Owners need $1.3 million by Nov. 30 or the Rhinos are extinct for 2018 season

The storied-yet-struggling Rhinos soccer team has set a Nov. 30 deadline to raise $1.3 million or the 22-year-old franchise will cease operations, Rochester's team owners David and Wendy Dworkin said during a news conference on Wednesday.

"We are at a crossroads, and need to find a path that will bring sustained success for the Rhinos," David Dworkin said in what the owners termed a "call to action," as they seek help from community and business leaders to reach an ambitious goal before a league deadline on player contracts arrives on Nov. 30.

"It's not a surprise," he said of the team's bleak outlook after averaging the lowest attendance in Rhinos history, later adding "we're taken for granted."

The owners along with Chief Soccer Officer and former coach Pat Ercoli said they wanted to put out a plea for help before it was too late, and so they wouldn't have to wonder what may have happened. David Dworkin said they didn't want to hear, "If I only I knew I would have done something."

The Rhinos will be nothing but a memory unless something happens fast.

"We've realized we cannot and should not be doing this alone," Wendy Dworkin said.

The owners, who took over in March of 2016, said they've invested $3 million in the Rhinos, who operate the city-owned downtown soccer facility that's now 11 years old and called Capelli Sport Stadium. If the team folds, the City of Rochester would have a multi-use stadium and no team to play in it. Currently, the owners pay $50,000 annually in rent to the city to operate the stadium.

Ercoli, who coached the club from 1996-2004, including championship seasons from 1998-2001, became emotional a few times while speaking. He returned to the club as its general manager in 2013.

"I truly believe we have added in many ways to the quality of life in Monroe County," he said, explaining the team's roster turnover in recent years, a contrast to popular stars who played for him for several seasons, is a result of the team not having enough money to retain quality players.

In a statement, the city states it has invested $1.59 million in operating and capital expenses at the soccer stadium over the past two seasons and "is continuing that investment."

“The City of Rochester remains supportive of our local professional soccer team and are hopeful the Rhinos organization will be successful in their community outreach campaign to solicit more support and sponsorships for the team,” said City of Rochester Communications Director James P. Smith.

Money matters

The Rhinos displayed a pie chart of how they could get to $1.3 million in just over two weeks time:

$600,000: From a combination of luxury suite sales and approximately 2,500 new season-ticket holders. A down payment of $50 is needed for season tickets.

$160,000: From a sponsors for the Rhinos' jersey. They haven't had one the past two years. David Dworkin said they tried selling it for $75,000 for 2017 season and couldn't.

$540,000: From corporate sponsorship and some portion of Monroe County's hotel-room occupancy tax.

The Rhinos have never received any money from the hotel-room occupancy tax like other city venues. They first raised that point publicly in a Democrat and Chronicle story in April. The Monroe County Legislature decides on the distribution, and County executive Cheryl Dinolfo is Ercoli's sister-in-law.

The Rhinos owners met with County officials about this over the summer, but no change was made for the Rhinos or they wouldn't have made Wednesday's power-play. With Ercoli at the podium Wednesday, he said $1.7 million in 2017 was allocated by the County to city facilities, such as Blue Cross Arena at the Community War Memorial ($905,000), the Joseph Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center ($795,000) and Frontier Field ($500,000).

"Capelli Sport Stadium got nothing. I ask why?” Ercoli said.

County spokesman Jesse L. Sleezer issued this statement in response: "Monroe County has an obligation to support the Rochester Red Wings and does so through Hotel-Motel Tax sharing because the County owns and operates Frontier Field. Capelli Stadium is not owned and operated by Monroe County.

"Monroe County is not prepared to divert taxpayer dollars to the Rhinos that would otherwise be invested in regional tourism assets, including local arts, museums, and parks."

Ercoli also detailed the economic impact the soccer stadium has had annually by hosting one event, a drum-and-bugle corps competition that he said attracts 10,000 visitors to Rochester. The stadium has hosted the three-day event for nine years. It generates $6 million annually on hotel rooms, Ercoli said. That's an estimated total of $54 million.

Glory days

In the late 1990s, the Rhinos were a hot ticket, a team drawing big crowds in a new downtown ballpark built when it appeared the Red Wings might leave unless they upgraded their stadium. They paid only $3,000 in rent per match, but also didn't have many revenue streams as a secondary tenant.

They wanted to jump to MLS and build their own stadium. A $15 million state grant helped achieve half that, as then-named PAETEC Park opened in 2006 after years of political debate about funding and its viability. It would lead to the demise of the original ownership group, who lost control of the team in 2008 under a mountain of debt after defaulting on millions of dollars in bank loans.

Saddled in part by the perception that the stadium is in a troubled neighborhood and lacks sufficient parking, the Rhinos have never drawn crowds there like they did at Frontier.

The Dworkins bought the Rhinos in 2016 season after city officials terminated the city's agreement with former owner Rob Clark's Adirondack Sports Group, who took over the team from 2008-15. Unhappy with Clark's management — he was being sued by the city for unpaid bills — the city and the league took over the Rhinos for several weeks and with the help of the USL found the Dworkins.

