Post by Banana Cat on May 17, 2011 20:19:25 GMT -5
Another tale of a market burned by either a conman or unprepared idiot who turned tail and ran...you choose. The league's support has been terrible as well, this league really needs to die...like right now. The SIFL is approaching NIFL levels here.
www.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=4528&SID=29
www.lagniappemobile.com/article.asp?articleID=4528&SID=29
Breaking down the breakdown
By Johnny Davis
MAY 17, 2011
He came, he saw, and it appears he screwed us over. You name ‘em ... it looks like Ray Ward screwed ‘em. Of course, Ray Ward was the owner of the local Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) team, the Tarpons. He rode into Mobile a few months ago with big promises of establishing a legitimate professional sports team. In the end, it turned out to be a big sham.
The team played two home games, and then Ward skipped town, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, here in Mobile, everybody was left screwed over: the players, the coaches, the season ticket holders, the sponsors, the Mitchell Center, local businessmen and pretty much anyone in the area who cares about Mobile.
The city of Mobile received a sports black eye it may never recover from. The players and coaches never got paid. The season ticket holders didn’t get an entire season. The sponsors got next to nothing for their money. Ward skipped out on a nearly $30,000 tab with the Mitchell Center. Local businessman Roland Turner says he is out nearly $40,000 because of Ward. Ward even walked out on equipment and apparel debt to Bowen Sports and Riddell. According to Turner, the money for several pairs of shoulder pads ended up coming out of the paycheck of a local Riddell representative.
And indeed, he even got us. The Tarpons had an advertising contract with Lagniappe.
Oddly enough, when it came time to pay, Ward was "at a funeral,” so he had a colleague use her credit card. It just doesn’t get much sleazier. Altogether, it’s a pretty sizable list of people Ward burned, but there may be countless others who just haven’t come forward.
In an interview before the season, Ward told me he would be here 30 years if that’s what it took to make the Tarpons successful. So what went wrong? Was he lying? Did he come to Mobile planning to screw us all over?
"All his actions point to that,” Turner said. "I spent a fair amount of time with Ray and I thought he was a man of integrity and character — right up to the point he stiffed me for an extra $1,500 the day he left.”
Turner said he wants to believe Ward came to town with good intentions, but things didn’t go according to plan.
"This guy screwed so many people, I just don’t know what to believe,” Turner said. "He’s either one of the best con men ever or he had a lot of dumb luck to pull all of it off. I just don’t know which one.”
Turner said he had to hire a lawyer because a letter was sent to Tarpons’ season ticket holders saying if they wanted a refund, they should contact Turner. According to Turner, that got started when Ward left town and the SIFL offered Turner the team. Turner told the SIFL that the games would have to be moved to a new venue because Ward skipped out on the debt to the Mitchell Center. This meant the schedule would have to be adjusted. Turner said the SIFL spent weeks "drawing up paperwork” while he spent more than $10,000 to send the Tarpons to away games.
After pressuring the SIFL to produce the ownership papers and adjust the schedule, Turner received an email saying the SIFL would be unable to change the schedule to accommodate home games, but he was welcome to pay for the Tarpons to travel to away games and then he would receive full ownership privileges for 2012. So, it’s no shock Turner declined ownership. As Turner put it, SIFL commissioner Gary Tufford is "yet to return a phone call, but he had no problem drawing up a letter saying I owed the season ticket holders a refund.”
A player’s point of view
Travis Barber was a player with the Tarpons during the months leading up to the games, and he thinks the team failed because of "bad management and a lot of gambling on unknowns.” Barber said he "saw the situation coming” and started asking questions.
When he couldn’t get a straight answer, he decided to leave the team to go play for the SIFL’s Huntsville-based team, the Alabama Hammers.
Barber said he started seeing red flags with the Tarpons as early as January: Ward claimed he had a lot of money, yet his cell phone was "an old flip phone held together with duct tape,” and he often asked to use players’ phones to make business calls. Ward promised the players a float in a Mardi Gras parade, and they ended up riding in the bed of a truck with nothing to throw out to the crowd.
Ward is said to also have promised several out-of-town players thousands of dollars per game, but once they got into town, they were informed they would be making less than $200 per game. (They never even saw that, though.) Ward told the players they would receive help attaining housing, but Barber slept in his car most of his nights in Mobile.
"I was trying to be dedicated,” Barber said. "I did what I thought it would take to get to the dream I’ve been chasing.” Barber said about a week before the first game the players were asked if they could buy their own equipment, and that’s when he knew it was time to cut ties.
"Everybody wanted it so bad,” Barber said. "We were willing to risk our livelihood just to be a part of something we thought was going to turn out great. There really was a lot of sincerity, heart and effort from the players and coaches, but they all got burned. Ray Ward took them for a ride.”
Barber said he thinks Ward may have been "a con man by accident.” He thinks Ward may have started out with good intentions, but "got in over his head” and instead of taking responsibility, he just "bailed out and ran.”
Not only did Ward’s actions cost Barber money, time and stress, it also may have cost him his good name. Barber said the players were offered 15 percent of any sponsorships they brought in, so he convinced some business owners to get involved. Inevitably, those business owners got burned by Ward, and Barber’s reputation is tarnished because of it. As far as Tarpons head coach Willie Gaston goes, Barber said he has no hard feelings toward him because "Willie was the only guy who would tell it to you straight.”
I spoke with Gaston and many others involved with the Tarpons, but there’s just not enough space here for all the scoop. Be sure to pick up the next issue of Lagniappe to find out what Gaston thinks about the man who left him high and dry. I’ll also include some Tarpons fans’ opinions, plus I’ll have an account of Ray Ward’s last few panicked moments in Mobile before skipping town.
