League: Coach took money, no team

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - You've heard of pay to play schemes, but pay not to play? A mother says she paid to sign her son up for youth football, but he was left without a team and she was left without a refund.

The woman paid $140 for her son to play, but just an hour before his first game Saturday, she got a text that the whole thing was off. Now, the league says it's trying to fix things.

“He's been dying to play football,” Becky Cuevas said.

Her 7-year-old son, Carlos, was ready to hit the gridiron, but he never got on the field.

“That's heartbreaking to tell him he didn't have a game, an hour before his game, when he was ready,” said Cuevas. “He got up telling everybody that, that it was a big day for him.”

Cuevas says the coach for the Spartans team sent her a single text.

“It just said that the league was canceled,” said Cuevas.

But the league, Infinity Youth Sports, had not folded; in fact they had about three dozen teams playing that day, just not the Spartans.

Frustrated, Cuevas asked for a refund.

“He just said that I wasn't going to get my money back and I asked why I wasn't the one who dropped out or took him out,” said Cuevas.

She says she called the coach and the league more than three times a day since Saturday, but no response.

“Nobody has every returned my call until I called you guys,” said Cuevas.

Turns out the league had just started to piece together what had happened to Cuevas and a handful of other families.

“Obviously not everybody is going to be on the up and up,” Infinity Youth Sports’ owner Eric Lopez said. “Which is what has happened with one of our coaches.”

When you break down the X's and O's.

“This guy went and recruited some players kept the money it's not the parents fault, it's not our fault,” said Lopez.

The coach called News 13 Tuesday saying he simply didn't have enough players to fill the team and that he gave the money back after parents complained.

The league says they are now trying to do the right thing, they returned Cuevas' money and as far as the other kids.

“We've gone and placed those players on different teams that way they did have a place to play,” said Lopez.

Cuevas says she spent about $300 total on the entry fee and equipment for her son. She says now she will just try to get him involved in another sport.

This is the first year for the Infinity Youth Sports league. They also have soccer, cheerleading and volleyball teams.