Heat Are Expected to Fold : Soccer: Team failed to post $20,000 performance bond. Owners informed American Professional Soccer League West of decision to halt operations.

The financially strapped Los Angeles Heat failed to post a $20,000 performance bond with the American Professional Soccer League West Friday and are expected to fold later this week, the team’s principal owners have confirmed.

“It’s over. We’re finished,” said club President John Ajemian. “We’re closing our doors.”

South Bay businessman Roland Martin, who along with Ajemian had been spending between $15,000 and $20,000 a month to fund the team, informed APSL West chairman Bill Sage of the decision to call it quits Friday afternoon.

“My heart is still in it, but as far as Roland Martin is concerned, I’m through,” Martin said.

Sage also confirmed the demise of the Heat.

“The league has begun termination proceedings to formally dismiss the Heat,” he said. The process is expected to take between two and three weeks to complete.

Sage said it was “not impossible, but unlikely” that the Heat could reverse the proceedings once they have begun. He would not confirm reports that the league has investors waiting to start a new franchise in the Los Angeles area, but in previous interviews, Sage indicated that he thought it was essential for any professional sports enterprise to have a team in the L.A. market.

The Heat advanced to the league’s championship series last fall, losing to the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks in a marathon, four-hour title game.

Martin said a press release detailing the reasons why the team is calling it quits would be made public Monday or Tuesday.

“We owe some bills, but’s nothing that we can’t handle,” Martin said.

General Manager Dick White, who was also in charge of the Los Angeles Aztecs when that North American Soccer League team folded in 1984, is expected to write the three-person office staff its final paychecks on Monday. The staff did not receive paychecks last week and were told to take the remainder of the week off.

Ajemian said Heat headquarters on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach should be closed by the end of the week. The building is owned by Eugene Schiappa, a part-owner of the team.

The Heat was dealt a severe financial blow last fall when record company executive Lionel Conway backed away from purchasing 25% of the team. Although the Heat is run by a coalition of owners, the burden of paying the bills was left to Martin, who helped found the team in 1986, and Ajemian, who joined the club less than a year ago.

Meanwhile, the APSL West has been pushing teams to up their budgets to at least $600,000 for the 1991 season and the United States Soccer Federation has said it will only consider teams with budgets of $2.5 million or higher for its new professional league, set to begin play in 1992.

Several APSL West teams would like to join the USSF league, which is a requirement for the 1994 World Cup to be played in the United States. In the team’s current financial state, however, the coalition of Heat owners felt it could not raise that kind of capital, thus making it impossible for the Heat to attract top-name players.

The Heat had a budget of about $360,000 last year, but spent about $560,000.

Late last week, Ajemian scrambled to put together a last-second deal with an unnamed buyer. When that fell through, the owners met Friday and informed White of the Heat’s fate.

It is unclear what will become of the Heat’s youth soccer camp program. Ajemian said it is possible the corporate fees would be kept up to date so the program can continue, with Heat forward Bobby Bruch running the program.

Ajemian also said there is an outside chance that the Heat name may be sold to an interested party in the San Fernando Valley. That group would like to see the team play at Birmingham High in Van Nuys. It is unclear if such a team would join the APSL West.

The failure of the Heat is expected to leave the APSL West--an 11-team league last season--with only six teams. Although Sage would not conform it, Martin said he was told that only teams in Salt Lake City, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Colorado, Seattle and Redlands posted the performance bond. Of those, Salt Lake City is for sale and Santa Barbara is attempting to get league approval to move to Sacramento, a move opposed by San Francisco.