Soccer league used sport to build community. Owner blames demise on petty retaliation.

Indy City Futbol, an adult recreational neighborhood soccer league based on the concept of using the sport to build community cohesion and pride, is shutting down after 10 seasons.

The move comes amid mounting financial and legal issues facing its owner.

“I’m proud of the work we’ve all done together and the community we created. But, I’m out of the energy it takes to curate neighborhood soccer for good,” says a message signed “The Commish” on the league’s Facebook page.

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The announcement was posted April 1, but it was not an April Fool’s prank. "The Commish" is Indianapolis resident Jordan Updike, who in an interview on Wednesday confirmed the league's demise. Updike, who filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, said the decision to shut down the league has nothing to do with his personal financial situation. Instead, he blamed retaliation from anonymous people he kicked out of Indy City Futbol for not following league rules.

Since November, those individuals — whom he would not identify — have engaged in a concerted effort to target, harass and embarrass him via social media with wildly untrue and vicious lies to start their own "spite leagues," Updike said. He got to a point where he just didn't want to deal with it anymore and lost the energy to keep the league going.

As one example, he offered up a January thread on social media site Reddit where an anonymous commenters leaked information about Indy City Futbol. The league, he said, wasn't designed to withstand such tactics.

"If that hadn't happened, we'd still be playing," said Updike.

'Don't be a jerk'

Indy City Futbol was a unique, neighborhood soccer league “birthed alongside Indy Eleven in 2014,” according to its website, and appears to have partnered at times with the Indianapolis professional team. The website explains the league was started by local nonprofit art and design collaborative Big Car “as a placemaking program built to use the sport of soccer to develop neighborhood cohesion and pride.”

It's No. 1 rule is "don't be a jerk."

“We're not only bringing together local residents for soccer," the website says. "We're helping make our city a better place, too.”

Indy Eleven did not immediately respond to IndyStar messages seeking comment. Jim Walker, co-founder and executive director of Big Car, said the nonprofit has not been involved with Indy City Futbol in several years and he had been unaware of Updike's announcement earlier this week.

"When we were doing it, it was really strengthening neighborhood identity and also having a social outlet for people to spend time together," Walker said. "I think it continued to be this way, but it was always a focus on not being a competitive thing, but more of a social thing."

Big Car handed the league off to Updike.

The seasonal league grew to host 24 teams representing neighborhoods. The teams reflected the identities of the original inner core of Indianapolis, cultural districts and neighborhoods. They included Broad Ripple City, Sporting White River, Mass Ave United, Irvington FC, Bates-Hendricks FC, Martindale AFC, Riverside City, Old North United and Haughville CD, among others.

Over the years, the league worked with local nonprofits and members even spent time cleaning up the cultural trail.

"There are plenty of places where you can go play soccer," Updike said. "Soccer is just the tool for getting neighbors together, and that's more important to me than wins and losses."

Indy City Futbol has seen hundreds of participants since its inception. According to the league's website, an exemplary Indy City Futbol player is one who is enthusiastic; has a positive and welcoming attitude to people from all backgrounds, religions, orientations and experiences; is teachable; and is willing to stand up to or alert the league to bullies and jerks.

Curating a successful league is as much about keeping certain personalities and behavior out as it is about being inclusive, Updike said.

"That takes hard conversations and face-to-face conversations," he said in an interview punctuated with long pauses and deep sighs as he struggled to piece together his thoughts on the league he built and its abrupt ending. "That's why I think the cowardice of this anonymous group of people — I don't know what they stand to gain. I wish them all well in their soccer hopes and dreams, but it just created a personal toll that I couldn't take anymore."

Updike's profile on LinkedIn says he is CEO of City Sports, where he's "building hyper-engaged local community through athletic social clubs."

The profile describes him as a "high-impact marketing executive and seasoned manager with experience actively helping founders and companies identify their presenting problems, craft an effective strategy and acquire and deploy the resources needed to meet and exceed company goals."

In business filings and court records, Updike is listed as the soccer league's sole owner, registered agent and member. However, the Indiana Secretary of State dissolved Indy City Futbol as a limited liability corporation in August 2022 for what appears to be a failure to file annual reports.

The league hasn't operated with an active business license since then, according to state records.

'Willing to let it go'

The demise of the Indy City Futbol runs parallel to the financial downturn in Updike's personal life.

"The pandemic has turned my lift upside down and I'm just not surviving across the board," he said. Alleged professional attacks and publicizing of his personal instability has left him feeling humiliated.

He said the league nearly ended before the 2023 season when an administrator partner brought on after the prior season abruptly left. He claims the league was in the process of remedying its business status and converting to a player-owned model when the alleged harassment began.

In a bankruptcy filing Feb. 28, Updike lists the league among his holdings and states the “seasonal business” has $30,000 in debt and he is “willing to let it go.”

Updike is “not getting any money from the LLC but it pays his cell phone,” the federal court filing says. “Operates out of his home. Uses fields at Kuntz stadium. No value. Owes a credit card $15,000 and a personal loan from an investor" of $15,000.

The bankruptcy filing says Updike is unemployed and has debts of more than $250,000, with assets of less than $15,000.

Updike declined to comment on the bankruptcy proceedings or on how the league financially sustained itself other than to say the bankruptcy is unrelated to the league's demise. He also decline to comment on the legalities of intellectual property related to the league.

"I loved curating neighborhood soccer for good. It sucks that people are trying to tie my personal situation to that," he said. "The extent to which that experience is tied to the league is my emotional capacity for dealing with that kind of behavior from people so they create a self-fulfilling prophecy I guess."

In addition to filing for bankruptcy, Updike has recently faced default judgments from debt collectors. He also is facing a pending lawsuit from an Indianapolis woman who accused him of failing to compensate her for services she provided for his other company, Focused Growth LLC.

The lawsuit alleges Updike agreed to grant the woman equity in the company, which is registered in Wyoming, in exchange for work she provided but failed to do so. It also alleges that Focused Growth and Updike encouraged her to take out a Chase credit card so she could charge business expenses, then left her stuck with the debt.

Additionally, the lawsuit also says the plaintiff has yet to be paid for other business expenses such as payroll loans and payments on an American Express account related to the business, as well as personal loans to Updike.

Updike said he could not comment on the lawsuit.

It hasn't been easy, he said, to walk away from the soccer league he poured so much of himself into over the last 10 years.

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"I'm having a hard time answering these questions because part of what I love about the Indy City Futbol is the community — and also part of what is ending it is people," he said. "I feel betrayed and also like devastated that I couldn't overcome that."

On Reddit, commenters say Indy City Futbol was marred with drama. They accuse Updike of engaging in favoritism, bad business decisions and aggressive behavior toward other players, a violation of the league's No. 1 rule.

"Indy City Futbol was designed around the paradox of tolerance: that creating inclusive communities requires an intolerance and accountability of bad actors," he said in a follow-up message to IndyStar. "I'll stand by any curation that provided that environment and community."

But when asked what he would have done differently, Updike said nothing.

"I'm proud of the 10 years of work that I did," he said, "but it's a bummer."

Contact IndyStar investigative reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @allyburris.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy City Futbol closes amid owner's financial, legal problems