ChumpDumper
06-13-2007, 02:40 PM
Flyers on way out of Fort Worth
By ANGEL H. VERDEJO, and MIKE LEE
Star-Telegram staff writer
The Fort Worth Flyers have played their last game at the Convention Center, after spending more than $3 million without turning a profit, the team's owner said Tuesday.
The Flyers, despite making the NBA Development League playoffs in their two seasons, will probably be re-formed in another city, such as Reno, Nev., David Kahn, principal owner of Southwest Basketball LLC, which operated the Flyers, said at the end of Tuesday's Fort Worth City Council meeting.
Kahn did say the D-League may return to the area, possibly due to its proximity to the Dallas Mavericks.
He brushed aside complaints of unpaid bills by local businesses, assuring that "everyone is going to get paid," and asked the city to forgive $25,000 in fees the team owes the Convention Center. The council, because of procedure, did not consider the request.
The team is the second minor league franchise to leave the Convention Center in the last two years. The Fort Worth Brahmas hockey team closed in 2005, and its managers claimed they were pushed out by city staff at the Convention Center. The team, renamed the Texas Brahmas, has re-formed and is set to play home games at North Richland Hills' Blue Line ice facility.
The Flyers have one year left on a three-year contract. They averaged 756 fans in attendance per home game last year and 730 in 2005-06. The team has had just 11 games with attendance over 1,000.
Southwest Basketball is also facing two lawsuits. Investor Gary Walker is seeking damages from a repayable investment totaling $80,011, and Concussion LLP, an advertising firm based in Fort Worth, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking damages from unpaid advertising services in 2006 totaling $7,655.
Kahn, a former sportswriter and executive with the NBA's Indiana Pacers, said the team spent about $3.2 million over three years, beginning a year before it began playing games. He wouldn't say how much the team lost, but said Southwest Basketball's teams in Austin, Albuquerque and Tulsa were performing well.
Among problems cited by Kahn were the Convention Center's location, at the south end of downtown, four blocks from the bustle of Sundance Square; and the facility's staff, which he said provided less support than staff in the league's other cities. Team staffers had to hang and remove signs, and the team had to pay for ticket-takers and ushers, Kahn said.
"Those four blocks might as well be 40 blocks," Kahn said. Kahn also cited mistakes by team management in the business failure.
Local businesses weren't actively involved in sponsorships or purchasing blocks of tickets, a problem Kahn attributed to the lack of an investor from Fort Worth. The league sold percentages of the team to investors in Arlington and Grapevine.
Mayor Mike Moncrief said he had tried to drum up support for the team, with few results.
"I wish there was more I could have done," Moncrief said. "It was a pretty helpless place I found myself in."
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/135183.html
Too bad, but those attendance numbers are terrible. There were actually over 2000 when I saw them play the Toros up there.
I wonder who will get the Mavs affiliation now, and I also wonder if Cuban has any thoughts about getting his own D-League team.
By ANGEL H. VERDEJO, and MIKE LEE
Star-Telegram staff writer
The Fort Worth Flyers have played their last game at the Convention Center, after spending more than $3 million without turning a profit, the team's owner said Tuesday.
The Flyers, despite making the NBA Development League playoffs in their two seasons, will probably be re-formed in another city, such as Reno, Nev., David Kahn, principal owner of Southwest Basketball LLC, which operated the Flyers, said at the end of Tuesday's Fort Worth City Council meeting.
Kahn did say the D-League may return to the area, possibly due to its proximity to the Dallas Mavericks.
He brushed aside complaints of unpaid bills by local businesses, assuring that "everyone is going to get paid," and asked the city to forgive $25,000 in fees the team owes the Convention Center. The council, because of procedure, did not consider the request.
The team is the second minor league franchise to leave the Convention Center in the last two years. The Fort Worth Brahmas hockey team closed in 2005, and its managers claimed they were pushed out by city staff at the Convention Center. The team, renamed the Texas Brahmas, has re-formed and is set to play home games at North Richland Hills' Blue Line ice facility.
The Flyers have one year left on a three-year contract. They averaged 756 fans in attendance per home game last year and 730 in 2005-06. The team has had just 11 games with attendance over 1,000.
Southwest Basketball is also facing two lawsuits. Investor Gary Walker is seeking damages from a repayable investment totaling $80,011, and Concussion LLP, an advertising firm based in Fort Worth, filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking damages from unpaid advertising services in 2006 totaling $7,655.
Kahn, a former sportswriter and executive with the NBA's Indiana Pacers, said the team spent about $3.2 million over three years, beginning a year before it began playing games. He wouldn't say how much the team lost, but said Southwest Basketball's teams in Austin, Albuquerque and Tulsa were performing well.
Among problems cited by Kahn were the Convention Center's location, at the south end of downtown, four blocks from the bustle of Sundance Square; and the facility's staff, which he said provided less support than staff in the league's other cities. Team staffers had to hang and remove signs, and the team had to pay for ticket-takers and ushers, Kahn said.
"Those four blocks might as well be 40 blocks," Kahn said. Kahn also cited mistakes by team management in the business failure.
Local businesses weren't actively involved in sponsorships or purchasing blocks of tickets, a problem Kahn attributed to the lack of an investor from Fort Worth. The league sold percentages of the team to investors in Arlington and Grapevine.
Mayor Mike Moncrief said he had tried to drum up support for the team, with few results.
"I wish there was more I could have done," Moncrief said. "It was a pretty helpless place I found myself in."
http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/135183.html
Too bad, but those attendance numbers are terrible. There were actually over 2000 when I saw them play the Toros up there.
I wonder who will get the Mavs affiliation now, and I also wonder if Cuban has any thoughts about getting his own D-League team.