THEY’RE IN CHARGE : Fowler and Cady Bring Businesslike Attitude to Sockers

When two successful businessmen, Ron Cady and Ron Fowler, first discussed taking control of the exciting, successful but financially troubled Sockers, the conversation went like this:

Cady told Fowler, “You’ve got to be crazy. Why would we want to step up and do this, Ron? You’ve got all these other things going.”

In October, when Cady was named president of a team that has never turned a profit, he told Fowler:

“We’re going to have to be magicians. It’s quite a challenge you’re throwing out here, Ron.”

How right Cady was.

The first half of the Sockers’ season has been filled with more victories--and more costly and time-consuming surprises--than either Cady or Fowler envisioned when Fowler’s corporation, Sockers Management Inc., replaced Bob Bell and took control on Oct. 14.

The season after their streak of five consecutive indoor titles was snapped, the Sockers have the best record in the Major Indoor Soccer League at 22-7.

“Artistically, the team is every bit as good and better than we anticipated,” Fowler said. “What we found administratively was worse than we anticipated, and that has not been fun.”

Fowler anticipates losing between $200,000 and $300,000 this season. He had originally expected to lose less than $100,000. The bottom line will depend on the Sockers’ final attendance and how far they advance in the playoffs. The Sockers have never turned a profit in their 10-year history and have always lost in excess of $400,000 a season, Fowler said.

Fowler is the president of Liquid Investments Inc., whose major local subsidiary is Mesa Distributing Co., a beverage distributor. Cady has worked with Fowler for eight years. They believed they could use their business acumen to turn the Sockers’ financial problems around in two years.

“We’ll follow through on that commitment,” Fowler said. “If we cannot measurably improve the financial performance of the Sockers over the next two years, I would look to turning the reins as managing partner over to someone else.”

When they took over the club, there were unaware that they were picking up a debt of as much as $250,000. Even though Fowler had been an outspoken limited partner with the Sockers since 1984, he still was not prepared for what has happened.

UNEXPECTED DEBTS

“My major regret is that I did not really look into what was going on in the Sockers in greater detail earlier in the limited partner association,” Fowler said. “I think some of the problems that we’ve inherited, some of the problems Bob (Bell) experienced, probably could have been resolved more quickly and for a lot less money if I had gotten involved or some of the limited partners would have gotten involved more quickly.”

The unexpected debt came primarily from two sources:

--Approximately $150,000 in penalties on back taxes owed the Internal Revenue Service. Cady said he learned of this on Oct. 16, two days after he took control. A compromise payment plan was worked out while the team appealed the penalties. The decision on the appeal is pending.

--Two grievances filed by former players who were long gone when Fowler’s corporation took over. Lorenz Hilkes, who was with the club from 1981-84, contended that not all the terms of his contract were fulfilled when he was released. Cady said Hilkes and the Sockers settled for about $5,000. Former midfielder Steve Daley signed a three-year guaranteed contract with the Sockers in 1984 but was released after the 1984-85 indoor season. Daley is seeking in excess of $100,000, Cady said. The case has gone to an arbitrator, and a decision is expected by the end of February.

In addition, although the new management was quite aware of the MISL’s salary cap of $1.275 million per team, they weren’t up to date on the state of the team’s payroll.

“Based on the information we had,” Fowler said, “we felt we were far better prepared to be able to handle the salary-cap situation than we were. We had no idea until the 11th hour that we had two players, who were very significant members of the team, whose compensation was not calculated in the salaries we had looked at. We were slightly shocked.”

The players were team captain Jean Willrich, who subsequently was traded to the Wichita Wings before the season, and goalkeeper Jim Gorsek, who was forced to take a pay cut and have his contract restructured. To comply with the salary cap, the Sockers also released midfielder Greg Ion, who was acquired during the off-season.

In addition to the other debts, Fowler also was unaware of the Sockers’ level of liability involving soccer centers in Mission Valley and Sorrento Valley, in which the Sockers are joint partners. Fowler said the Sockers are on the line for substantial bank loans tied to the centers and are also responsible for some operating costs.

“These . . . things startled us from our game plan,” Cady said. “They really held us up 90 days from getting into our marketing plan.”

The plan, finally being implemented midway through the season, is geared at increasing season ticket sales, which dropped from 4,100 last season to 3,500 this season. It wasn’t until January that the Sockers hired a new ticket sales manager, Allan Stelmach, formerly of KYXY radio.

A SELLING JOB

Team management hopes to increase group sales by working with businesses and targeting the growth areas in North County. Cady also says the fan base, which consists primarily of 25- to 44-year olds, should be broadened to those in the 17-21 range.

“We weren’t properly prepared to enter the season,” Cady said. “We’ve really done a poor job in our group ticket sales. The organization has to take the fault for that.”

The team’s late start on marketing precluded a great start in home attendance. Attendance is down from an average of 9,747 for 26 regular-season games last season to 9,067 for 13 home games this season. That includes 6,470 for a game against the Lazers Feb. 2 on a rainy Tuesday night just after the Super Bowl.

Cady said the plan had been to increase marketing efforts the day after that game. The primary concern now is that fans will perceive the regular season as being unimportant, because of the Sockers’ big lead, and wait until the playoffs to buy tickets.

“To say that we wouldn’t be disappointed in our performance would be untrue,” Cady said. “I’m not satisfied with my individual performance. Anytime someone says they’re not disappointed when they’re not packing the house, there’s something wrong with them, I think. We’re disappointed.”

