San Antonio Scorpions owner releases statement, club's future looks bleak

The future of the San Antonio Scorpions is very much in doubt, following Wednesday's news that Toyota Field has been sold. On Thursday, Scorpions' owner Gordon Hartman released a statement trying to shed a bit of light on the sale, though he was limited a bit by the confidentiality agreement which was included in the sale:

Since yesterday's announcement that the City of San Antonio and Bexar County plan to acquire Toyota Field as part of a bid for a Major League Soccer franchise for San Antonio, some follow-up questions have been asked about the proposed agreement. Because of a confidentiality agreement, I'm not at liberty to discuss specifics concerning the San Antonio Scorpions or Toyota Field.

However, upon finalization of this purchase, the total $21 million from the sale of Toyota Field will go directly to Morgan's Wonderland so our unique theme park will have the funds necessary to continue serving the special-needs community. That has been the ultimate goal of Soccer for a Cause since its creation four and a half years ago.

Hartman does not get into the future of the Scorpions, but Chris Hockman's interview with Judge Nelson Wolff may have provided a bit of insight, specifically the following question and answer:

Hockman: Why do this now?

Wolff: There are two reasons for why now. First, Spurs will move to the United Soccer Leagues and they have a limited time frame to notify the league and begin play in the spring. Second, Gordon (Hartman) also faces a similar situation with notifying the North American Soccer League that he will not continue, so with that time crunch it had to be done now.

Things don't look good in San Antonio from a NASL perspective at the moment, though we've heard nothing official from either the club or the league. I'd think we will in the coming days, however.