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Athletica shutting down, AC St. Louis looks like it survived; 5 p.m.
update: League finally makes it official, explains situation going
forward
By Tom Timmermann
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Athletica players have just been told in a meeting at the Soccer Park
that the team is shutting down in the wake of the team’s financial
problems. AC St. Louis appears to have survived. They’re definitely
playing at Minnesota this weekend. It appears the Athletica won’t be
going to Atlanta.

All Athletica players are free agents as of June 1 and are free to
sign with any team. With most teams up against the salary cap, I’m not
sure how that will work. For a team to bring on Hope Solo or Lori
Chalupny, they’d have to drop another national team-type player to do
it. It might easier for a lower-paid player to catch on in the short
term. The league will go forth as a seven-team league, and the league
said it will reconfigure its schedule accordingly. Games already
played will continue to count in the standings.

“It’s incredibly difficult to lose a team in mid-season like this,”
said WPS Commissioner Tonya Antonucci. “We looked at a few options as
a league together with our Board and U.S. Soccer, but the operational
hurdles and finances just didn’t work out. In the face of a severe
funding gap in St. Louis, the local ownership group is shutting down
the team at this point.”

“This is a setback, but it’s one individual franchise and the loss of
a team is an unfortunate reality of pro sports,” said Antonucci.
“We’ll continue to have great games and an exciting season for our
fans. The solid foundation that we built in 2009 is there. We have the
same number of teams that we had last year during a successful first
season. We’ll get through this stronger and keep moving the league and
business forward.”

Here’s an official statement from team founder Jeff Cooper:

“The termination of Saint Louis Athletica is a painful outcome from
the funding shortfalls and ultimate default by the investors who had
the obligation to fund and operate the team on a day-to-day basis.
I’ve given this matter my complete attention since returning to a more
active role in the last few weeks, and numerous parties have spent a
lot of hours during that time exploring what options or solutions
might be available. Despite best efforts, nothing was found that would
answer the immediate needs of the franchise. With more time, it is
possible the answer to the financial challenges Athletica faced would
have been met, but unfortunately we do not have the benefit of extra
time. The investors who defaulted on a contract to fund Athletica
through this season and beyond broke a promise to a league, team,
players and a community, and that is what is most troubling about
today’s development. I am grateful for everyone’s support of Athletica
and am particularly appreciative of our players who represented the
sport and our community with such class and spirit.

Despite the disappointing outcome with Saint Louis Athletica, we
continue to work hard on securing the long-term future of AC St. Louis.”


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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