that guy's a jagov.
     
  7. ManuSooner

    ManuSooner Member+

    Nov 15, 2007
    Oklahoma City
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  8. ManuSooner

    ManuSooner Member+

    Nov 15, 2007
    Oklahoma City
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  9. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Yeah it is and yeah... he is. He's never been friendly towards the team. He's one of those "if it's not top flight then it's not worth my time" kind of guys.

    -edit- Someone took a look at the bankruptcy documents-
    http://jamespanderson.tumblr.com/post/80883950674/riverhounds-bankruptcy-details
     
  10. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    While throwing out the term bankrupcy is never good it seems in the long run this won't be too big of a deal, and is mostly a CYA thing while they continue to restructure the organization. They've stated this won't effect the team's operations, and all the moves made during in the off season don't indicate that they think their days are numbered.
     
    redinthemorning repped this.
  11. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    They did just build that nice little stadium. Hopefully just re-organization and they continue as a going concern.
     
  12. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    All indications is the stadium is what this is about. That thing was expensive and fully paid for my the Hounds. They got a new majority owner late in the season last year and he's still shuffling around some of the debt.
     
  13. ceezmad

    ceezmad Member+

    Mar 4, 2010
    Chicago
    Club:
    Chicago Red Stars
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    Good info here.

    80K/20 = 4K average monthly salary.

    That is actually a higher average that I was especting for lower D teams.
     
  14. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Is that only players?

    It would be higher, certainly, than one would expect, and well higher than what Pittsburgh clubs have been able to afford in the past. Prior to the stadium, they were one of the lowest-payroll teams in the league.
     
  15. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    It didn't say specifically. We currently have 18 signed officially signed players and the FO is definitely bigger than 2 people. I would guess that's only players.
     
  16. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This lists 23 employees, some of whom may or may not be actually employed by the entity seeking protection.

    I would not think they would ask to continue to pay some employees (e.g. players) and not others (e.g. front office staff). I would find it easier to believe that the front office/technical staff salaries were $80k a month in the aggregate (if you included payroll taxes and obligations) than the players. That $80k figure may be a combination of the two sides, or merely one or the other. We don't know.
     
  17. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Well according to that guy's blog there's like 4 seperate entities involved here. Maybe players are under one but the FO is under another.
     
  18. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It's very possible.

    It would seem high for D3 players with a team that put out a big cash outlay (which, by the way, why?) for its stadium to average $4k a month. If they were paying $4k a month last year and went 10-8-8, that still seems high. If they only recently upgraded to an average of $4k a month, I guess we'd finally see what happens if you pay players more and if they suddenly play better. :)

    (Again, this is speculation...they want to pay 20 employees $80k a month, but they've got more than 20 employees, so we don't know which 20 they want to continue to pay.)
     
  19. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    More numbers for just the stadium- http://jamespanderson.tumblr.com/post/80889402771/highmark-stadium-bankruptcy-details

     
  20. Beadling Boy

    Beadling Boy Member

    Mar 11, 2000
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  21. buzz99

    buzz99 Member

    Mar 29, 2007
    Club:
    FC Barcelona
    Not the greatest time to file Chapt 11, but then no time is good. While there is a long list of creditors, most of the payables are modest/managable. Clearly the stadium debt is the biggest creditor which makes perfect sense. Pay the USL their fee and they will be happy and temper their comments.

    It's hard to imagine players getting $4k per month on average unless living expenses are factored in. That's close to MLS money for many players. Most guys probably make in the range $2,000 - $3,000 salary per month. Also, unless players are under multiyear contracts, most don't receive pay in the off-season (Sept-Jan) which is when some coach, play indoor, find another outdoor team or find other work.

    It will be interesting to see revenue.
     
  22. thomas19064

    thomas19064 Member+

    Apr 29, 2008
    Delco
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    sucky news... on the bright side with a stadium actually in place I would assume there will still be some sort of future for soccer in Pittsburgh even if it the Riverhounds don't survive this....
     
  23. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Aren't they doing this so they actually will survive this? Isn't that the point? This isn't a winding up of operations, this is a restructuring of debt brought on by paying to build the stadium.

    Which, by the way, is one big reason people don't just plunk down their own money for stadiums. They're not great deals unless they're significantly taxpayer-funded.
     
  24. Vesty

    Vesty Member

    May 8, 2007
    Pittsburgh
    Club:
    Pittsburgh Riverhounds
    Nothing worth wild from Madden (not surprising). Spent all of 90 seconds talking a passive aggressive swipe at people in the ownership who he already has a beef with. He wouldn't even take a call on it because "we're not going to talk about minor league soccer here."
     

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