Post by fwp on Aug 7, 2009 4:47:50 GMT -5
www.houmatoday.com/article/20090806/SPORTS20/908069957/1032/SPORTS?Title=Conquest-Sports-league-part-ways
HOUMA — The former owner of Houma’s Southern Indoor Football League franchise has decided to move the team to another professional indoor football league for the 2010 season.
According to a press release sent to The Courier and The Daily Comet on July 24, Franklin Thomas said he will move the Conquerors to another indoor football league due to a breach in the team’s contract by the SIFL. He also said a difficult working relationship with the Louisiana Sports and Entertainment Group, a Houma-based marketing firm, also led to the decision.
Thomas, who runs the Slidell-based Conquest Sports, said he is still the legal owner of the Conquerors, despite the SIFL’s claims that they own the franchise after placing Conquest Sports on default status for failing to pay league fees by a July 7 deadline.
“We feel that it is in the best interest of Conquest Sports and the Houma Conquerors to go in a different direction for the 2010 season,” Thomas said. “Our contract with the SIFL no longer exists due to the breach of contract.”
Thomas, who has hired an attorney to contest the league’s actions, claimed that the SIFL violated the confidentiality clause in their contract by holding secret financial meetings with LSE representatives during the season.
Thomas said he learned about the meetings through “reliable sources,” which he declined to release.
“They had two or three meetings without us knowing about it or without us being present,” Thomas said. “At the time, we were still under contract and we had not received a default letter. There were financial information exchanged about Conquest Sports that should have never been released.”
Thomas also claimed that the marketing firm broke a verbal agreement by not giving money generated from team sponsorships to Conquest Sports. When it was hired on June 3, Thomas said the firm agreed to solicit money from sponsors on team’s behalf, keep 15 percent for its services and give the remaining amount to Conquest Sports to pay players’ salaries, league fees and other bills.
Thomas said he never received any money from LSE and also stated that the firm wrongfully claimed it was paying the Conquerors players’ salaries with their own money when it came from the sponsorships.
“That’s a discrepancy when they said they were paying the players with their own money, but they were soliciting funds on behalf of Conquest Sports, but they weren’t giving the money to Conquest Sports,” Thomas said. “We never saw that money, and that is illegal.”
Also in the release, Thomas claimed inconsistencies in the league’s safety policy led to more than a two-hour delay in the team’s April 26 home opener in the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, which he said led to the team’s rough start to the season.
During a phone interview on Tuesday, SIFL president Thom Hager said the claims were “baseless accusations.”
“I am through with Franklin Thomas and Conquest Sports,” Hager said. “I’m tired of talking about Conquest Sports. He isn’t professional enough to deserve a comment out of me. He won’t return any of our phone calls or set up a meeting to address any of these false accusations he’s making up, so I am finished talking about Conquest Sports.”
Hager criticized Conquest Sports for not paying league fees on time and for sending NSF checks to its players in a three-week period during the season. Thomas said the bounced checks occurred only once during the season and was due to an accounting error.
“The SIFL is not happy with the way things were under Conquest Sports leadership,” Hager said. “The other SIFL owners are not happy with Franklin Thomas. I’ve talked to fans, players, booster club members and dance team members in Houma that were not happy with how things were under Conquest Sports. It was a very unprofessional organization and the people of Houma deserve better.”
The Louisiana Sports and Entertainment Group, which is run by Travis Carrell, Kirk Bonvillain and Tate Boudreaux, also denied the allegations made by Conquest Sports.
“These people (Conquest Sports) are gasping for straws because they have failed,” Carrell said. “They’ve tried to take advantage of other people, and now, it’s fallen on their face and their hoping to find a way out of it.” ......article continues in link.
HOUMA — The former owner of Houma’s Southern Indoor Football League franchise has decided to move the team to another professional indoor football league for the 2010 season.
According to a press release sent to The Courier and The Daily Comet on July 24, Franklin Thomas said he will move the Conquerors to another indoor football league due to a breach in the team’s contract by the SIFL. He also said a difficult working relationship with the Louisiana Sports and Entertainment Group, a Houma-based marketing firm, also led to the decision.
Thomas, who runs the Slidell-based Conquest Sports, said he is still the legal owner of the Conquerors, despite the SIFL’s claims that they own the franchise after placing Conquest Sports on default status for failing to pay league fees by a July 7 deadline.
“We feel that it is in the best interest of Conquest Sports and the Houma Conquerors to go in a different direction for the 2010 season,” Thomas said. “Our contract with the SIFL no longer exists due to the breach of contract.”
Thomas, who has hired an attorney to contest the league’s actions, claimed that the SIFL violated the confidentiality clause in their contract by holding secret financial meetings with LSE representatives during the season.
Thomas said he learned about the meetings through “reliable sources,” which he declined to release.
“They had two or three meetings without us knowing about it or without us being present,” Thomas said. “At the time, we were still under contract and we had not received a default letter. There were financial information exchanged about Conquest Sports that should have never been released.”
Thomas also claimed that the marketing firm broke a verbal agreement by not giving money generated from team sponsorships to Conquest Sports. When it was hired on June 3, Thomas said the firm agreed to solicit money from sponsors on team’s behalf, keep 15 percent for its services and give the remaining amount to Conquest Sports to pay players’ salaries, league fees and other bills.
Thomas said he never received any money from LSE and also stated that the firm wrongfully claimed it was paying the Conquerors players’ salaries with their own money when it came from the sponsorships.
“That’s a discrepancy when they said they were paying the players with their own money, but they were soliciting funds on behalf of Conquest Sports, but they weren’t giving the money to Conquest Sports,” Thomas said. “We never saw that money, and that is illegal.”
Also in the release, Thomas claimed inconsistencies in the league’s safety policy led to more than a two-hour delay in the team’s April 26 home opener in the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, which he said led to the team’s rough start to the season.
During a phone interview on Tuesday, SIFL president Thom Hager said the claims were “baseless accusations.”
“I am through with Franklin Thomas and Conquest Sports,” Hager said. “I’m tired of talking about Conquest Sports. He isn’t professional enough to deserve a comment out of me. He won’t return any of our phone calls or set up a meeting to address any of these false accusations he’s making up, so I am finished talking about Conquest Sports.”
Hager criticized Conquest Sports for not paying league fees on time and for sending NSF checks to its players in a three-week period during the season. Thomas said the bounced checks occurred only once during the season and was due to an accounting error.
“The SIFL is not happy with the way things were under Conquest Sports leadership,” Hager said. “The other SIFL owners are not happy with Franklin Thomas. I’ve talked to fans, players, booster club members and dance team members in Houma that were not happy with how things were under Conquest Sports. It was a very unprofessional organization and the people of Houma deserve better.”
The Louisiana Sports and Entertainment Group, which is run by Travis Carrell, Kirk Bonvillain and Tate Boudreaux, also denied the allegations made by Conquest Sports.
“These people (Conquest Sports) are gasping for straws because they have failed,” Carrell said. “They’ve tried to take advantage of other people, and now, it’s fallen on their face and their hoping to find a way out of it.” ......article continues in link.