Outlook ‘Dismal’ For Survival Of Hartford’s Professional Indoor Soccer Team – Hartford Courant

Prospects for keeping Hartford’s professional arena soccer club afloat are “dismal,” a lawyer for the team’s co-owner said Saturday as the club began selling off its logoed merchandise at half price.

William T. Gerace, who represents Mitch Anderson, the president of Premier Sports Management Group, said that no formal decision has been released, but that the outlook for the Hartford City FC is grim.

“As far as the soccer club is concerned, no official announcement but things do look dismal,” Gerace wrote in an email to The Courant.

Earlier in the week, the soccer club’s website featured T-shirts, hoodies and a scarf with the team’s blue-and-gold logo. As of Saturday morning, the merchandise page was headed by a large banner reading: “50% OFF — CLOSEOUT SALE — EVERYTHING MUST GO — NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES, ALL SALES ARE FINAL.”

The future of the team, which is still officially scheduled to play 10 games at the XL Center beginning Nov. 8, has been cast into doubt since The Courant’s revelation earlier this month that James Duckett Jr., who took over control of Premier Sports and the soccer team in July, has a felony conviction for embezzlement and has faced numerous legal judgments over unpaid debts. Days later, city officials said it appeared Premier Sports had overbilled the city for work on the redevelopment of Dillon Stadium in Hartford, where the team was expected to play beginning in 2017.

Local police and city auditors are now investigating those allegations.

Friday, an attorney for Quisenberry Arcari Architects, a firm hired by Premier Sports to design the new Dillon Stadium, said his client had submitted $817,000 to Premier Sports and that Premier had received payment for those bills from the city of Hartford. But he said Premier has failed to turn over $320,000 it owes to Quisenberry.

Gerace said Anderson does not dispute that Quisenberry is owed $320,000, but said all financial decisions for Premier Sports are controlled by Duckett. “He was the money man and no one wanted to rock the boat,” Gerace wrote.

He said Anderson “received no personal benefit from any of the money” paid to Premier Sports and that Anderson is “cooperating fully with all authorities and is anxious to turn over the books.”

Reached briefly by telephone Saturday, Duckett criticized media coverage of the stadium issues and asked that The Courant refrain from contacting him again.

“You guys have a slant and a curve and a twist on how you want to put things on,” he said. “I’ve got too many other things I got going on.”

He briefly addressed his embezzlement conviction, saying “what’s in black and white isn’t what it appears to be.”