March 4, 2008
It wasn't the smoke that people were hoping for as the City of Rochester is saying that they will take over PAETEC Park after Dan Williams said that he can not complete a deal with NBT Bank.
The interesting thing to watch will be who the other parties are that have supposedly been talking to NBT and caused the bank to change the structure of the deal that they had apparently agreed to with Dan Williams.
There are some that believe that the other group, or groups, are tied to a bank that may own part of the debt for PAETEC Park. I have heard talk of other people within the community that may have talked to the bank.
All that I do know is that Sam's 911 group still doesn't have any interest in owning and operating PAETEC Park. Their interest is purely with operating a USL 1st Division team in Rochester.
And with Mayor Duffy hinting that a deal could be done within a couple of days, it would appear that either the Dan Williams deal isn't dead or that someone else has been talking to City Hall, as well as the bank, recently.
This is going to make for some pretty good theatre as we move along.
News & Notes
- MLSNet.com, SBI.net, Big Apple Soccer.com, and the NY Times.com all have reports on the ugly scrimmage between the NY Red Bulls and Red Bull Salzberg Reserves. And it sounds like Scott Palguta looked pretty good during his 45 minutes of action in the second half.
- Miami deserves a second chance at an MLS team? How about giving markets like St. Louis a first chance at supporting an MLS team before going back to a market that has failed once already?
- It looks like Rochester native Jamil Walker is on the bubble with DC United this preseason.
- The NY Red Bulls must hate MLS' Discovery Rule right about now.
- It's old news, but I think that San Jose picking up Ronnie O'Brien from Toronto was a great move if ROB can stay healthy.
- Add Ronnie Ekelund to the list of former players turned technical director after getting the job with San Jose.
- You have to love the growth of soccer in this country when the Fox Soccer Channel is carrying Olympic Qualifying matches!
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.
