THE STATE OF PRO SPORTS IN NEW ORLEANS
By Ken Trahan
With the return of the New Orleans VooDoo (under different ownership) in March, the professional sports scene in the New Orleans area is at an all-time optimum level, matching the scenario last seen in 2008.
In that year, the NFL New Orleans Saints, the NBA New Orleans Hornets, the Pacific Coast League New Orleans Zephyrs, the Arena Football League VooDoo and the Premier Development Soccer League New Orleans Shockers were all active in the New Orleans market.
Despite ranking as the 59th largest television market in the country, a ranking that dropped following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans houses a pair of major league franchises in the Saints and Hornets and a trio of minor league franchises in the Zephyrs, VooDoo and New Orleans Jesters.
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans ranked as the 44th largest television market in the country. The decrease in population dropped that number but not the enthusiasm of fans for their teams.
The Saints have a Super Bowl victory and a season ticket waiting list at nearly 50,000. Additional suites were added to the Superdome configuration in 2010 and were sold. Improvements, including increased lower bowl seating capacity and ground level suite “bunkers” are being added prior to Super Bowl 47 in 2013 in the facility.
On the field, the Saints just completed an 11-6 season and a return to the playoffs. They are a well-coached team. Tom Benson has a favorable long-term lease with the state of Louisiana and he has invested in Benson Tower, is involved with the project development at the old New Orleans Center and purchased WVUE-TV.
The Saints own the sports market and are on solid ground for many years to come.
The Hornets won a playoff series in 2008, a high-water mark. Attendance grew, along with overall interest.
Since that time, the team declined as did attendance. Faced with a benchmark deadline once again by the end of January, fans showed up in enough numbers to prevent the team from possibly opting out of its deal, paying a relocation fee and departing the market.
This is an ongoing situation which will last through the terms of the current lease for a couple of more seasons.
By NBA standards, the Hornets are a struggling franchise. The team is now owned by the league. George Shinn, who never had deep pockets, could not reach an agreement with minority owner Gary Chouest to purchase the team and the league stepped in and took over the team.
New Orleans native Jack Sperling was appointed as the “NBA Governor” of the franchise in December.
Sperling likes his hometown. He wants to see the franchise remain and succeed here. Ultimately, he will seek to secure a permanent owner for the team.
Perhaps Chouest will get back in the game after his offshore drilling businesses recover from the gulf oil spill of 2010 and after a possible work stoppage by players either comes to pass or passes by the start of the 2011-2012 season.
Lawyer Morris Bart has pledged to buy 10 percent. Maybe former minority owner Ray Wooldridge, who still lives in New Orleans, will become part of a newly configured local ownership group.
Local ownership is essential. All one has to do is examine recent sports history and New Orleans sports history to understand this.
In 1979, West Coast native Sam Battistone opted to move the New Orleans Jazz to Salt Lake City, Utah, the home of the Mormon church, his faith. Armed with a bad lease, a losing team, an injured, declining Pete Maravich and a nation-high 11 percent amusement tax, Battistone decided to move the team to Utah.
NBA basketball would not return to New Orleans until the Hornets relocated from Charlotte to New Orleans in 2002.
With San Jose, Kansas City, Seattle, Anaheim and Louisville actively seeking an NBA franchise, fan support, sponsor support and local ownership will be essential moving forward for the Hornets to remain solvent in the New Orleans area.
While there is not much margin for error, given the market size and limited corporate support, it can survive and thrive here. Having a winning team is virtually essential for that to occur.
Fortunately, the Hornets are a winner this season. As they approached late January, New Orleans was in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, their second eight-game win streak of the season, solidly positioned as a Western conference playoff team.
The Hornets led the league in defense, allowing the fewest points per game. Chris Paul, David West and Emeka Okafor were playing at All-Star levels. Monty Williams has been a hit as a coach. Thanks to the wins and the Saints being done, fans were responding.
The New Orleans Zephyrs arrived in New Orleans in 1993. After owner John Dikeou endured four seasons playing at a decent college field but woefully inadequate Triple A facility at Privateer Park (UNO), the Zephyrs moved to Metairie and enjoyed great success at Zephyr Field, reaching a franchise-high of 518,000 fans in 1998 under superb General Manager Jay Miller.
The team won the Pacific Coast League and inaugural Triple A World Series in 1998. The team won another PCL title in 2001.