Note: Ward could not be reached for comment. Several contact numbers for Ward have all been disconnected. The SIFL also could not be reached. Phone calls were not returned and emails received no reply as of press time.
By Johnny Davis
MAY 17, 2011
He came, he saw, and it appears he screwed us over. You name ‘em ... it looks like Ray Ward screwed ‘em. Of course, Ray Ward was the owner of the local Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) team, the Tarpons. He rode into Mobile a few months ago with big promises of establishing a legitimate professional sports team. In the end, it turned out to be a big sham.
The team played two home games, and then Ward skipped town, never to be heard from again. Meanwhile, here in Mobile, everybody was left screwed over: the players, the coaches, the season ticket holders, the sponsors, the Mitchell Center, local businessmen and pretty much anyone in the area who cares about Mobile.
The city of Mobile received a sports black eye it may never recover from. The players and coaches never got paid. The season ticket holders didn’t get an entire season. The sponsors got next to nothing for their money. Ward skipped out on a nearly $30,000 tab with the Mitchell Center. Local businessman Roland Turner says he is out nearly $40,000 because of Ward. Ward even walked out on equipment and apparel debt to Bowen Sports and Riddell. According to Turner, the money for several pairs of shoulder pads ended up coming out of the paycheck of a local Riddell representative.
And indeed, he even got us. The Tarpons had an advertising contract with Lagniappe.
Oddly enough, when it came time to pay, Ward was "at a funeral,” so he had a colleague use her credit card. It just doesn’t get much sleazier. Altogether, it’s a pretty sizable list of people Ward burned, but there may be countless others who just haven’t come forward.
In an interview before the season, Ward told me he would be here 30 years if that’s what it took to make the Tarpons successful. So what went wrong? Was he lying? Did he come to Mobile planning to screw us all over?
"All his actions point to that,” Turner said. "I spent a fair amount of time with Ray and I thought he was a man of integrity and character — right up to the point he stiffed me for an extra $1,500 the day he left.”
Turner said he wants to believe Ward came to town with good intentions, but things didn’t go according to plan.
"This guy screwed so many people, I just don’t know what to believe,” Turner said. "He’s either one of the best con men ever or he had a lot of dumb luck to pull all of it off. I just don’t know which one.”
Turner said he had to hire a lawyer because a letter was sent to Tarpons’ season ticket holders saying if they wanted a refund, they should contact Turner. According to Turner, that got started when Ward left town and the SIFL offered Turner the team. Turner told the SIFL that the games would have to be moved to a new venue because Ward skipped out on the debt to the Mitchell Center. This meant the schedule would have to be adjusted. Turner said the SIFL spent weeks "drawing up paperwork” while he spent more than $10,000 to send the Tarpons to away games.
After pressuring the SIFL to produce the ownership papers and adjust the schedule, Turner received an email saying the SIFL would be unable to change the schedule to accommodate home games, but he was welcome to pay for the Tarpons to travel to away games and then he would receive full ownership privileges for 2012. So, it’s no shock Turner declined ownership. As Turner put it, SIFL commissioner Gary Tufford is "yet to return a phone call, but he had no problem drawing up a letter saying I owed the season ticket holders a refund.”
A player’s point of view
Travis Barber was a player with the Tarpons during the months leading up to the games, and he thinks the team failed because of "bad management and a lot of gambling on unknowns.” Barber said he "saw the situation coming” and started asking questions.
When he couldn’t get a straight answer, he decided to leave the team to go play for the SIFL’s Huntsville-based team, the Alabama Hammers.
Barber said he started seeing red flags with the Tarpons as early as January: Ward claimed he had a lot of money, yet his cell phone was "an old flip phone held together with duct tape,” and he often asked to use players’ phones to make business calls. Ward promised the players a float in a Mardi Gras parade, and they ended up riding in the bed of a truck with nothing to throw out to the crowd.
Ward is said to also have promised several out-of-town players thousands of dollars per game, but once they got into town, they were informed they would be making less than $200 per game. (They never even saw that, though.) Ward told the players they would receive help attaining housing, but Barber slept in his car most of his nights in Mobile.
"I was trying to be dedicated,” Barber said. "I did what I thought it would take to get to the dream I’ve been chasing.” Barber said about a week before the first game the players were asked if they could buy their own equipment, and that’s when he knew it was time to cut ties.
"Everybody wanted it so bad,” Barber said. "We were willing to risk our livelihood just to be a part of something we thought was going to turn out great. There really was a lot of sincerity, heart and effort from the players and coaches, but they all got burned. Ray Ward took them for a ride.”
Barber said he thinks Ward may have been "a con man by accident.” He thinks Ward may have started out with good intentions, but "got in over his head” and instead of taking responsibility, he just "bailed out and ran.”
Not only did Ward’s actions cost Barber money, time and stress, it also may have cost him his good name. Barber said the players were offered 15 percent of any sponsorships they brought in, so he convinced some business owners to get involved. Inevitably, those business owners got burned by Ward, and Barber’s reputation is tarnished because of it. As far as Tarpons head coach Willie Gaston goes, Barber said he has no hard feelings toward him because "Willie was the only guy who would tell it to you straight.”
I spoke with Gaston and many others involved with the Tarpons, but there’s just not enough space here for all the scoop. Be sure to pick up the next issue of Lagniappe to find out what Gaston thinks about the man who left him high and dry. I’ll also include some Tarpons fans’ opinions, plus I’ll have an account of Ray Ward’s last few panicked moments in Mobile before skipping town.
Note: Ward could not be reached for comment. Several contact numbers for Ward have all been disconnected. The SIFL also could not be reached. Phone calls were not returned and emails received no reply as of press time.