February 19, 2008
Ryan Whirty has put out his seven point plan for success with regards to the Dan Williams bid to take over the Rhinos and PAETEC Park.
Personally, I believe the question about what happens to the NBT debt should the City take control of the stadium has been asked and answered by the current Rhinos management. Their take is that the loans are the sole responsibility of the ownership group and would not be transferred to the City in the event that the Rhinos fold and the City takes over control of PAETEC Park.
That's why I think the best case scenario for the bank is to get the best deal that they can from Dan Williams now and not roll the dice on what might happen should this go to bankruptcy.
If Ryan's plan were to play out, one major concern I would have would be with regards to what happens to all the players currently under contract? A lot of fans have not liked the player turnover recently and if the team takes 2008 off, will that mean that fan favorites like Scott Vallow and Rey Martinez are gone and would be unlikely to return in 2009?
That would be an aweful shame and could put a hitch in a big re-launch of the franchise in 2009.
Also, Dan Williams has previously said that he would keep Matthew Ford on board to continue running the team. And that would appear to go against Ryan's suggestion to completely makeover the management of the club during the year off.
I really hope this doesn't end up in bankruptcy court. If it does, there is no telling what could happen. And I would be very surprised if any of the parties involved would have things go exactly as they have them planned out if that happens.
The people that really shouldn't want this to go to bankruptcy would be all the smaller businesses that are owed money by the Rhinos. I wouldn't like their odds of getting paid for the work that they've already provided should this end up in a bankruptcy situation.
News & Notes:
- US Soccer.com has a podcast interview with Dave Sarachan up today. Dave talks about his new role in scouting youth players for inclusion in the youth national team player pool.
- The Red Bulls waived four players yesterday. But, Scott Palguta is still in camp!
- Greg Lalas's latest 3-5-2 column at Goal.com talks about which is better for a player's career: playing in MLS or in Scandanavia. I've wondered for a while why players go to countries like Denmark and Norway as I've never seen too many players really advance their careers playing there.
- The City of Houston may pay over $15 million to secure a primo location for a new stadium for the Dynamo. Must be nice.
- Frank Yallop is talking playoffs in Year 1 of the San Jose Earthquakes v2.0. Cue the famous Jim Mora "PLAYOFFS?!?!?!?!" video..............
- The tale of two cities - Soccer Stadium Style. The mayors of DC and Chester, PA seem to be dealing with two very different situations when it comes to supporting new MLS stadiums.
- SBI.net says that the Revs are looking at bringing in a DP at forward to play up top with Taylor Twellman. Talk about the rich getting richer.....
The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author, and not necessarily those of the Rochester Rhinos or SoccerSam.com. Feel free to send any comments or complaints to news@soccersam.com. James promises to read (but not to respond) to all of them.
