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In the email today:
🚨 Too Good To Be True
We’ve made the joke before, but this is probably going to be a Netflix documentary someday.
We always thought the proposed $3B Motown Sports Village project was too grandiose to actually happen. Which is why we’ve always written about it with great skepticism.
It was allegedly something else, according to the FBI: A colossal — and salacious! — scam.
Kenneth Bardwell — the chairman and CEO of the holding company behind the project — was indicted earlier this week on a single count of wire fraud. He was released on $10K bond.
This case differs from the Legacy Park fraud case because, according to the FBI, Bardwell was not terribly concerned with actually building the place.
The criminal complaint filed in Michigan federal court alleges Bardwell “has made almost no effort to use the millions of dollars solicited from hundreds, possibly thousands, of community members as investments towards the purchase of land needed to develop the project, instead using most of the investors’ money on gentleman’s clubs, luxury retail goods, rental cars, and living expenses for himself, his wife and his girlfriend.”
The complaint does not put a dollar figure on Bardwell’s alleged fraud, but it did find roughly $10M moved in and out of several bank accounts tied to the Motown project over the past few years.
Bardwell is also said to have claimed the project had 1.8K investors; the FBI is actively searching for potential victims.
The complaint says the scheme dates back to 2018, but adds Bardwell has made several failed attempts to build youth sports facilities in various cities since 2009, as we’ve previously noted.
Also alleged in the complaint:
Bardwell frequented gentleman’s clubs; an informant said he spent $40-50K weekly at one establishment
Bardwell hired five cops to be his personal security detail because he was “highly paranoid of federal law enforcement”
He was banned from at least one club and tried to buy his way back in
Bardwell hired exotic dancers to work for Motown Sports and paid them for untoward acts
Bardwell drove luxury rental cars rented under others’ names
Motown Sports operated out of a FedEx store location
Bardwell did have a deposit down to hold land for the project
Bardwell told investors there would be a future IPO and another complex in Georgia
The FBI says Bardwell’s wife also benefited from the scheme, but she is not charged
City officials in Romulus gave the project tepid support, but also expressed public doubts. They eventually concluded it was a scam, according to the criminal complaint.
Motown Sports contracted with JLL Capital Markets earlier this year as its “exclusive financial intermediary,” tasking the real estate banker with sourcing $40-50M for pre-development. The company also claimed AECOM and Legends Global were involved to some extent.
A victim told the FBI they attended a meeting where JLL identified an investor interested in providing up to $300M — but Bardwell scuttled the deal because he knew it would not happen once the investor looked at the books.
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⚽️ U.S. Soccer Wants To Tear It Down
USSF COO Dan Helfrich is making headlines again.
The former Deloitte CEO made waves a few weeks back when he discussed using AI to scout every U.S.-eligible youth player in the world. His latest stance? The federation does not want to reform American youth soccer’s pay-to-play system, but blow it up entirely.
“We are not seeking to make the current system more affordable,” he said, according to The New York Post. “We’re trying to create a new system that then we make highly affordable. It’s a really important distinction.”
The comments came as USSF showed off its new $250M national headquarters in the Atlanta area to the media. Helfrich also told Reuters that "we need to fundamentally restructure the youth side of the sport in our country."
USSF is already working to make many of these steps with its Pathways Strategy. But that will need resources to succeed.
USSF CEO J.T. Batson said investment will need to be made up of “a combination of government funding, sponsorships and private philanthropy,” according to The Post.
🏛️ Also Checking In: Sen. Chris Murphy
The Democrat from Connecticut — one of the main sponsors of the Let Kids Play Act — was interviewed in the above-mentioned Reuters report on youth soccer in America.
An interesting quote: "The way to fix youth sports in this country is frankly less professional-looking experiences (and) more rec level-like experiences, lower costs, not higher costs that just have to be borne by the government."
No one is saying the government should subsidize travel teams. But community and recreational sports need funding to a) operate and b) provide quality environments that families want to engage with.
These options are not going to be able to expand and thrive without greater public support — which is why I find comments like this one from Murphy so baffling.
I really question whether many of the lawmakers weighing in on the industry — and writing sweeping legislation — even understand the industry.
Congress is going to have to step up and open its wallet if it actually wants to create change.
The youth sports administrative services company has launched a free beta AI-powered tool — Program in a Prompt.
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Registration information
Correct setup documents
Fully written email campaign with dates, social posts
Merged timeline
There is no account or login needed; FOTF does not request data. Operators can take the playbook to execute themselves or contract with FOTF to deploy it.
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Good game.