It was clear from the outside looking in that Stumptown was in a difficult position headed into the fall season. With no new investors jumping in to take over the club, Stumptown would be restricted to a league-controlled, shoestring budget. What that would mean for the roster, management, and game day operations was hard to predict, but the reality was that Rod Underwood and his players delivered a functioning team that was competitive in most matches, downright dangerous in some. Regardless of the results, allegations abound that the club was hamstrung by budget restrictions and borderline mismanagement issues, some which continue to linger into the offseason.

According to a club whistleblower who gave an extensive interview to Protagonist Soccer, things went from bad to worse as the season progressed - “The broadcast company was owed at least $20k at some point and we almost didn't broadcast the last game of the season due to not paying them. Chattanooga even offered to pay for the broadcast at one point.” Even with the season done, “at least 6 invoices still need to be paid for the catering for the Fall 2021 season.” The budgetary issues extended beyond Matthews as “flights were often not paid for until 24 hours before boarding. Sometimes they were not booked until 48 hours before boarding due to no funds.”

“Stumptown AC was not low budget - there was no budget and there was just no money.”

The lack of money and its ramifications extended to the treatment of staff and players, according to the whistleblower’s accusations. “At least two players lived in an extended stay hotel all Fall 2021 season. About 14 guys were living in a frat house style home where at least 2 guys were always sharing a room.” Paychecks for staff and players were regularly delayed, so much so that there are players who have still not received their final paycheck for a season that ended almost a month ago. Players have discussed going public multiple times to try and force payment, but are worried for their future in the sport.

One player we spoke with was confident that “the lack of stability resulted in bad results for the club. Housing caused many of the hardships for the team which later reflected on the field. 2 months, 3 different places, which led to early bad results.” This same player claimed that he is still not paid in full from the season, but would play for the club again, even if it was under league control. “Of course, we created something organic with the people of Matthews. You can’t buy that.”

One startling story Protagonist Soccer was told during the investigation of this article was that the club was so cash strapped that Commissioner Prutch was “on a conference call with the team when we landed in LA to play the LA Force and told us, as we were bused to the hotel, that the owner of the LA Force paid for our payroll and that it should be hitting our accounts within the next few days.”

All of these events are alleged to have happened during the fall 2021 season, while the league actively searched for an investor to take over the club. Through a source within the organization, it has been alleged that at least one such investor was close to purchasing Stumptown but negotiations stalled. The breakdown in the process was purported to be caused by NISA attempting to tack on its operations losses into the purchasing price. The league would not comment on any questions regarding negotiations, current or past.

When contacted by Protagonist Soccer, a league representative did acknowledge that there were payment issues involving players and staff, but those were limited to the month of December and were only a few days late. As far as slow vendor payments, the NISA spokesperson stated that the league was “not meeting the expectations of the vendors, nor our own, and we worked/continue to work diligently to mitigate the issue through to our current status.”

Alex Kantor, club president, was given a lot of credit from those we spoke to for his handling of a tough situation. Former head coach Rod Underwood was also credited with shielding the players as much as he could. But the lingering questions about funding are echoes of the allegations raised earlier this year about delayed or lack of payment of match officials. At that time, the league claimed that “there was a third-party system issue (a ghost in their machine -- no human error involved), and payments weren't going through.” These new allegations being made from insiders at Stumptown may indicate more systemic problems in NISA’s operating approach. But some questions linger. Is NISA operating within its means? Should NISA have let Stumptown collapse after the exit of the old ownership? How is this impacting other clubs? What kind of damage is being done to the optimism sparked by NISA?

The upcoming season should answer many of these questions as Stumptown AC returns to the field.

- Protagonist Staff

During the research for this story, an unconfirmed rumor was discovered that the league has found an investor and the team has been sold. The league would not comment when questioned about this rumor. We’ll wait to see if anything surfaces in the offseason.