More than four months after the Aurora Games concluded in Albany, many participants in the all-women’s sports festival have yet to be paid for their services, the Times Union has learned.

The group of creditors include a majority of the athletes, personnel employed as part of the TV production, and additional support staff involved with the six-sport competition held Aug. 20-25 at Times Union Center.

Several of the unpaid workers said that payment contractually was due within 30 days of the conclusion of the Games.

“We’re working on that daily and getting closer to getting it all sorted out,” Aurora Games creator and executive producer Jerry Solomon said Friday.

Two of the investors confirmed to the Times Union that the Games endured losses in excess of $1 million.

“Without getting into all the details of the finances and everything,” Solomon said in regard to the unpaid participants, “it has been a matter of having to sort through how to get that all worked out.”

Eric Foster, hired as a camera operator for the Games, said he received three responses from Solomon about payment. “Jerry acknowledged that he was in receipt of my invoices and was working on getting everyone paid,” Foster said. “A timeline was not provided.”

Solomon would not provide a specific timeline when asked Friday.

Through various emails within the production crew, Foster said that all 22 people involved in the television broadcast have not been paid.

“We had the daily exasperation of being understaffed and under-equipped,” said another member of the production crew, who asked not to be identified. “The strain and stress was incredibly intense and very unhealthy. And for all that? No paychecks. No expenses reimbursed.”

The concept of the Aurora Games was to bring athletes from around the world together for a celebration of women in sports. Olympic gold medalists Jackie Joyner-Kersee (track) and Nadia Comaneci (gymnastics) were brought on board as honorary captains. Featured performers included Bianca Andreescu (tennis), Katelyn Ohashi (gymnastics), Alysa Liu (figure skating) and April Ross (beach volleyball).

A total of 109 athletes from 25 countries converged on downtown Albany for competition in tennis, gymnastics, basketball, ice hockey, figure skating and beach volleyball. Many private investors supported the for-profit event, but the total announced attendance of 20,423 (3,404 per session) fell far short of initial projections.

“The Aurora Games were in a lot of ways a very big success,” Solomon said, “but it didn’t necessarily perform in some ways the way that we had hoped that it would. That said, there were a lot of discussions going on beforehand, during, and that are still going on with our investment community, that we’re involved with, that is very excited about the Aurora Games. It’s a matter of working through some of those details, which is what we’re doing.”

There were two “founding sponsors” — Women’s Health magazine and T.J.Maxx — and 18 “official sponsors,” including Times Union Publisher George Hearst.

"I was a strong advocate for the Games and provided significant financial support, joining with many others across our community," Hearst said. "I understand that there is some degree of residual financial stress to be dealt with, as can be the case in many first-time ventures. I still believe that highlighting the best in women’s sports through the Aurora Games in the Capital Region is an opportunity worth pursuing."

Solomon said he knew from the start that the Games, which are planned as an biennial festival, would not turn a profit in the first year. He would not disclose how he planned to offset those losses other than “we definitely got blindsided by a couple of things.”

Since this was a professional event, the athletes were promised varying appearance fees. The six tennis players have been paid, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, but most of the others have not. Times Union Center also was compensated for the rental of the arena, General Manager Bob Belber confirmed.

Other expenses included transportation and lodging for athletes, apparatus and floor layouts for each of the six sports in the arena, a FanFest held in the Albany Capital Center, the public relations firm Ed Lewi Associates and television production.

M2, a New York City-based production company, is among those waiting for payment. M2 was in charge of the in-arena production and also oversaw the crew that televised the Games on behalf of ESPNU and ESPN3.com.

The in-arena production crew, which handled the scoreboard video presentation and other behind-the-scenes details in the arena, was hired by M2. Andy Verderame, vice president of business development for M2, said his company paid the in-arena workers, which he estimated to be 10. “We paid our people without getting paid just because that was our promise,” he said.

The TV crew was contracted directly by Aurora Games LLC, which lists Solomon as manager.

“We’ve been talking to Jerry pretty closely since the Games (ended),” Verderame said. “The story that we get from Jerry, and hopefully this will have a good ending, is that the Games were successful in many ways, but certainly not financial. He lost a lot more money than he thought and so had a difficult time paying people.

“For months, he kept telling us he was trying to get a new investor, and to try to give him some time to figure this out and blah blah blah. … Last week he sent out an email and said he had gotten financial backing and said he was going to start cutting checks mid-January. That was the last we heard. I always put that with an asterisk. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Solomon, the husband of former U.S. Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, has a rocky history when he comes to sporting ventures. He was president of The Football Network, a short-lived television venture based in Louisiana that dissolved in 2003 and “left employees and freelancers without promised back pay and thousands of dollars in credit-card debt for unreimbursed expenses like car rentals and housing,” according to a 2004 New York Times story.

A sports manager and producer, Solomon has produced several successful projects, including figure skating shows and tennis tournaments.

Asked if he is concerned that his reputation will be tarnished for future endeavors, Solomon said, “I guess the simple answer is yes, of course. I think also that those same people realize that there was nothing done, nor is there anything being done now, that was deliberately set to do anything negative.

“The whole thing was a positive move for a very important platform and very important cause, which we still believe wholeheartedly in,” he said, “and we believe that Albany and the Capital Region and the state of New York and the various partners that we have and are talking to can make it become everything that it was envisioned to be. That’s the pledge, and that’s what we’re working toward.”

Solomon’s name has been associated with a Women’s Tennis Association tournament scheduled for late August in the Capital Region. He said there is no correlation between the Aurora Games and the “Albany Open” scheduled to begin Aug. 24.

Foster, whose contract called for two half-days of travel and the six days of competition, said he is considering legal action to be reimbursed.

“I would prefer to resolve the situation and collect the debt due outside of court if at all possible,” Foster said.

Verderame, among others, is trying to be optimistic about Solomon.

“He went out on a limb,” he said. “We can all talk about whether he did the right thing or the wrong thing, but if he actually gets people paid, I know he wants to do another one. If he pays everybody, he’ll be able to do that.”

At the closing ceremonies in August, it was announced that the Aurora Games would return to Albany in 2021 and 2023.

“We will get it taken care of,” Solomon said, “and we will come back in about 18 months. There are some things that we will definitely do differently, and those are already sort of in the works.”

pdougherty@timesunion.com ■ 518-454-5416 ■ @Pete_Dougherty