— Months after the majority owner of the RailHawks was indicted as part of a sweeping corruption investigation of soccer's organizing body, the Cary team's fans are agitating for change.

Triangle Soccer Fanatics, a group of RailHawks supporters, recently launched a #TrafficOut effort via their website, social media and in-stadium protests to indicate their displeasure with the continued control of the team by Traffic Sports USA, Inc.

Aaron Davidson, then-president of Traffic Sports USA, was one of 14 FIFA executives and sports marketing officials indicted in May as part of a wide-ranging corruption investigation by the United States Department of Justice. Traffic Sports USA and its parent corporation, Traffic Sports International, Inc., also pled guilty to wire fraud conspiracy on May 14, 2015, as a part of the DOJ probe.

Traffic Sports USA purchased the RailHawks in 2011 and remains the club's owner and funding source.

RailHawks President Curt Johnson said efforts to identify, recruit and negotiate with prospective purchasers for the soccer club has increased in the nearly three months since news of the FIFA scandal rocked the international soccer world.

“I feel like we’re making progress,” Johnson says. “The quality of the prospective owners who have inquired about the team is encouraging … We’ve had local and global interest, a lot of people knocking on the door who see the Triangle as world-class place to do business.”

Johnson would not quantify the number of potential suitors or qualify their respective stages in the negotiation process. But he says discussions are ongoing with these individuals and/or investment groups.

“The conversations are confidential, so I’m not able to talk specifically about the particulars or progress of any conversations,” Johnson says. “We continue to get inquires, and we’re meeting with prospective ownership groups weekly and interacting with them almost daily. Progress is being made, but having said that I don’t have any specific timeline on when we might make an announcement.”

Triangle an attractive market for soccer buyers

The RailHawks and the Triangle soccer market in general contain a number of attractive features for potential investors in the second division U.S. club, a member of the North American Soccer League (NASL).

The Triangle is a veritable hotbed of college and youth soccer, and RDU is the 25th largest local television market in the country, according to Nielsen estimates. The RailHawks are in their ninth year of existence, making them the oldest continuously operating brand in the still-nascent NASL. And WakeMed Soccer Park's revenue streams – naming rights, game-day ticket sales and concessions – provide the RailHawks with facilities and revenue sources beyond those available to many U.S. pro soccer teams outside of Major League Soccer.

Johnson says the frequency of contacts with interested investors allays fears that the RailHawks will remain in the ownership limbo hovering over the club since late May.

“You worry in a situation where you’re not having substantive conversations, where you’re not having new interest as time goes by. That’s when you worry, but this process hasn’t gone that way,” he said.

Parent company's legal issues could hasten sale timeline

Also possibly affecting the timeline for the sale of the RailHawks is the legal process surrounding Traffic Sports and José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, the multinational sports marketing conglomerate that is the Traffic Sports USA, Inc., parent company and is headquartered in Brazil.

On Dec. 12, 2014, Hawilla waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million, some of which could come from the sale of Traffic Sports and the RailHawks.

Hawilla’s guilty plea was made public on May 27, 2015, but his plea agreement with the DOJ remains sealed. However, his unsealed Order of Forfeiture, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, outlines a more expansive scope of forfeited property and a timeline for payment of the $151 million.

According to the order, Hawilla consented to forfeit $151 million (specifically $151,713,807.43), “which represents profits that the defendant made from certain contracts obtained through the payment of bribes and kickbacks.” However, he also consented to the forfeiture of “any Additional Payment from the Traffic Sale Proceeds.”

Hawilla was required to pay $25 million towards the $151 million by the time of his guilty plea in December 2014. He must then pay the greater of $75 million or “the proceeds of the sale of Traffic … or its assets." Further, this payment must be paid “no later than one year after the date that the Information and the fact of the defendant’s guilty plea are unsealed.” That date would be May 27, 2016.

Any remaining balance of the $126 million is finally due at the time of Hawilla’s as-yet-unscheduled sentencing. However, if Traffic sells for more than $126 million – which the order tellingly labels the “Trigger Sales Price” – Hawilla must forfeit 75 percent of such excess proceeds on or before his sentencing. In other words, Hawilla may keep 25 percent of the difference between what he can get for Traffic and the $126 million trigger price.

The picture that emerges is a forced sale of Traffic Sports’ assets to satisfy Hawilla's debt and, more broadly, Hawilla’s forfeiture of his holdings in the corporation. The potential value of any sale of the Carolina RailHawks represents a small percentage of Traffic Sports’ overall holdings. However, with Hawilla in line to retain 25 percent of any sale proceeds, the order appears to provide Hawilla, and by extension Traffic Sports, with an incentive to sell by May 2016 and/or the date of Hawilla’s sentencing.

According to reliable sources and a review of the NASL bylaws, the league does not appear to possess the legal standing to remove Traffic Sports as a Class A member of NASL, LLC, i.e., to strip its RailHawks’ ownership. Instead, the league is working with Traffic and the RailHawks’ front office to secure new club ownership.

Although the NASL and its commissioner, Bill Peterson, continue to refuse public comment on this matter, Johnson says “the league has been absolutely, 100 percent supportive.”

“They have a high regard for the Triangle as a professional soccer marketplace. This is not a question of the future of pro soccer or will there be one [here]. It’s a question of who is the right owner out of these prospects to push and be a catalyst for the RailHawks to reach higher levels.”