Continuing Armada Issues

[BaseballJay]

A few things were passed along to me via email and phone calls from friends and fans. It's been great catching up with so many of them despite the news. Anyway, I thought I'd share.

http://www.lbpost.com/sports/General/7746

Then read the last paragraph of the "Team History" page, obviously written by someone in the GBL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Beach_Armada

Jay

[Hawk87]

Blair Field is an amazing spot. It'd be too bad if the Armada are gone, but it certainly looks likely. Are there any other spots in Long Beach or nearby that might work?

[BaseballJay]

I highly doubt there are other suitable places the Armada could play within the greater LA area. There is another field in Orange County that is/was a potential field that the Flyers were considering a few years ago when they were having trouble with their lease. In fact, the owners were leaning towards building a new stadium somewhere in Newport because no other long-term suitable locations could be found. A long time ago, the city of Santa Clarita actually had a contract to play and a General Manager named, but they couldn't find a suitable place to play either.

Here's another article that was passed along to me by a former fan of the team. I actually came to this board to find out more info., but I guess the Long Beach fans (who once ruled this forum) don't post here anymore.

http://www.presstelegram.com/search/ci_14006652?IADID=Search-www.presstelegram.com-www.presstelegram.com

Jay

[Hawk87]

Isn't the author of the article incorrect when he says the Armada doesn't have a contract for 2010? Yes, if new contracts with LBSU are written, then perhaps that voids the Armada's rights to their contract, but it wasn't official as of press time and not official now. And the author certainly seems happy that affordable minor league baseball will no longer be played a historic park...idiot.

[BaseballJay]

I think the author is correct. Typically, when two parties sign a contract, the rights transfer if one side sells his or properties or obligations to a third party. This is why in real estate cases involving toxic waste contamination, nobody wants to buy the parcel and take on the clean-up responsibilities. This is also why lendors sell your repayment responsibilities to third parties when you buy a home. Sometimes there is a provision in the contract that voids such responsibilities and obligations in a sale. I have no idea if this contract included such a clause, but if the GBL's lawyers were worth their salt, they wouldn't have included such a provision.

In this case, the city's lawyers (the city owns the field) recommended that the city revoke the contract because the Armada wasn't performing the terms of the contract. The Armada own the rights to the concessions for ALL games played at Blair, even for Long Beach State games, and this is largely how the team stays afloat. Obviously, if the city could sell the stadium AND the rights to the concessions to Long Beach State, they stand to make more money. Since the city wasn't making any money on the Armada because the Armada wasn't abiding by its terms, and the city had to deal with many other headaches with the team, they could make a heck of a deal with Long Beach to get rid of the field once and for all. On top of that, there were a number of year-round full time employees that maintained the field on the city's payroll, so the city will save several hundred thousand dollars there too.

I don't know the author of the article, but in slight defense of him, the beer and food prices at the Armada games cost more than the Dodgers and Angels. Some of it was better, some not as much.

[JFeld127]

Actually, food at Armada games was cheaper than Dodgers Stadium. Concessions was run by SMG Food & Beverage, the same big company that does the Grand Prix, the LB Convention Center, and lots of other stuff. Hot dogs were $3. Beer was $5. And there were plenty of discount beer/hot dog nights as well in 2009, unlike in past years.

[BaseballJay]

Ah. I didn't go to any games last year. I didn't realize that Fred didn't have the contract anymore. I think he had it for two years. Thus, the concessions have gone through at least four contractors in five years. So at best, the food options and prices have been inconsistent.

[frstbasmn13]

Well, I guess I should wait to buy my Armada shirt and hat until this is figured out to see if it goes on sale if they aren't able to start the season.

[YumaHeat]

I live in San Diego, Ca and I can't believe Dave Kaval in this article in here saying we pay all our bills, what a lieing rats ass, they owe money all over the place, I used to like going and watching games in Yuma but all the fun people are gone and they have a lame duck president (mm) thats the initials and I tried talking to him and he has jerk written all over his face. Good job GBL for keeping him around he is burying you guys there and has no communication skills at all. Pay your bills in all your markets and maybe the people will come as they can't stand people who owe and lie. I love going to LB and watching games but they need another ownership group in there and another team. I loved the heat and watching Yuma but it was the columbians, what a joke that was. Then they have been in and out of what 12 cities in 5 or 6 years from folding etc, thats something i'd want to invest into..

