Cooper’s Plan for Majors Lacked One Minor Thing

News Item: Harry Cooper and Co. to sell San Diego Sports Arena lease to Ron Hahn and Co. What happened to The Palace?

What happened to the National Basketball Assn. franchise?

What happened to the National Hockey League franchise?

What happened?

Are we back to Square One?

Harry Cooper and his colleagues had a wonderful dream, this idea of building a state-of-the-art arena and using it to lure NBA and NHL franchises to a deserving city. And he had money and he had land.

What more could it possibly take?

Cooper could not have foreseen how complicated it could become. He wanted something good and he was in position to help make something good happen. However, it was not enough if he was not to be allowed to do something good.

Upon assuming the arena lease in 1989, Cooper went about his stewardship in the best of faith. Improvements had to made to the existing facility, which was not exactly aging with grace. It had fallen into such disarray that the previous lease owners actually lost in litigation to the Clippers, who continue to know much about disarray.

Improvements were made, but it would take a Tomahawk missile to renovate the existing arena to the extent that it would be appropriate for an NBA or NHL tenant. It would have to be leveled and rebuilt, and this was not the location for rebuilding.

Hence, Cooper’s real love was with his dream, building a new arena on land he owned in Sorrento Hills.

To get his foot in the door, with hockey at least, he also established the San Diego Gulls of the International Hockey League. This would give the community a taste of the sport, which always had done well on a minor league level hereabouts. It would also give the NHL a feel for the community’s willingness to support even minor league hockey, which has been more than satisfactory.

Meanwhile, other doors seemed to remain closed to Cooper. While the community was interested in what he had in mind, community leaders viewed him with the mildest of interest.

Yawn.

He heard that maybe downtown would be better than Sorrento Hills.

Fine.

Where?

It never seemed that the city was working with Cooper on the notion of getting this arena built.

He had a dream and he had money and he had land, but he was not one of the “old-line insiders.” He did not have old friends in the right places. He did not have markers to call. It seemed all along that the wrong person had come up with the right idea.

Harry Cooper came in with all this hype and hoopla and then absolutely nothing happened. He had everything to move forward but political backing.

How many meetings do you suppose he had with the mayor to discuss this dream of such significance to the community?

As I understand it, he was granted none.

It probably should come as no surprise that he decided to get out. He had shifted this dream into gear, but he had not imagined the wall he would confront. It seemed there was no going forward.

When ill health intervened, enough was enough.

And so where do we stand now?

While most parties to this sale are remaining rather tight-lipped until the transaction is final, it seems obvious that the ultimate goals will remain the same.

And the chances of attaining these goals are probably in excellent shape. The leaders of this new group, developer Hahn and businessman Ballard Smith, are “inside” guys in the community. They share Cooper’s enthusiasm for a new arena, but they go him a step further by having the ears of the people who matter.

Not that nepotism could possibly be a factor, but Hahn’s father, Ernest, might be the quintessential civic leader. Ernest Hahn, who happens to be chairman of the Centre City Development Corp., doesn’t just know the right people . . . he is the right people.

Within this one family, we have a confluence of all the tangibles and intangibles that advance the idea of a palatial arena as a stimulating addition to the downtown landscape.

Should a Hahn care to discuss this subject with the mayor, for example, she likely would be inclined to ask what time would be convenient.

In a nutshell, this underscores the difference between what Harry Cooper and Co. encountered as opposed to what Ron Hahn and Co. are likely to encounter.

Should there come a day when San Diegans are flocking to a beautiful downtown arena to watch hometown heroes play in the NBA or NHL, they should remember Harry Cooper. He may not have gotten it done, but he did get it started.