Effort to Lure NBA Team to Area in Suspended State for Now

SAN DIEGO —  The season-ticket pledge drive that began in late June as an attempt to help lure an NBA team to San Diego is continuing, albeit in a state of hibernation.

In October, the drive had received 2,000 pledges of $50 each for season tickets. As of Thursday, that number had risen only “to a little above 2,100,” according to Richard Esquinas, a partner in the effort to build an arena downtown.

“The drive is now in kind of a maintenance mode,” said Craig Levinsohn, a consultant to Minneapolis businessman Mannie L. Jackson, who hopes to someday head up the ownership of a San Diego NBA franchise. “They’ve got to make sure they keep that 2,100 base, but at the same time, they can’t go out and solicit anyone because there is nothing tangible to sell. People want to wait and see what Mannie Jackson can do about purchasing a team for San Diego. If Jackson can come out and say at some point, ‘Hey, we’re in the middle of negotiations for a team,’ then momentum will build for season-ticket pledges.”

Although a few franchises are known to be on shaky ground, Levinsohn said negotiations to purchase one are not likely until after the playoffs, because teams don’t want to disrupt their seasons.

Still, Esquinas insisted, “We are very aggressively looking for a team . . . this thing hasn’t been put on the back burner.”

Judging solely from the 2,100 figure, it might seem there is little support for bringing the NBA here. Charlotte went to the NBA meetings in October 1986 NBA meetings, at which the league announced plans to expand, with 9,000 pledges at $200 each. Minneapolis sold 8,700 pledges at $50 each in a 47-day period before the meetings. Orlando came in with 14,000 subscribers at $100 each.

But comparing season-ticket sales of those cities to the drive here is like comparing basketballs to hockey pucks, according to Pat Williams, general manager of the Orlando Magic and the man who spearheaded the drive to bring the NBA to that city.

“We had the advantage of working toward a deadline,” Williams said of the NBA’s known intention to expand at that meeting in Phoenix. “The six cities then interested in the NBA were whipping their citizenry into a frenzy. Here, it became a huge civic effort.”

Although the resulting 14,000 pledges worked as a terrific calling card for Orlando, Williams said the NBA really cares about only one thing in awarding expansion teams.

“All of (the pledges) proved meaningless,” he said. “In the end, it all came down to one issue: Who is going to be the primary owner? How deep are his pockets and what kind of man is he? Those are probably issues one through 30. No. 31 would be the playing facility and No. 32 the market.”

Looking at it from his perspective, Williams said a season-ticket drive here really is a moot point.

“There have been three franchises there (the NBA Rockets and Clippers and the American Basketball Assn. Conquistadors/Sails) that have failed,” Williams noted. “And now here comes another campaign, and there’s got to be a lot of skeptics and doubters to begin with who are saying ‘This sounds like a goose chase.’ So I don’t know what the 2,100 pledges mean.”

Those pledges have come at a time when the NBA (at 27 teams) is not considering further expansion.

Levinsohn agreed with Williams about a high level of skepticism here. But he said that despite past failures, there seems to be interest in the NBA--and he points to the 2,100 pledges as proof.

“I think it’s a good mark,” he said. “Our expectations weren’t to sell 10,000 season tickets, because that’s unrealistic until you can rally the community. The idea was to gain a presence.”

Although Jackson and those connected with his efforts have maintained a low profile since they promoted an exhibition between the L.A. Clippers and Seattle Supersonics Oct. 12, Esquinas and Levinsohn both say Jackson has maintained his interest in bringing a team here.

Jackson was unavailable for comment.

“Jackson wants a team in San Diego,” Levinsohn said from Minneapolis. “Partially because he lives there for three months out of the year, and secondly because he knows there is no other city that has the demographic profile like San Diego and does not have an NBA team.”

There was some confusion as to whether Jackson would maintain his interest in San Diego as an NBA market after the Clippers-SuperSonics game. That night, Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling introduced Harry Cooper (Esquinas’ partner in the proposed arena) to Sonics owner Barry Ackerly, who is known to be looking for a potential new home. The Seattle Center Coliseum is the third smalles in the league (14,200 capacity) and in poor condition, and Ackerly has had political difficulty with his attempts to get a new arena built.

In the days after the exhibition, there was speculation that Ackerly might move the team here, which reportedly did not sit well with Jackson.

“The media further speculated that Mannie Jackson would be the odd man out,” Levinsohn said. “But the fact of the matter is Mannie has an exclusive contract with Harry Cooper and Richard Esquinas to be at least a partial owner of any NBA team in their new arena.”

The Sonics issue has since died down; when San Diego is mentioned as a possible home for them, it is along with several other cities. And the latest news is that Ackerly is negotiating to take over the master lease of the Tacoma Dome, some 40 miles south of Seattle, and make it the team’s new home.