River Plate-Puerto Rico Purges Roster; USL PRO International Division in Disarray
BREAKING NEWS – 7:00 a.m. CT:
Primera Hora newspaper journalist, Esteban Pagán has reported that the River Plate-Puerto Rico has purged its roster. Most of the players, including all of the international players, have been released and management is currently evaluating whether or not the franchise will withdraw from USL PRO.
Club Atlético River Plate-Puerto Rico is an official affiliate of the world-renowned Argentine club that bears the same name.
According to Pagán, the club’s management met with most of the players last night to delivered the news. Almost all of the players’ contracts were terminated, effective immediately.
“We were pledged sponsorships but the money failed to come through. Ownership decided that it could no longer continue to financially support the players under contract. It was decided that the team would be dismantled, leaving it with only Puerto Rican players,” explained General Manager, Claudio Álvarez-Dunn.
Mr. Álvarez-Dunn continued by stating that all of the players affected were not Puerto Rican based players. He added that they all had contracts requiring that the club provide them with lodging, food and a car. Most of the players found on River’s roster met that criteria, including forward Chris Megaloudis, Puerto Rican international.
Álvarez-Dunn also stated that River management would meet with representatives from the USL today, in order to determine the club’s future participation in the league.
Regardless of what happens with USL PRO, the club hopes to continue participating in the Puerto Rico Soccer League (PRSL). The squad for that campaign would be formed exclusively of players based in Puerto Rico. It is also expected to include Puerto Rican internationals Petter Villegas and Eloy Matos, both of whom remain under contract and are former members of the Puerto Rico Islanders.
River Plate-Puerto Rico was officially founded in 2007 by Steven Álvarez, who had worked diligently on the project since as early as 2004.
After several years of unsuccessful attempts to become a member of the USL professional ranks and with the defection of the Puerto Rico Islanders to the NASL, River finally got its wish (the Islanders franchise had refused to waive the exclusive USL territorial rights that it held.) In September of 2010, River realized its dream and held a press conference to announce that its membership request had been accepted by USL for USL PRO.
This season is the first that it is competing in the league. The team currently competes simultaneously in USL PRO, as a member of the International division, and the PRSL, the first division of Puerto Rican soccer.
The franchise originally played its home matches in the southern town of Ponce but has recently relocated to Fajardo, which is located in the northeastern corner of the island. The team is currently playing its matches in the San Juan Metropolitan area, at the Roberto Clemente-Walker Stadium, located in the city of Carolina. Its was to begin playing home games in Fajardo, after the construction of a planned stadium was completed.
In its short history, the club has won several trophies, including the 2009 PRSL championship. With that accomplishment came an automatic berth to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championship.
The club is currently the reigning champion of Puerto Rican soccer, after having defeated the Puerto Rico Islanders FC in the 2010 DirecTV Super Cup. The victory was held with great pride since the Islanders had recently been crowned the USSF D2 Champions. After the the victory (3-0, aggregate), River declared in its celebratory press release that it had “Done away with the ‘myth’ of the Islanders.”
That victory guaranteed the team a return to the CFU Championship tournament, which is also a regional qualifier for the CONCACAF Champions League.
In March, after overcoming enormous adversity and playing both matches with no reserves (the result of visa issues) in the Cayman Islands, River valiantly defeated Bodden Town.
Last month, after again being forced to play both games away from home, the squad failed to advance in the next round of CFU play, falling to Alpha United of Guyana.
River currently finds itself in the basement of the the USL PRO International Division, with only 2 points after having played five USL PRO matches and failing to win a match.
While it has struggled on the field, it has also struggled with poor attendance at its temporary home. According to official league match reports, the club only drew 315 spectators in its season opener, facing local rivals, Sevilla-Puerto Rico. Later in the month, it only drew 128 when it faced L.A. Blues and 127 people attended its match against Barracuda FC of Antigua.
Based on information provided from some of the fans who attended the aforementioned matches, most of the spectators who did manage to make it to the River home matches attended free of charge.
About two months ago, Mr. Álvarez publicly disclosed that he’d been dealing with some very serious medical issues and was forced to relinquish control of the club. Subsequently, there were organizational changes and new investors were brought in. Mr. Miguel “Mike” Roca, the former PRSL president and founder, took the helm and was joined by Mr. Claudio Álvarez-Dunn, a very respected journalist and media specialist. Although Mr. Steven Álvarez remained active with the club that he had given birth to, he was forced to drastically reduce his role in order to better focus on his health.
