Jeff DiVeronica

@RocDevo

The USL says "several interested parties" have reached about buying the Rhinos.

The USL took over control of the team Monday and is running its 2016 USL champion.

Rochester RazorSharks owner Dr. Sev Hrywnak is putting together a proposal to buy the team.

USL executive Tom Veit said the league has received a "very positive" response from interested buyers since news broke Tuesday that the Rochester Rhinos soccer team will need a new owner for one of its oldest and tradition-rich teams. While measured in how much information he disclosed, Veit said finding local ownership is the USL's preference.

"We want to find an ownership group that is going to embrace the Rhinos and the community and is part of it," said Veit, the USL's Chief Marketing Officer brought in Monday to run the team after the USL terminated its operating agreement with Rob Clark's Adirondack Sports Club. "That's one of the things that has been missing."

Clark, 43, lived in Rochester during his first three years as owner from 2008-2011, then moved back home to the Utica area to resume his position as an executive at Adirondack Bank, his family's business. Rhinos president Pat Ercoli, the team's head coach from 1996-2004 during its most successful years, led the front office in Clark's absence. Ercoli and other front-office staff of the Rhinos have been retained by the league as the ownership search begins and new lease negotiations with the City of Rochester commence. The city owns the soccer stadium in which the Rhinos play.

The league appears bullish on operating the Rhinos, who won the USL Championship in October, their fourth and first since 2001, until a new owner is place.

DiVeronica: New owner could be boost Rhinos need

Veit would not comment on whether the USL has met with city officials yet and on how many potential buyers the league has spoken with about the Rhinos other than to say "we have had several interested parties reach out that want to help keep the Rhinos here."

The Rhinos have run the $32 million stadium since it opened in 2006 as PAETEC Park, which became Sahlen's Stadium in 2011. The city leased the facility to Clark for $1 annually, but on Dec. 31 exercised an out clause to terminate that 15-year contract. The five-year naming rights deal the Rhinos had with Buffalo-based Sahlen's Packing Co., also expired late last year.

Sahlen's owns the Western New York Flash, the women's professional soccer team that has played at the stadium since 2011. It's part of the National Women's Soccer League, which includes American stars such as Hope Solo (Seattle Reign), Alex Morgan (Orlando) and Carli Lloyd (Houston), the latter two being former Flash players.

Could Sahlen's be interested in buying the Rhinos? Flash owner Joe Sahlen couldn't be reached for comment and general manager Rich Randall declined when asked if Sahlen has been in contact with the USL.

"Joe is interested in the preservation of soccer in Rochester. Even though he's a Buffalo-based guy, he's very community oriented," said Randall, a Churchville native who formerly worked for the Rhinos before becoming vice president of the Rochester Lancers indoor team, which ceased operations last year.

Clark out as Rhinos owner; USL takes control of team

Randall was hired by the Flash in August to make them more Rochester-centric. The team is based in the Buffalo area, where players practice at Sahlen's Sports Park. Randall is setting up the Flash's first office in Rochester since the team has existed. That process started months ago, so it's not in response to the Rhinos' situation.

Whether the USL would consider Sahlen a "local" owner is unknown.

Salvatore "Soccer Sam" Fantauzzo, another former Rhinos executive who owned the Lancers from 2011 to 2015, said he has no interest in buying the Rhinos. Before Clark bought the team in 2008, Fantauzzo partnered with a few other local businessmen to form "Saving Soccer LLC" to buy the Rhinos, but stepped aside when Clark moved in.

While not interested in ownership, Fantauzzo said he'd "do whatever I can to help Pat Ercoli and his crew succeed." That could mean joining the front office in some capacity, which the sides have discussed.

One interested buyer is Dr. Sev Hrywnak, owner of the Rochester RazorSharks and a co-owner of the Premier Basketball League. He lives in Chicago but is from Rochester and his first love is soccer. He grew up a fan of the old Rochester Lancers of the North American Soccer League.

Hrywnak said Thursday he was putting together a proposal for the USL and had "calls out" to the league. He got agitated when discussing the location of the soccer stadium and it being considered in a "bad" neighborhood.

"I’ve been to Chicago, Brooklyn, other cities and guess what: The stadiums in those cites maybe they’re deemed in ‘bad areas,’ but there are a gazillion people there, there are events happening. So, I don’t buy into that (Rochester's stadium is) in a bad area. I never did. I never will," Hrywnak said.

"It can work. I don’t see it as a downside at all. Maybe it needs about $2 million bucks to fix the place up. We estimated yesterday between $1.6 million to $2 million to get it up to the way we wanted. Buy up some of the homes in the area, expand the parking, put a restaurant inside (the stadium) — nothing that can’t be done."

Hrywnak said the United Center is an area of Chicago perceived to be unsafe, but Blackhawks and Bulls games draw well. The RazorSharks have won five titles in their decade-long existence. But they play in a league owned by Hrywnak and the PBL annually has teams who fold.

Conversely, the USL has grown from 14 teams in 2014 to 31 in 2016. It announced its latest on Thursday, welcoming a San Antonio franchise owned by the same firm that runs the NBA Spurs.

"You can’t worry about losing money when you’re in the sports business. I’ve already learned that. It comes with the territory," said Hrywnak, who was sued last year for $170,000 by Red Penguin Athletics, a local firm that said it wasn't paid for running the RazorSharks in 2013.

The City of Rochester sued Clark for $140,525 in March for past due rent, utilities and other unpaid expenses. The sides met in mid-December, Clark said, and its proposal was for the Rhinos to relinquish running the stadium and just be a tenant in 2016. Clark didn't want that. In recent years, the city has given the Rhinos a $400,000-plus subsidy to operate. It wants to eliminate that, especially with stadium fixes and upgrades looming for a failing scoreboard and beaten up artificial turf.

The city could seek a setup similar to another venue it owns, such as Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial, which has been managed by a company called SMG since 2000. Ideally, though, there wouldn't be a need for that with a strong owner/operator at the soccer stadium.

Sponsorship sales for the Rhinos have lagged in recent years, cutting into the team's operating budget. Paid attendance also has dipped. Ercoli and his staff have added more stadium events and kept player payroll low in an effort to recoup losses, but it has been difficult.

Veit has been firm on the Rhinos' future, saying Thursday 2016 season tickets are on sale.

"We have no reason to believe the Rhinos won't be on the field and defending their USL championship," Veit said.

JDIVERON@Gannett.com

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