Dwyane Wade Facing Lawsuit, Are Athlete Restaurants a Bad Investment?

A story in Florida's Sun-Sentinel reported that Dwyane Wade is facing a lawsuit for breach of contract from former partners Mark Rodberg and Richard von Houtman. Rodberg and von Houtman helped Wade open two restaurants last year and were planning a third. But both D. Wade's Sports Grills shut down in the last couple of months and the plaintiffs are saying it's because Wade didn't fulfill his end of the deal by making the required marketing and promotional appearances on behalf the restaurants.

Wade, however, is saying that he did meet his obligations and Rodberg and von Houtman , who are looking for $15,000 and attorney's fees, needed to slow their roll and let the restaurants marinate for a minute before expanding.
"If anything, Dwyane has a concern that the value of his name has been tarnished by ceasing operation of the restaurants," Steven Peretz, Wade's attorney, told the Sun Sentinel. "This is an instance where D. Wade called a timeout on the expectation of the restaurants. The pilot restaurants have not shown any record for success."

Our colleague at CNBC, Darren Rovell, took a look at the idea of athletes starting restaurants, and it's not a pretty picture. While there are some success stories, like Elway's Steakhouse in Denver and Don Shula's steakhouse chain all over the east coast, there are a lot of closures. Here's a partial list of some restaurants that recently closed. The list was gathered by Rovell via HeadlinerDiners.com:

Bob Huggins' Hugg's Inn (Cincinnati, OH)

Brett Hull's Restaurant (St. Louis, MO)

Clyde Drexler's BBQ (Houston, TX)

Don Mattingly's Restaurant (Evansville, IN)

George Brett's (Kansas City, MO)

Larry Bird's Boston Connection (Terre Haute, IN)

Michael Jordan's Restaurant (Chicago, IL)

Michael Jordan's 23 Restaurant (Chapel Hill, NC)

Mickey Lolitch's Donut Shop (Detroit, MI)

Pete Rose's Ballpark Cafe (Boca Raton, FL)

Vin Baker's Saybrook Fish House (Old Saybrook, CT)

Wilt Chamberlain's (Boca Raton, FL)