Both prior to joining the USL and after its acceptance, River had boasted that it would be well prepared to face the anticipated economic challenges due to the fact that it was the beneficiary of a large operational budget.
Of the three Puerto Rican USL PRO clubs, River was considered by many Puerto Rican soccer fans (admittedly, not all) to be the island’s best hope to truly establish a second, high-caliber, internationally recognized, professional franchise to represent Puerto Rico; River was considered to be the “defacto” flagship of the USL PRO contingency based there.
This news is especially disheartening given that both Puerto Rico United and Sevilla-Puerto Rico are currently facing similar economic crises. With each passing day, followers of Puerto Rican soccer have more and more questions as to how things have managed to unravel so quickly in the professional ranks of the sport that so many love.
Update by bq at 7:30 a.m. CT:
A source who would not go on record has told IMS that the United Soccer Leagues have notified the USSF of this latest development and the organization will most likely make an announcement soon that they are dropping all three Puerto Rican teams in the International Division of USL PRO. Antigua and Los Angeles will continue to play in the league.
IMSoccer News will continue to keep you updated on this situation.
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As a Puerto Rican based soccer fan, I find this news disheartening. To put this all into context though, one must keep in mind that all pro-sports, AA baseball, volleyball, and basketball are struggling for attendance and for sponsors. The winter baseball league, which was at one time the pride of the Caribbean, is on life support. Frankly, it makes what the Islanders have accomplished even more impressive. They’ve had great success and even created an international brand in the harshest of sports’ climates.
I won’t even go into the “myth” of River Plate PR’s press release last winter. It still rubs many the wrong way- including me.
It seemed reasonably obvious from the jump that a D3 International Division was doomed to fail.
It is really too bad all the hard work by the longstanding USL franchises is jeopardized by the greed and incompetence of USL management. Unfortunate but not unexpected.
The strength of the league and it franchises is based on the sum of its parts. If the league is not growing strategically it is doing a disservice to its longstanding franchises. The USL and by extension lower division soccer will NEVER grow if the USL and other leagues continue to add franchises with ownership that do not have the financial or managerial wherewithal to achieve breakeven in a reasonable amount of time. And they will NEVER attract new ownership and money by repeating the mistakes of the past. Ownership of a minor league franchise is precarious but it should not be made more so by the bonehead moves of league management.
Yikes! Sounds like those long overdue D3 standards could be put to good use right now. Might be time to hold The USL’s feet to the fire to see if it changes anything, because from where I sit, its business as usual for The United Soccer Leagues!
Quite a shame…Although, I heard there were 3985674 people at the Orlando FC game the other night!
Well, that puts LA and Antigua in a bit of a pickle, doesn’t it.
Well. That well screw up my tracking D3 attendance.
LA’s going to finish no worse than 2nd place in the International Division. Not bad for an expansion team!
Shocking! I am so upset that I just can’t work at all today–headed home. (It is 80 and sunny–finally–in MN.)
Marcos, where are you? This division of USL Pro is your project isn’t it? Let’s hear a few words about the complete disaster the rest of the season is going to be in D3 thanks to this mess. Talk about a logistics nightmare. But you know, secretly, I bet the proper teams of D3 like Charleston, Richmond, and such were half-expecting this, and maybe even a little hoping for it, except maybe not so early in the season.
I just hope all the top D3 franchises are carefully considering their options with respect to next season at this point. Not only does this situation just cry out as being the SOS with USL, but if you’re a team owner in USL Pro right now, how much confidence can you have if the operations manager when reached for comment not long ago had nothing more constructive to say then “it’s news to me.” I mean really. Eh….I could just go one here about how I’ve predicted this division would be an epic fail, and USL Pro would lose more franchises from this season then NASL, guaranteed, but it would only serve to encourage Bart to make a post trying to defend USL in some way while of course bashing what looks to be a FAR more stable league in the NASL. LOL
I’ll just finish with this – Charleston, Rochester, Richmond, Wilmington, and Orlando, have you met Mr. Downs and Mr. Davidson???
Charleston, Richmond, et al are doing cartwheels right now. They don’t have to travel down to the Caribbean and stay there for 2 weeks playing a string of games. They can schedule friendlies during their new bye weeks.
