Spokane Shadow shut down operation

A bad turf and some bad feelings resulted in the Spokane Shadow soccer team calling it quits Monday.

The Shadow, citing an unwillingness to play on Albi Stadium’s turf and pointing a finger of blame directly at City Hall, have suspended operations for 2006, a month and a half before they were scheduled to begin their Premier Development League season on May 12.

The suspension of play will likely bring an end to the Shadow altogether. Following league protocol, the PDL, a member of the United Soccer Leagues, has terminated the Shadow franchise, effective immediately, said a USL/PDL official.

“It’s a sad day,” said Bobby Brett, chief executive officer of the Shadow, adding the team had looked at various sites around Spokane – including Gonzaga University, Spokane Falls Community College, Central Valley High School and both the old and current University High School facilities – but none had the infrastructure or availability to consistently house Shadow home games. “It was a decision where we didn’t want to put a product out that’s not professional, (so we) cut our losses and suspended operations.”

The hangup with Albi, according to the Shadow, was the city’s inability or unwillingness to address the issue of Albi’s 10-year-old artificial turf.

It was such a big issue that in early 2006, both Whitworth College and Gonzaga University wrote letters to the Shadow informing the team the schools were advising their players not to play for the Shadow and to avoid playing on the turf for fear of injury.

In August of 2005, Brett Sports had agreed to a $450,000 settlement with the city under former mayor Jim West that would buy out what was left of the Shadow’s 15-year lease agreement at the stadium. The lease was through the 2011 season.

But the city council tabled the agreement, in part, said current mayor Dennis Hession, because it failed to take into account other Albi issues.

“No one who was in on those conversations had the authority to make that deal,” Hession said. “It failed to take into consideration other things at Albi, including the school district’s need to play football at the location … and the Parks Department’s obligation to pay $3.5 million toward a sports complex at Albi.”

In a press release issued by the Shadow on Monday, Brett said “I have never sued anyone and I hope I never will. But we have suffered real damages as a result of the city’s actions and inaction. I am hopeful that we can work out an amicable settlement.”

In January, Brett Sports, which has put close to $200,000 into upgrading Albi Stadium since buying the Shadow in 1996, hired BioMechanica, an independent, Portland-based company, to do an assessment of Albi’s field.

The firm found the field to be a health risk to players, saying it “is no longer fit for use.” Brett said it sent that information to the mayor’s office Feb. 28 and was growing increasingly frustrated with a lack of response.

“It takes a long time to get answers from the City of Spokane,” said Dave Pier, a vice president of Brett Sports. “We tried to keep a sense of urgency on the city. We told them last September this was a problem. Apparently it’s not real urgent for them.”

Hession, who took issue with remarks made about the city’s response time, agreed Brett Sports raised the issue earlier, but said the team didn’t act on those complaints until very recently.

“If they were so sure that was a problem last year, why not get their expert witness to tell them that at that time?” Hession said. “They are trying to place the blame on the City of Spokane for not doing anything timely, when they provided us evidence of non-playability of the turf three weeks ago.”

Hession said the city plans to make a decision on Albi Stadium within the week, with the possibility of having the Mead and Spokane school districts footing the bill for a new playing surface still on the table.

“It is possible to replace the turf (in time for football in the fall), and we’ve had fruitful discussions with school partners about that opportunity,” Hession said.

But any agreement reached will be too late to save the season for the Shadow, and maybe the franchise as a whole. The decision to close shop for the 2006 season, in effect, forced the PDL’s hand.

“They made the decision themselves,” director of PDL operations Steve Clamp said of the Shadow, who have been a part of the PDL since their inception in 1995.

“We have a set protocol, and as soon as they made a decision, we terminated the franchise immediately.”

The Shadow had hoped to receive a little more leniency from the league, but Clamp said that was never really an option.

“They’ve been in the league for 10 years,” Clamp said. “They’ve been one of our leaders. We try to use restraint, but we have rules we have to follow.

“If for some reason Spokane gets its act together, we may look there in the future. But as far as right now, the Shadow are not a member of the league in 2006 and beyond.”

And though he refused to commit to completely closing shop, Brett didn’t seem convinced there would be a beyond for the Shadow.

“We have to get beyond this process, but there’s nothing on the horizon that would be a professional (venue).” Brett said. “We’re hoping we can suspend for this season and continue to look at options. But there’s no guarantee.”