[Hawk87]

There have been rumors that High Desert of the Cal League has been looking at Chico as a place to move. Was thinking, would Chico State do as the city of Long Beach is, and be more than willing to pull the plug on the Outlaws contract for Nettleton? Chico is rabid for their baseball, and having an affiliated team in town would seem to shoot support through the roof.

Just rumors though...I highly doubt something for this coming season would be done at this late a time.

[BaseballJay]

It now appears that the Armada are suing the City of Long Beach:

http://www.gazettes.com/articles/2010/01/05/community_news/doc4b43e0316dda3566034161.txt

There are several interesting things that jump out at me from this article. First, I know from personal experience that the GBL doesn't have the financial resources to pay attorneys to file such a claim. The GBL claims to have an attorney named Steven Kay on its webpage (http://www.goldenbaseball.com/bios.aspx?SecID=125), but when I worked for the Armada, they asked me on several occasions if I would serve as their lawyer for a few matters involving the franchising of a team in the city of Santa Clarita (I had been a city attorney for Santa Clarita). I never did any legal work for the GBL, but I was "on call". Never once did Steven Kay's name ever come up.

So what's interesting is that this lawsuit wasn't filed by Steven Kay. It's filed by a guy named Alexander Polyachenko. Polyachenko is the partner of former Armada president Steve Bash (http://members.calbar.ca.gov/search/member_detail.aspx?x=214515). Bash is the same guy who bought the established Long Beach Ice Dogs minor league hockey team and ran it into the ground in less than a year. The GBL then hired Bash (hoping to utilize his community contacts, sponsorship database and his wallet - they were hoping he'd buy the team) to run the Armada. What the GBL's investigations didn't turn up is that Bash and the Ice Dogs owed the City of Long Beach a substantial sum of cash. This information was all told to me by former Ice Dogs employees and confirmed to me by City of of Long Beach officials while I was with the Armada. In fact, the number I was given that the Ice Dogs owed the City was in the hundreds of thousands, not to mention what the Ice Dogs owed its employees, fans and sponsors. When the city refused to take far less cash, Bash and Ice Dogs were forced to close. The Bash Experiment with the Armada lasted just over a year. Bash continued to annoy city officials by not informing them of his antics. On one occasion, he failed to alert them that he was going to blow up a Michael Vick jersey on the field during a game. Such an act required a fire marshal and a permit. When the city official in charge of the field heard of this just prior to game time, the official drove two hours from vacation to attend the game to make sure that this didn't happen. I was often called into Armada organizational meetings with the city because the city came to learn that Bash was unreliable and unpredictable. Needless to say, Bash and the city never saw eye to eye.

Thus, what is clear to me is that the league, which didn't have the best departure with Bash, and Bash have set aside their differences to go after a common enemy: the City of Long Beach. There is no doubt that Bash and Polyachenko are doing this on the cheap, hoping for a little revenge. After all, Bash doesn't want his name associated with the closure of BOTH of the City's minor league franchises.

The second thing that jumps out at me is Long Beach City Attorney Shannon's assertion that the GBL can "file whatever lawsuit it wanted to file." He doesn't seem intimidated in the least by the lawsuit, probably seeing the lawsuit for what it really is. Indeed, Shannon could line up a list of hotels, sponsors, vendors and employees who either never got paid or waited way too long to get paid. This endless list would probably go far to a jury to establish that the City was likely never going to get paid.

The last thing that jumps out at me is that Tony Soares, the GM of the Armada, didn't return comment. This is likely due to the fact that, according to one Armada employee spoken to just a few days ago, the league has closed down shop and handed out final paychecks to all Armada employees. Thus, Tony couldn't speak on behalf of the Armada because he likely isn't employed by them any longer. By the way, my experience with Tony was always positive. When he was with the Ice Dogs, Tony and I tried to cross market our franchises and he seemed full of interesting ideas. I hope that his association with the Armada doesn't taint his future.

[ChicoOutlawsFan]

I think all of the private owners of teams in the GBL should takeover of the league. Better opportunities. No surprise that these tactics are being used and not too many people are calling them out on it publicly.

[Softball Chick]

I have heard all different things about the Armada folding. The last I was told by a memebr of the Armada Management was that they would have a definitive answer on the 15th of January. I for one hope that the team stays and plays for many seasons to come. I am a season ticket holder and Host Family. Although I do not always agree with League or team decisions, it is a great venue, a great sport and a great place for true baseball fans to come and be a part of the action. The prices are kind of high and the food last season was not great, but the overall baseball experience is priceless.

[Hawk87]

So, Templeton managing the Outlaws surely foreshadows that the Armada are adrift?