The teams that get screwed here are LA and Antigua, which now have a grand total of eight and nine games left, respectively, and little to no way of making up for the travel costs they’ve already incurred because their home game slate just got decimated.
Oh man…..just went over to USL’s site and found this juicy tidbit awaiting the soccer public:
“In the best interests of USL PRO and its teams, it was necessary to remove the three PRSL teams,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis said. “USL PRO has established high standards which are an integral component of the league model, and we are determined to preserve the integrity of these standards on and off the field. Dealing proactively with this situation allows us to reset our daily focus on supporting the efforts of our USL PRO teams in maintaining the league’s position as the strongest, best operated domestic league below MLS.”
Established high standards?!? Really Papa?!? Please please please tell us ALL about the HIGH STANDARDS you use to determine entry into your league!!! Dealing proactively? Is that what was going on when the league operations manager was quoted as saying, “this is news to me”????? Oh man, I’m laughing so hard my co-workers probably think I’m off my rocker. And of course, the coup de grace of the article, the thing that tells you as much as the rest of the content of the article and the other stories about failing teams and low attendance – still trying to p!ss in the wind at NASL with the “best league below MLS” horse manure. Get a clue already you imbeciles! STOP trying to tell everyone how you are better than NASL and pay some attention to your own league before you lose any more teams!!! Holy schnikies!!!!
and like that there were 12
http://www.noquartersoccer.com/2011/05/and-like-thatthere-were-only-12.html
With the acronym C-A-R-P they should move to Minnesota.
@ Strikers Return
Thanks for the solid NASL vote and your overwhelming endorsement on the untouchable merits of NASL.
While you naysayers will not admit it, the information being presented, and CONFIRMED by PRSL, is that the requisite municipal funding that each of these three (3) teams counted on did not materialize. That is a political influence, folks.
I am sure that each and every one of you Supreme NASL supporters have IQs several notches higher than me, so please tell me that USL should have invented a crystal ball that would have told them that in spite of the PRSL assurances on funding, it would never materialize.
According to the news releases, this was supposed to have been a joint effort between PR and US to grow soccer on the islands. That means taking “not yet ready for prime time” players and growing their talent, which is ultimately what D3 is all about. This is not the precious D2 level where relegation is the only topic of the day.
Should USL have maybe been more cautious? Probably. Did they rely on third party promises to make this decision? From what I read, absolutely.
Is the remnant USL Pro league hurt by this? To the contrary, it actually bolsters their bottom line, and that is what this is all about at the D3 level.
I would say this is a win/win for D3, US soccer, USL Pro and the USL Pro teams in a large way.
As for meeting with Downs and Davidson, I am confused Strikers Return, has NASL started to believe smaller markets are the way to go? Has Traffic decided to start bankrolling more teams than it already is?Let’s just see how many NASL teams can survive without the Traffic grudge monies that is being paid out. Let’s see how long that subsidy will last. NASL is propped up on artificial sustenance this season.
Let’s see how many real teams survive without the crack funds……
Agree with Grant Stephens that by the time the 2012 season rolls around that USSF financial ownership standards commensurate with the D3 level need to be in place to prevent this from happening again. This is not just unfortunate for USL-Pro, but for all soccer in North America as it tends to tarnish everyone. From MSL-to-NASL-to-USL Pro, it is important for every level to be strong to continue to grow the sport.
@Bart
“Is the remnant USL Pro league hurt by this? To the contrary, it actually bolsters their bottom line, and that is what this is all about at the D3 level.”
Bart, I’d just like to thank you for finally saying exactly what the rest of us have been saying on these boards for years, and what you have been flatly contradicting all that time–what’s important to USL is their bottom line, not the number of teams they leave in rubble.
That you’ve managed to smuggle this admission into what you believe to be an indictment of holier-than-thou NASL supporters is, frankly, quite satisfying.
What’s more, you go on to say,
“I would say this is a win/win for D3, US soccer, USL Pro and the USL Pro teams in a large way.”
I doubt that the fans, owners, sponsors, and other stakeholders of these three teams (who at one time made up 20% of the league) would agree with you.
You see, I knew bart would come roaring out of the woodwork. LOL Bart, you can make all the excuses you want about this particular scenario. But if you stop for a moment and look at it in the context of well over a decade of failure for USL teams, then maybe you wouldn’t be so quick to jump to their defense.
