Company's fiscal woes hamper local sports leagues

Sunday, January 11, 2009

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The soccer club needs to raise $10,000 to stay open.

PINELLAS COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Pinellas County soccer club is one of hundreds of youth sports organizations trying to recoup millions of dollars from an online registration company.

Parents whose children play in the Gulf Coast United Soccer Club recently found out that the online company in charge of collecting their annual fees ran out of money and stopped funneling funds back to the soccer club.

The club had been using Count Me In, Corp. - or CMI - for three years without incident, but they recently got word from the Washington State-based company that they would not be receiving the $112,000 owed to them any time soon.

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"We've been using them for about three years, and it's a great system as far as when it works," said coach and parent John Hockin. "The problem is they've been keeping our payments for the last three or four months, so they haven't passed that money into the club."

The company released a statement in which it admitted to mismanagement of finances. It said the company is making efforts to repay $5 million to 220 sports organizations across the country.

Now parents are wondering how they will keep the club afloat without that money.

"Well, I'm disheartened because they stole my money because I paid with a debit card, so now my debit card money is somewhere at CMI," said parent Sherri Callahan.

"It"s like taking candy from a baby," said attorney Peter Rivillini. "To see this company walking away with, I think, they've got like $5 million of youth sport team money, it's just a pity and hopefully they'll be brought to justice."

Rivillini, who represents Gulf Coast, said the league hasn't filed a lawsuit yet because they are not sure if it would be worth it to invest resources to get money from a company that doesn't have it.

The parents met Friday night at the Belleair Town Hall to talk about fundraising efforts. They are holding special soccer camps to raise money, and they are also planning to have a rummage sale and hold raffles and car washes. Several local businesses have made donations as well.

In all, the club needs $10,000 as soon as possible in order to keep the fields in shape and to pay referees for upcoming games. If they are unable to raise that money, the club will have to shut down.