Clark said he lost more than a million in each of his first two seasons, but then cut back expenses and he had annual losses less than $500,000.

Despite the optimism of new ownership and coming off a USL championship in 2015, attendance dipped to 3,655 per match in 2016 — ninth in the USL — and the lowest in team history and dropped to 2,031 last season (22nd in the 30-team USL).

Lack of support

A couple from Brighton who met as students at Syracuse University, the Dworkins own several properties around the Rochester area. They hoped their business acumen would help them connect with the corporate community locally but sponsorship has still lagged. Mid-sized businesses have been supportive, the owners say, but not bigger ones.

"There have been people in the corporate community who have said to us, 'You should just fold it in.' Well-placed people think we should just give up," David Dworkin said.

They don't want to yet, but "to be crystal clear, without (reaching the $1.3 million goal) the Rochester Rhinos, emphasis on Rochester, will not be fielding a team in 2018," he added.

Asked later if he'd relocate or sell the team, David Dworkin said he has been focused on a 2018 Rhinos' budget and has not spoken to anyone in other cities about buying the team. "We didn't buy this team to pick it up and move it somewhere else," he said.

On Tuesday, news broke that Rochester's USL Hall-of-Fame coach Bob Lilley had taken the job as the coach of the USL's Pittsburgh Riverhounds. Lilley wanted to stay, Ercoli said. The club held an option on Lilley's contract for 2018, but let him out of it.

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"It was very important to Wendy and I to look after Bob’s best interests," David Dworkin said, giving a big indicator how tenuous the Rhinos' future is.

Lilley coached the Rhinos for six seasons, guiding them back to glory by winning the 2015 USL championship with a 20-1-10 record. That ended a 14-year title drought. Rochester had won four titles — 1998, 2000 and 2001 A-League crowns and the 1999 U.S. Open Cup championship — in the first six seasons, cultivating a rabid fan base, that regularly drew crowds of 10,000-plus.

The demise of the original owners, which included unpaid bills to many businesses, and lean years under Clark tarnished the Rhinos' image. The pro team also started a youth academy several years ago. That created more division, as local youth coaches feared they might lose their kids to the Rhinos.

Wendy Dworkin has tried to repair the damage, she said, meeting with teams and groups. She found out quickly how bitter some were. In her first meeting, "a club president who has known me my entire professional life said, ‘I hope you fail. I hope the professional team folds,’ because in 1990-something ... some coach on the Junior Rhinos took one of my (players)."

The Dworkins bought the Rhinos to save the team. They had become minority owners in 2013 of the NBA's Sacramento Kings, in part, because Wendy is related to Les Harrison, former Rochester Royals owner and NBA Hall of Famer. Her mother, Barbara Lane, is a first cousin of Harrison, the late founder, owner and former coach of the Royals, who won the NBA championship in 1951 but moved to Cincinnati in 1957 and then to Kansas City before heading to Sacramento in 1985.

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But the Dworkins had never run a pro sports franchise or stadium, a challenge they readily admit was new and daunting.

When the stadium's five-year naming rights deal with Buffalo-based Sahlen's Packing Co. expired after the 2016 season, they tried to find a new partner and couldn't. The facility, which opened in 2006, was simply called Rochester Rhinos Stadium in 2016. The USL helped the Rhinos strike a deal with a New York City-based company, so the park was called Capelli Sport Stadium this year.

Other teams struggles

In what was once considered a thriving city for minor-league sports in the late 1990s, the Rhinos haven't been alone in their struggles. There may just be too many minor-league teams to support.

The Western New York Flash relocated to Cary, North Carolina, after their 2016 National Women's Soccer League championship season, citing a lack of support for their team. The Buffalo-based Flash only played matches in Rochester for six seasons, an odd operating model that hurt their connection to the community.

Driven by Salvatore's Pizzeria founder "Soccer Sam" Fantauzzo from 2011-2015, the indoor Rochester Lancers marketed their team aggressively. But after four seasons they called it quits in 2015, citing rising insurance costs.

All six teams that remain have challenges, including baseball's Red Wings, American Hockey League's Amerks and indoor lacrosse's Knighthawks. The Amerks are now owned by Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the Buffalo Sabres and Bills, but attendance early on this season has been down.

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The future of outdoor lacrosse's Rochester Rattlers, who played at the soccer stadium last summer, is also tenuous, at best. There were reports last month that they could be relocating to Dallas. And while the Rochester RazorSharks basketball team has won four straight championships, they're in yet another new league this season and have dealt with numerous stability issues with the franchises and leagues they have been associated.

The clock is ticking on the Rhinos. In many ways, the Rhinos are a victim of their own past success, falling short of the fan experience that used to exist at Frontier.

"As I said to my wife, 'I can't believe my destiny is to buy a team, keep it for two years and do something else with it," David Dworkin said.

He then made a comparison to the Sacramento NBA team, which nearly relocated to Seattle in 2013. But the community in California's capital city rallied.

"The biggest corporations got together and they figured out a way to keep (their) franchise. It's possible," David Dworkin said. "It's amazing what a community can do if they put their mind to it."

JDIVERON@Gannett.com