No one around here says the NASL is perfect. We also don’t have any reports of NASL teams meeting with disaster and being removed from the league today. You’re just trying to do the same thing Holt and Papa are doing Bart, you’re continuing to attack the NASL when it isn’t them or any of their teams in the headlines of these stories.
As for the unquestioned solid teams of USL Pro and their potential future opportunities, why on earth would you not at least open the door to possibly jumping to NASL? If you’re a businessman, you always have to keep your options open and be ready to jump at an opportunity to better your business. How much confidence can ANY of the USL Pro owners have in the league at this point? A league where they have very little if any control over what happens? You think Clark, Rawlins, and the rest were on board with this whole International Division, thought it was a good idea, and gave it their stamp of approval? Hells no. They were told, this is what we’re doing, you’ll see, it’ll be fine. And now what? A schedule and season in total disarray. You’d have to be a complete jackarse to not at least consider the possibility of joining NASL next year if your organization meets the requirements. Otherwise you’re counting on USL to get it’s act together….again.
@BQ- thanks for directing me to this thread to find the spin of Bart.
…
@Bart- have you ever thought of being a spin-man? You would give Mark “Master of Disaster” Fabiani a run for his money! I admire your consistency, but at what point will you just admit that the USL is in it for the quick buck? What ever happened to due diligence?
Finally, why are you calling the money behind the NASL, “crack funds”?
@Trevor – You are 100% correct. I myself have been touting this sentiment all along. USL should have comprised their inauguarl USL Pro league of the teams that currently reside in the American and National divisions, and told LA to play in PDL until there were enough franchises ready to form a proper Western Division. THIS is what these teams and all of us fans were expecting when USL announced their new “REGIONAL” D3 league. Not some cockamamey International Division with teams in Los Angeles and the Caribbean. Complete nonsense. It was a joke, and now it’s the train wreck we all surmised it would be.
If I’m an owner of one of the remaining USL Pro teams, especially the big boys like Rochester or Charleston, I call Holt up today and say the following:
Listen carefully Holt. We didn’t want this ridiculous experiment going on in our league in the 1st place. It just died a painful death not even a quarter of the way into the season. Leave it dead and buried where it’s at. Tell Antigua after the season, hey thanks, but no thanks. Tell LA (if they survive) listen, unless we have at least four more teams in your region to put into a new Western division, you’re going to need to drop down to PDL until we do. Quit with the endless vendetta against NASL and focus on US, you know, the teams in the league you run that actually do have a good thing going. No more idiotic ideas. I don’t want to read about a new USL franchise possibly moving into Ft. Lauderdale. Things are going to change, and they’re going to change in these logical, simple common sense ways, or we’re out of here. Simple. Period.
First of all, great reporting by Jay Long….he has insight into the the workings of professional soccer in the islands that many of us lack. Cheers, Jay !
And although USL is going to obviously take some stick for their “strongest, best operated domestic league below MLS” mantra, personally I can’t find much reason to gloat. It’s a step backwards for professional soccer in Puerto Rico and although we can debate the wisdom of the USL incorporating the International Division into their USL PRO setup, I think this serves to remind all of us how precarious the existence of lower division soccer is in most markets, whether D2 or D3.
I started as a fan of lower division soccer as a ‘romantic,’ but am becoming more of a hard-bitten realist. Leagues need to cut their losses when it becomes prudent, and although this is a black eye for USL PRO and a regrettable setback for Puerto Rican soccer, its players and fans, USL PRO can re-draw their schedule and end up having a “successful” season as much as any season can in lower division soccer can be deemed “successful.” I wish I still had a local D2 team to root for and attend matches. but I’d rather do without than have a weak franchise drain the league from a financial and PR standpoint.
@ Trevor
You took my comments out of context, OR I may have written incorrectly. With the 3 PR teams gone, it helps the US based USL Pro teams bottom line, it DOES NOT help USL’s bottom line.
Pretty simple concept folks, with travel being reduced, good for the teams….with less teams, less revenue for USL, not good for USL.
So before y’all go on out and break open that champagne bottle for slamming my sorry little butt (it actually ain’t all that little) all over the place, take a step back and look at this logically and step inside the shoe of each interested party, the PRSL, the USL, the individual teams.
