Tuesday, January 15, 2013

ESPN: Sporting KC to end deal with Livestrong

A day after news leaked that Lance Armstrong confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs during his cycling career, it appears Sporting Kansas City will be looking for a new stadium naming partner.

In a story posted at ESPN.com this evening, Sporting Club CEO Robb Heineman said Sporting will be terminating its agreement with Livestrong "immediately."

"We are disappointed to learn Livestrong is deploying tactics designed to force us into an unacceptable arrangement, after months of good faith discussions in which we believed progress had been made," Heineman told ESPN.com. "We were not expecting the foundation to treat a partner in this manner, especially given the tumultuous environment they have thrust us into over the past year -- while we staunchly defended the mission of the foundation. Our faith and trust in this partnership has been permanently damaged; therefore we are terminating our agreement with Livestrong immediately."

In the same story, a representative from Livestrong accused Sporting Club of not paying its full share of a $1 million fee the franchise owed to the foundation.

Armstrong made multiple appearances in Kansas City, Kan., including the night of the opening game played at the stadium formerly known as Livestrong Sporting Park.