ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — When Rochester NY FC began play last season, its first after a five-year hiatus, things were looking up for the club.

The former Rhinos had a new name, a new league, a flashy new minority owner in Premier League great Jamie Vardy, and a docuseries in development about the club’s revival.

Just a year later, the club unceremoniously announced on Friday that the team would not be playing in the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro season. While RNY FC’s press release did not specifically address the club’s future plans, a press release from the league said that RNY FC made the decision to cease operations.

Co-owners David and Wendy Dworkin said in the release that the current infrastructure of the club left no path to sustainability.

RNY FC played its 2022 home games at Monroe Community College. While MCC was praised by the Dworkins, they said that they needed a more robust infrastructure to continue.

An effort was made to save the club, as the Dworkins met with international soccer team owners to try and create a relationship to reduce the operating costs of the club. According to the release, the team was in advanced discussions with another ownership group to acquire a majority interest in the club. However, those discussions fell apart earlier this week forcing the decision to not field a team this season.

The 2022 season started on an ominous note, as individual ticket buyers were turned away from the team’s home opener because of stadium issues. However, things started to turn around.

RNY FC made it to the Round of 32 in the U.S. Open Cup. The team finished 4th in the Eastern Conference and made the playoffs as the only independent team in the league. The stands were packed for home games near the end of the season and 600 temporary seats were brought in for their final game of the year.

In the offseason, the cracks in the organization started to show. On January 3rd, the team announced that they were losing head coach Bruno Baltazar to a Bulgarian club. The following day, Wendy Dworkin issued a statement on its social media pages saying in part that “there’s a way to go but the journey is just getting better and better as time goes on for us.” The team did not post on social media for over a month and a half.

On February 22nd, the club acknowledged the lack of activity and said they were exploring multiple strategic relationships to move the club forward and said they anticipated providing updates in the coming week. The next time RNY FC posted, it was Friday’s announcement.

The team said that fans who had already ordered 2023 season tickets will have their purchases refunded in full beginning on March 21st.