And @Strikers Return—–since you are not an owner, you pretty well miss the picture that the USL Pro teams all collectively voted on the teams for this year and the schedule. Everyone bought one. And further, if I was Orlando, I would want USL Pro to have new teams in both Ft. Lauderdale and Tampa. It only makes sense.
Davidson/Traffic should not be afraid of big bad USL in any event, can’t NASL take the competitive pressure in Ft. Lauderdale?
Even Devo in Rochester is calling this a big blow for the USL. It’s very unfortunate for everyone affected and soccer in general.
Bummers.
Most of the ownership of USL would not currently meet the USSF Division II standards. The ones that could meet the ownership minimums consciously decided to join a league that was “regional” to minimize travel costs.
Conceptually, the regional approach bantied about by USL last year is the appropriate approach to lower division soccer in North America. The problem is greed and incompetence by league management got in the way of a rational, strategic approach to league growth. This will not change as long as the knuckleheads running the league remain in charge.
This is admittedly a horrible public relations blow to the USL at this point in time. DeVo is absolutely correct.
USL went out on a limb to try to do something it had calculated to be minimal risk, and as all good deeds go, this one did not go unpunished.
Davidson, Nestor and group are smoking some big stogies and drinking some very fine wine from Nestor’s partner’s wine cellar at this point.
When one is handed crow, one has to eat it like a man…..
@bart- what do you mean by “crack money”?
@Bart – Again, you attempt to try and salvage something worthwhile from a pile of dog poo. USL is not better off today. USL teams are not better off today. First you have a blow to the league’s reputation, such that it is at this point anyway, and by proxy that means its teams as well since they decided this was the place for them.
Next, you have the logistics nightmare of having to realign the entire league and its remaining schedule. Sure you could slap something together in a couple days (and this is most likely what we’ll see), but that doesn’t make it easy. Plus, doing it in such a way as to be fair to all of their remaining teams would probably take a little more time and effort.
Cost wise, I don’t think this situation is doing anyone any favors, and it is probably going to be really hard on Antigua and LA. These two teams aren’t going to just play each other the rest of the year. The schedules have to be re-worked so both these clubs, far away from everyone else, has a balanced schedule of home games remaining.
Will the stalwarts of D3 make out ok in the long run because of this? You bet. And again, I’d bet the farm that the likes of Charleston, Orlando, and Rochester did NOT want these Caribbean teams in their league forcing them into higher travel budgets.
As for your comments about USL teams in Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale…..LMAO You really are entertaining Bart, I’ll give you that. If these morons in USL HQ’s had gone ahead with trying to put a D3 team in Fort Lauderdale, it might have died faster than these PR teams, and it would have made those 100 – 300 attendance figures over there look out of this world. You crack me up Bart. Is that the “crack” you were talking about earlier? Am I doing a bit of I told you so today? Sure, why not. After all the ridiculous garbage I’ve listened to about the NASL, Davidson, so on and so forth, why not? USL continues to blunder about, even when they finally have a decent idea. The regional set up for D3 is exactly what they should be doing. But they continue to let incompetence, lack of due diligence, and lack of focus drive their organization forward.
@ Strikers Return commented: USL is not better off today. USL teams are not better off today. First you have a blow to the league’s reputation, such that it is at this point anyway, and by proxy that means its teams as well since they decided this was the place for them.
The league’s reputation? Other than the maybe 46 or so folks that follow this stuff, who really cares? Even by your own statement, you admit the teams want to be in D3, and by some such wisdom, condemns them to some “blow” to the reputation. Nonsense, Kermit…
Am I doing a bit of I told you so today? Sure, why not. After all the ridiculous garbage I’ve listened to about the NASL, Davidson, so on and so forth, why not? </i?
Of course you should be gloating right now. I am convinced that His Royal Highness, King Davidson the First, is chomping on a stogey and drinking first rate malt scotch as the Florida sun sets.
USL may have done the right thing by letting the teams go, but this is a public relations problem for USL. I bet they anticipated that, however, as the problems did not just come up with the three teams.
Enjoy the Pina Colada!! Watch the sun set and as you walk past the palm trees listen to the waves that hit the beach on the east Florida coast. Today you were confirmed righteous.
Tomorrow is always another day….
Cheers..
@Bart – Last three paragraphs above – your best post ever. LOL
@ Strikes Return
You do understand the concept of dripping sarcasm, correct
@Bart – LOL Of course! Still your best post ever! LOL