‘They still owe us $5,000.’ Fresno soccer team relocated, leaving behind unpaid bills
Editor’s note: In the two weeks following publication of this story, all four local businesses with overdue invoices to Fresno FC were paid in full by club management.
Months after Fresno FC played its final match, the final ledger on the now-defunct professional soccer club remains open.
That’s because several local businesses that served as vendors during the team’s two-year existence have yet to receive full payment for their services. Amounts owed range from $350 to nearly $10,000, according to the business owners.
“We had such a great relationship; I never dreamt this would become an issue,” said AlphaGraphics owner Dean Titus, whose Fresno-based company printed game programs, posters, placards and logos for the Foxes locker room.
“But now everything is gone. They don’t answer their phones or return emails. And they still owe us $5,000.”
Meanwhile, the owner of Good Cotton Printing, the Madera company that provided the screen printing on Foxes T-shirts, hoodies, banners and tote bags, claims $1,547 in unpaid invoices. Sarkis Manavazian does not expect to see the money.
“I don’t want to cut my losses, but it doesn’t sound like they’re going to pay their bill,” Manavazian said. “At this point, what do I do?”
On Oct. 29, 2019, three days after the Foxes were eliminated from the USL Championship playoffs, team owner Ray Beshoff issued a lengthy statement indicating the club “would almost certainly be relocating” mostly due to its inability to build a soccer-specific stadium.
By the end of that week, nearly every employee had been laid off, the team’s downtown Fresno offices cleaned out and all related phone numbers and email addresses shut down.
In December, following more than a month of silence, Fresno FC’s official Twitter account tweeted the club would not play next season but had been granted league approval to relocate in 2021. (Monterey is Beshoff’s preferred landing spot.) After a flurry of angry responses from Fresno-area fans, the account was quickly deleted.
‘It feels like a slap in the face’
Following a tip from team sources, I contacted the owners of six businesses that served as vendors for the Foxes. Four of them confirmed that the team folded, leaving behind unpaid bills.
AlphaGraphics received a $2,800 payment for invoices totaling $7,891.75, some of which date to last summer. Good Cotton Print Co. received a $600 check for its $2,147 invoice, along with a terse letter stating the club had ceased operations and to not expect any further payments. Culture Cloths, which provided embroidery on Foxes headwear, has not been paid for its $350 invoice. A fourth business owner says he is owed $9,829.33 but declined to state his name or company name on the record.
One of the business owners said he left a message with Beshoff but did not hear back and is considering legal action. Others did not know how to contact Beshoff or Frank Yallop, the team’s general manager, after the club folded.
Two other companies that team sources said owed money by the Foxes either declined to speak with me or didn’t return messages.
“Obviously it’s not a lot of money,” Culture Cloths owner Roberto Cobian said about his $350 unpaid bill. “But it’s a bad business practice and feels like a slap in the face.”
In addition to unpaid invoices from vendors, the Foxes are in a dispute with the Fresno Grizzlies, their landlord at Chukchansi Park, over financial terms that were not clearly spelled out in the lease agreement.
However, Grizzlies President Derek Franks said the parties have been in communication and expects the matter to be resolved.
“Both sides have agreed there’s still money owed,” Franks said. “We’ve just got to work out how much and come to an agreement.”
Beshoff ‘unaware’ and ‘disappointed’
When contacted via email regarding unpaid bills to local vendors, Beshoff responded he was “disappointed” to receive the news and that he was “unaware of the Foxes not paying any of their bills.”
That sentiment was echoed by Yallop, who claimed being told by team bookkeepers that some vendors had agreed to partial payments on their final invoices.
None of the business owners I spoke to said they had agreed to partial payments. Two scoffed at the suggestion.
Yallop also suggested that some of the invoices went unpaid because they were sent in “at the last minute.” Again, the vendors disputed that version of events. One showed me invoices dating to July and August.
“I or (the team’s bookkeeper) spoke to every one of those people and there were no issues,” Yallop said. “Everything was done correctly. Our vendors have been great to us. They’ve been great partners.”
Yallop asked me to help him get in touch with the local business owners who are still owed money, which I did. He also urged me not to write this story.
I went ahead and wrote it anyway, for this simple reason: Is the only reason the Foxes suddenly seem interested in paying their overdue bills because a reporter started asking questions?
“I can’t help but think that’s the case,” Titus said.
Money should not be an issue
Titus’ experience with Fresno FC mirrored that of other vendors. (AlphaGraphics was also a team sponsor, ponying up $5,000 in Year 1 and $10,000 in Year 2.) The team’s staff was great to work with and, at least initially, invoices were paid promptly.
However, Titus said that started to change last summer right around the time rumors started to circulate that the club might relocate.
“Instead of 30 days it would take 45 or 60” to receive payments, Titus said. “But they were very communicative and I didn’t worry much about it.”
Titus’ worries grew when the club folded without paying eight invoices worth a total of $7,891.75. However, he was given reassurances by his sales rep that he would be paid in full. Instead, he received a check for $2,800 without any further explanation.
“I don’t blame them for leaving – it was a business decision,” Titus said. “But you don’t screw your supporters, your sponsors and your suppliers. If you want to shut down and leave town, fine, but do it the right way. I know Ray Beshoff has the money.”
Beshoff owns a Mercedes and Infiniti dealership in San Jose and had a majority stake in Mercedes Benz of Fresno before being bought out by his partner in 2019. United States Soccer Federation sanctioning laws require principal owners of second-division teams have a principal net worth of $20 million.
In other words, money should not be an issue.
In his email, Beshoff expressed hope that Fresno FC would be remembered for the positive things it did for the community as opposed to “a negative twist on a couple of disputed invoices.”
Here’s one way to fix that narrative: Pay your debts.
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
