Impact Soccer

2 messages sur le forum de la USL:

posted 06-14-2005 07:08 AM
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Is the team still going to be around after their break? Word on the streets is that checks bounced and Field is nowhere to be found. The source of my info? The players themselves. A bunch of them were down at sand soccer and well lets say they weren't keeping anything a secret. That is sad when you don't pay your players, but then to skip town is even worse. Carol, what is going to happen with the team? They going to be around for the rest of the season?

posted 06-15-2005 07:38 PM
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I too have heard a change is about to take place.
I heard the USL has stepped in-- Mike is gone.. players are being paid again (in which they weren't-- I am friends w/ several players).
A'league' has made a pact to get a conglomerate of several buyers together to purchase the remains.............

Change is good.
Change is way past due!!

Time to move forward.

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Il semble donc que la ligue devra prendre le contrôle des Mariners pour le reste de la saison, comme ils l'ont fait avec Edmonton l'année passée.
Ils devront trouver d'autres investisseurs si ils veulent conserver une équipe là-bas.

Owner shopping Mariners; two groups have shown interest
By KYLE TUCKER, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 17, 2005



The Virginia Beach Mariners appear headed for their fourth ownership in as many years. Who that might be remains a mystery.

What is certain: In the face of anemic attendance and continuing financial woes, the pro soccer franchise’s current owner, Mike Field, is shopping the team. There are at least two potential local buyers.

Marcie Laumann — owner of the Hampton Roads Piranhas, a women’s soccer team — said she recently put together a group of seven local investors in hopes of rescuing the Mariners. The Mariners have averaged less than 800 fans per home game this season, have won just one of their first 13 games and at one point owed the city of Virginia Beach almost $90,000 in

past-due rent at the Sports-plex.


“I had been approached by some of the Mariners players because they were upset that their checks hadn’t cleared,” Laumann said. “I did a little digging and heard that the buzz was that Mike wanted to get rid of the team. I called my friends, as well as some people who’d said they were interested in recent months, and said let’s put the money together and do it. Within 48 hours, we did it.”

But when Laumann’s group contacted the United Soccer Leagues about trying to purchase the team , Laumann said league vice president Tim Holt told her an individual local investor already was talking to Field .

“Supposedly, there’s one mystery man,” said Laumann, the W-League Executive of the Year in 2001. “The league asked yesterday would we be interested in talking to this investor, and of course we would, because I think eight people strong is better than one.”

Reached at the league office Thursday, Holt said, “I can’t talk about any of it right now.”

Field did not return messages left for him.

Holt did comment on the cancellation of an exhibition match the Mariners were scheduled to play Wednesday at Wilmington, N.C.

“There was some internal business within the Mariners that needed to be taken care of that took precedence over putting resources into taking the team to Wilmington,” Holt said. “We want to put all that business behind us no later than the end of next week.”

As for the resources, Mariners Director of Operations Carol Senechal confirmed there had been paycheck problems with current ownership.

“There was a slight delay between the time the players received their checks and when the checks could be deposited,” Senechal said. “But all players have been paid and all checks have cleared.”

She declined comment on the possible new owner.

But Laumann, whose Piranhas were the W-League’s Organization of the Year in 2003, hopes her group is part of that equation. If not, she’d settle for a local at the helm. Field is a Virginia Beach native but conducts his auto business in Northern Virginia .

“I definitely think it’s going to take local ownership to be successful,” Laumann said. “It’s one thing to visit. It’s another thing to live, work, shop here. It makes a difference. We’re not talking about the NFL or NBA. We’re talking about minor league soccer, which can thrive if it’s deep-rooted in the community. I think to do that, you better live here.”

Field was hailed as a savior when he bought the Mariners in May 2002 after the franchise’s second ownership group bolted town during the season, leaving players unpaid. In 2001, the original owners folded the franchise and bought out of their 20-year deal with the city three years into it.

For his heroics, Field has been repaid by steadily declining attendance and mounting bills. But Virginia Beach Parks Coordinator Rick Rowe did say Thursday that since May, Field had been keeping up with the $5,000-per-home-game repayment plan for the team’s back rent.

Of the franchise’s impending sale, Rowe said, “It’s inappropriate for us to comment,” but added that if the team is sold, any new lease at the Sportsplex would have to be approved by the city.

An announcement from the league is expected in the next few days.


Staff writer Marisa Taylor contributed to this report