By Ryan Ernst
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cincinnati's professional men's soccer team, the Riverhawks, have struggled to stay afloat financially over the last four seasons and have bounced from home to home.
But despite these problems and questions about ownership, the team will be on the United Soccer League's A-League schedule for the 2003 season, league officials and the team's owner said.
Although team owner and coach Nick Ranieri said he is looking for investors to help him carry the team's financial burden, or even take a majority ownership role, he is prepared to complete this season's April-to-September schedule as the majority owner.
First, however, Ranieri had to meet financial and venue-related deadlines set forth by the league. And although the process took longer than the league would have liked, according to USL Director of Operations Tim Holt, the Riverhawks will be alive for at least one more year.
"We investigated the financial capabilities of Nick because there's been some hardship for the team in the past," Holt said. "They've had difficulty finding a home. That's something they need to work on for the long term. In the short term they need to work on increasing revenue."
The Riverhawks, founded in 1997, had the 19-team league's worst attendance last season at approximately 700 a game. The team first played games at Galbreath Field and last season had to move several games from the Hamilton County Fairgrounds because of poor field conditions. This season, it has secured Town and Country in Northern Kentucky to play its games, but Ranieri knows the team must find a more permanent home.
"Sharonville and Evendale would be ideal places where we could build a stadium for under $600,000," Ranieri said. "But there is also downtown, Paul Brown Stadium, which should be No.1 on the list."
Ranieri said he has contacted the Bengals about possibly using the stadium in the spring and summer and will continue to contact them "until they tell me `no, absolutely not.'"
While the team's current owner continues look for a permanent venue and potential investors, his former general manager, Tim Braddock is doing the same thing.
Although the two are not currently in contact, Ranieri said if Braddock found the right group and the price was right, he'd be willing to do business. Braddock estimates that price to be between $200,000 and $250,000.
"I feel very strongly about professional soccer in Cincinnati," Braddock said. "It can be a success. The team has a non-ownership affiliation with the Columbus Crew (Major League Soccer) and there's a lot of great talent here. I'm not the coach of the team, but I think that would be an advantage."
As for his title as coach/owner, Ranieri feels he will have some help by the start of the season.
"I believe there will be (another owner) with me," he said. "I have a very strong feeling about that. Then I will concentrate on coaching. In the past, I had to move my focus from on the field to the financial part, where I didn't want to be involved anyway."
