Report: Chivas USA To Go on Hiatus

Photo credit: Chris Aduama/aduamaphotography.com

Chivas USA, rebranded or otherwise, will not field a team in 2015, and possibly longer according to an ESPN report that was published on Monday.

According to the report, which cites “multiple” unnamed sources, the team will suspend operations following the 2014 season. One of the sources indicated that MLS, which bought the club for $35 million from owner Jorge Vergera and Angelica Fuentes prior to the season, has received a bid worth around $100 million. A  contingency of the bid, according the source, is that the ownership group, which was not disclosed, can put the franchise on hiatus.

The report details that the franchise is expected to stay on hiatus through 2016, as the potential ownership group attempts to secure a stadium deal. During that time, the team will also be rebranded.

What this development means for its current roster of players isn’t yet certain. The league could presumably hold a disbursal draft similar to the one conducted prior to the 2002 season when both the Miami Fusion and Tampa Mutiny were contracted.

Among those on the Chivas USA roster with local connections: Andrew Jean-Baptise, who starred at UConn from 2010-11, Tony Lochhead, who played for the Revolution from 2005-07, and Thomas McNamara, who played for the Western Mass Pioneers in 2011.

Chivas currently sits at the bottom of the Western Conference table with 24 points.  The Revolution beat the Goats 1-0 earlier this season.