No one knew the Mariners' supposed savior was broke

“I’m very saddened by what’s happened.” - Mike Sidebottom, former owner of the Mariners professional soccer team. (The Virginian-Pilot file photo)

By Marc Davis
The Virginian-Pilot

Mike Sidebottom was dead broke.

He had a 22-year-old car that often didn’t run. He wore a $5 watch. He owned no real estate. He had $25 in his wallet and nothing in the bank.

He also had big debts. He owed the IRS $73,000 in back taxes. He was about to be evicted. He couldn’t even afford a bankruptcy lawyer, so he filed the papers himself, filling them out in pen.

And yet, one year later, Sidebottom signed a contract to buy the Virginia Beach Mariners, a pro soccer team.

The deal wrecked the team. Sidebottom abandoned the Mariners in March, four months after signing the contract. Now the team is defunct. This summer, Sidebottom lost a lawsuit over the deal.

How could a man with almost nothing buy a professional sports team? Didn’t anyone do a background check on him?

Actually, no.

Mike Sidebottom was supposed to be the savior. And the Mariners needed saving.

The team, founded in 1994, played in the United Soccer Leagues, the equivalent of baseball’s Triple-A minor leagues.

For a while, the Mariners were fairly popular, especially after 1998, when the team found a new home at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.

On opening day at the ’Plex, the Mariners drew a sold-out crowd of 7,000-plus, but that didn’t last. Attendance steadily dropped. Sometimes, only a few hundred diehards showed up. In its final season, the team drew about 2,000 fans a game.

Meanwhile, the team changed owners frequently.

Sidebottom arrived in December 2006.

He created a splash. He promised great things. He hired a former Major League Soccer coach to run the team. He held news conferences promot ing the Mariners’ future. He promised to spend whatever was needed.

He charmed everyone he met.

“I’ve never been as excited about an owner as I have with him,” goalkeeper Matt Nelson said at the time.

Don Maxwell, the city’s economic development director, recalled: “He seemed to say all the right things. He always conducted himself very professionally. What impressed me was he had a vision for the team four, five, six years down the road.”

What Maxwell and others didn’t know was Sidebottom had no money.

The proof was in Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, Fla.

Sidebottom filed for Chapter 13 protection Sept. 16, 2005 – one year before signing the contract to buy the Mariners on Nov. 8.

It was not the type of bankruptcy you’d expect from a high-stakes businessman.

First, it was all done in pen – no lawyer, no computer, no typewriter.

Second, Sidebottom did not list a home address. He listed his address as #305, 127 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park, Fla. That’s a UPS Store, and #305 is a mailbox.

Third, he had very little. The value of everything he owned was $10,500. About half was in security deposits for utilities and landlords. At age 52, he had $3,400 in his retirement fund.

His personal possessions were meager, including a 1983 car – “old, doesn’t run most of time,” he wrote. He said he had no checking or savings accounts.

On the flip side, Sidebottom listed 36 creditors.

He was not totally without means. He sai d he was earning $6,934 a month – about $83,000 a year – as a consultant for Dynetech in Orlando. The company confirmed Thursday that Sidebottom is a software adviser for a subsidiary.

The bankruptcy apparently was prompted by a pending eviction. Sidebottom had fallen behind in his rent, and a judge had ordered him to pay $6,921 by a certain date. When that day arrived, Sidebottom filed for bankruptcy. He later asked the court for an emergency order to stop the eviction.

Eventually, the case was converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation and closed on June 13, 2006.

A few months later, Sidebottom agreed to buy the Mariners.

The deal began with a newspaper ad.

Mariners owner Jerry McDonnell wanted to sell the team. He asked a friend, Michael J. Romaniw, president of the Career Assessment Center in Virginia Beach, to help him find a buyer.

Romaniw placed ads in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, The New York Times and USA Today, but he didn’t specify the team for sale. He got more than 40 inquiries. Many buyers thought the team was the Norfolk Tides.

Sidebottom saw the ad in the Journal. “I thought it would be interesting,” he said in an interview Friday. “I thought it would be fun. Virginia Beach is a very nice area.”

Sidebottom said he did not plan to buy the team personally. He said he represented a group of investors called International Sports Partners. He said he owns only 1 percent of the limited liability company, but he would not identify the other investors.

Florida records, though, show that the company might not have existed when Sidebottom signed the contract to buy the Mariners. Sidebottom did not file the company’s articles of organization until March 26 this year – five days after he walked away from the team.

The only name on that document is Sidebottom’s, and the only address is the UPS mailbox in Winter Park.

The sales agreement for the Mariners was a simple, one-page document. In it, McDonnell agreed to sell to International Sports Partners:

n The Mariners’ name, franchise rights, Sportsplex lease, uniforms, equipment, supplies and sponsorship rights.

n A one-year option to buy an artificial turf field next to the Sportsplex, owned by McDonnell, for $400,000.

n “Possible bid on 70 acre development rights” – for a property next to the Sportsplex that the city owns and wants to develop.

In turn, Sidebottom agreed to take on the team’s $550,000 debt to Wachovia Bank. The contract also called on Wachovia to give the league a $100,000 letter of credit.

The total sale price was $1 – a single dollar bill. In effect, Sidebottom’s company “bought” $550,000 of debt and a team that was losing money.

City officials and McDonnell were happy with the deal – and with Sidebottom.

“Everyone was very impressed with this guy’s knowledge of soccer,” Romaniw said. “He had good ideas that made sense. He made a great pitch that all of us were victims of buying into.”

He said McDonnell didn’t do a background check on Sidebottom – and didn’t learn of his bankruptcy or the fact that his address was a UPS mailbox – until after the deal collapsed.

The city also did not check out Sidebottom.

“It was a business issue between the league and McDonnell and Sidebottom,” said Rick Rowe, a city parks official who runs the Sportsplex.

The league’s executive vice president declined to comment for this story.

It’s still not clear how or why the deal fell apart.

Sidebottom blames McDonnell. He says McDonnell never lived up to the Nov. 8 sales contract.

For example, the contract required McDonnell to transfer ownership of the team by Nov. 15. Sidebottom says that never happened. He says McDonnell still legally owns the team.

Sidebottom also says Wachovia never offered the $100,000 line of credit and that McDonnell gave him false financial reports early in the discussions.

Finally, Sidebottom says, he was misled into thinking he could develop the 70 acres. Sidebottom, whose background is in development, said he needed to develop that land to keep the Mariners afloat for two or three years until the team started turning a profit.

But the land wasn’t McDonnell’s to sell. He could not promise Sidebottom first right of development because the land belongs to the city.

On the other side, McDonnell and Romaniw say they were fooled by a smooth-talker who had no money but who charmed everyone he met.

Looking back, Romaniw said, there were red flags. For example, he said, a Google search of Sidebottom’s name turned up almost nothing about him, which is unusual for a man who claimed extensive business experience.

At least part of the feud has already been decided in court – but that might not be the end.

McDonnell sued Sidebottom in Virginia Beach Circuit Court to pay the team’s $550,000 debt. Sidebottom failed to file an answer in time, and a judge granted a default judgment in July. Sidebottom did not hire a lawyer to fight the lawsuit; he filed all the paperwork himself, also handwritten in ink.

Now, Sidebottom says he will appeal the judge’s decision and he will countersue McDonnell, Romaniw and others.

“I’m very saddened by what’s happened,” Sidebottom said Friday. “Not for myself so much but for the players, the coaches, the staff and the city of Virginia Beach. It was an unfortunate thing that we couldn’t work this out.”

Marc Davis, (757) 222-5131, marc.davis@pilotonline.com