Upon moving to Metairie, the team was now controlled by a local ownership group, led by local lawyer Rob Couhig, who purchased the majority interest in the team from Dikeou in 1995. It is no coincidence that the team enjoyed its greatest success in a new stadium, with local ownership and with an ideal affiliation.
From 1997-2004, the Zephyrs were affiliated with the Houston Astros, a franchise located just over five hours away by car and less than hour away by plane, a franchise whose games are televised and broadcast on radio in New Orleans. It was a great marriage.
Unfortunately, the marriage ended after the 2004 season. Houston moved its Triple A team to Round Rock, Texas. Since that time, the Zephyrs have been affiliated with the Washington Nationals, New York Mets and Florida Marlins, the current affiliate.
In 2000, Couhig would eventually sell his majority interest to Don Beaver, who also owns the Triple A Charlotte Knights and Single A Hickory Crawdads, among other baseball interests.
While Beaver does not live here, he has done well by New Orleans, keeping the team here while hiring solid Mike Schline as his General Manager and popular local icon Ron Maestri as his team’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer.
In 2004, the New Orleans VooDoo became the second Arena Football League team to call New Orleans home. The New Orleans Night played in the Louisiana Superdome in 1991 and 1992.
Owned and operated by Tom Benson, the VooDoo played at New Orleans Arena from 2004-2008, with the exception of the 2006 season following Hurricane Katrina.
The team was very successful in New Orleans, selling a league-high 13,000 season tickets in 2007, averaging a league-leading 16,645 fans that season.
Despite making the playoffs just once in franchise history (2004), the VooDoo were highly successful, largely thanks to a passionate football market and having solid, local ownership with the New Orleans Saints employees and force behind them.
The team elected to cease operating following the 2008 season. The league’s poor financial structure, player salaries and the inability of the Saints to sell advertising in New Orleans Arena were primary reasons for the decision by Benson to fold.
The Hornets control all advertising streams at New Orleans Arena, just as the Saints do at the Superdome, per the leases of the two teams with the respective facilities.
In September of 2010, it was announced via NewOrleans.com/Sports that the VooDoo would be returning to New Orleans with the same name and logo but under different ownership as Dan Newman, a native of the Lafayette area and long-time resident of Shreveport, was relocating the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings to New Orleans.
Based on the wild popularity of the previous VooDoo franchise, the football-crazed fans in the area and the time of year that the team plays (March through July), the new VooDoo have a chance to succeed. Despite not being local, Newman is from Louisiana and lives in the state.
The New Orleans Jesters soccer club is owned by native New Orleanian Dana Stumpf, who purchased the team in 2008 and re-branded the name. Professional soccer has been around New Orleans since 1993.
The New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers played here from 1993-1996 under local owner Donnie Pate in the United Soccer Leagues. The name was later shortened to Gamblers. In 1997, Couhig purchased the team from Pate, renamed the team the New Orleans Storm, and moved the team to Zephyr Field to compete in the higher classification A-League.
They made the playoffs in 1997, losing in the division finals to the Dallas Burn. Though they returned to the playoffs in 1998 and 1999, the team never grew a substantive fan base and Couhig suspended operations in 2000, having lost a substantial amount of money.
The New Orleans Shell Shockers, sponsored by Shell Oil, entered the New Orleans market in 2003 as part of the Premier Development League. The team was owned by local entepreneur Gary Ostroske and others.
The Shell Shockers enjoyed early success, sporting the league’s best record in its first season and making the playoffs with coach Kenny Farrell earning Coach of the Year honors.
Hurricane Katrina forced the team to relocate from Pan American Stadium to Muss Bertolino Stadium in Kenner and support slipped, along with the number of wins on the pitch.
By 2008, Shell Oil had pulled out and Stumpf purchased the team, moving home games to Tad Gormley Stadium. By 2009, she changed the team name to Jesters and moved the home games back to refurbished Pan American Stadium, where they continue to call home.
Can all five professional franchises survive on a long-term basis? It would be great for jobs, the economy and the community at-large. Having locals involved in the operation of the teams is essential. Winning is very important. Marketing matters. The economy is a vital component.
Ultimately, it’s all about the consumer. If they are willing to buy in substantive numbers, teams will continue to operate here. The professional sports market is a very important part of our entertainment landscape and to the long-term viability of our economy.
Ken Trahan serves as sports director of WGSO 990 AM/WGSO.com and is president and general manager of neworleans.com Sports. Trahan is the also the general manager and chairman of the board of the Saints Hall of Fame Museum in the Louisiana Superdome, and runs the Life Resources Sports Ministry
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