The problems have forced Cady to spend 100% of his time with the Sockers, rather than the 70% with the Sockers and 30% with Liquid Investments Inc., which he had expected to do. Fowler said he has to sell two businesses that Cady previously ran--an Arizona beer distributorship and a promotional consulting company in Dallas--because there is no longer time for them.

“You always want to believe that something is going to be easier than it is,” Fowler said. “But in reality, it’s not that easy, and it’s taking a lot more time than we hoped it would take. But if you’re going to jump in, you jump in with both feet.”

Fowler said he has had to lend the club a “substantial amount of money” from Liquid Investments Inc.. He said some will be regained when the limited partners are asked to contribute more money. The remainder would be recouped if the Sockers turned a profit.

Fowler blames himself more than Bell for the unforeseen financial responsibilities.

“My belief is that in Bob’s heart of hearts, he did not think some of these things were significant, or maybe he even felt they were under control,” Fowler said. “I don’t feel there was any misrepresentation. We were told everything was handled, not to worry. Bob always saw the glass as 90% full, whether it was 2% or 1%. Bob always was very optimistic in his assessment.”

Said Bell: “I brought the other partners up to date on what was happening. I thought we had been given an abatement by the IRS. I told them about the problems with the arbitrators. I worked daily with them on the salary cap.”

TOO MUCH PRESSURE

Since leaving the Sockers, whom he brought to San Diego from Las Vegas in 1978, Bell has given up his Coronado residence, has moved permanently to Los Angeles and is in the process of starting a new business.

Bell was a paid consultant for the Sockers until Jan. 31 and is still available on a consulting basis. He has been to one game in San Diego and two against the Lazers at the Forum, and he listens to many of the Socker games on the radio. But he said he’s glad to be away from what was once the pride of his life.

“The financial pressure was just too much,” Bell said. “It took all the fun out of it. I worked 16 hours a day, seven days a week, and lost $9 million. I was physically and psychologically drained.”

If it weren’t for Fowler, he said, the Sockers probably would have gone out of business.

“Without them making that commitment, the club wouldn’t be here,” Bell said. “I couldn’t make that commitment. It was a matter of someone taking that baton and going with it.”

There are many times Fowler wonders why he did it.

“From a business standpoint, I wish I never had that first meeting with Bob,” Fowler said. “It has been less than an exciting involvement financially.”

He cites a sense of community and enjoyment of indoor soccer as reasons for coming to the Sockers’ rescue.

“I don’t think the other limited partners would have stayed involved,” Fowler said. “Bob had been looking for a white knight to come in and put some money into the team. The reality was that there didn’t seem to be anybody willing to do it.”

The 14 limited partners have contributed more than $4.5 million over the past four years, Cady said. Last season, the Sockers announced a loss of approximately $75,000, but Fowler said it was “probably well over five times that amount.”

Said limited partner Ness Tiano: “Had we known five years ago what the total capital we’ve had to contribute has been, it’s fair to say a lot of us might not have gone in.”

Tiano said the amount is three times what was expected. But despite those losses, the limited partners put their confidence in Fowler and Cady and stayed in.

“You’re never so far in that you have to continue,” Tiano said. “It was a sense of community pride.”

Bell, who commuted between homes in Coronado and Los Angeles, concedes that he didn’t have the San Diego business or personal contacts Fowler and Cady do. “In retrospect, I think I was always looked at as an outsider,” he said.

Fowler, 43, is an officer for several local sports and charity organizations, including the Hall of Champions. He has had season tickets to the Padres, Chargers, Sockers and San Diego State.

Cady, 44, grew up in Spring Valley and played basketball and baseball at Mt. Miguel High. He earned a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of San Diego, where he became the school’s first small-college All-American baseball player. He has a banking and business background and ran Mesa Distributing for five years.

Fowler hesitated to take Cady away from his key role with Liquid Investments and make him president of the Sockers, but he felt he had the right man for the job.

“If we were going to go forward,” Fowler said, “we had to go forward with somebody everybody knew and the majority of the people felt comfortable with. Plus, there was a sixth sense that said that given his understanding of sports, he would be good at it.”

STAYING CLOSE

Fowler and Cady had no sports management or indoor soccer experience when they entered the MISL. Cady had coached his children for 10 years in outdoor soccer, but that was about it.

“It’s like showing people around your city,” said Socker Coach Ron Newman. “Everything is new for them. I imagine it’s a lot different than the world of high finance. It’s not black and white. There’s a lot of emotion here.”

Cady spent July, August and September observing Bell while he was still in control.

“I sat in on negotiations and saw how he handled players and agents,” Cady said. “Bob was very supportive in those 90 days.”

Cady took over Oct. 14. Since then, he has gone on every road trip, and he religiously reviews game tapes. He sits in on locker room talks and pregame meetings with players and relies on Newman’s soccer expertise. He’s busy ironing out the final details of a new three-year deal with the San Diego Sports Arena, where the Sockers have a temporary lease. Since the takeover, there have been four meetings with the limited partners, outlining the club’s strategies and finances.

“We present a realistic but almost worst-possible-case scenario from a financial standpoint so that as you go through the year, the surprises you have are of a pleasant variety,” Fowler said.

While Cady runs the club on a daily basis, Fowler attends all home games, has made a trip to Tacoma and plans to attend the league meetings at the All-Star Game next week. And he’s in constant contact with Cady.

“He’s the sounding board,” Cady said. “If something doesn’t sound right, he puts forth his disagreement.”

The new management has worked to make the Sockers as professional as possible. At the start of the season, they discarded the traditional S-O-C-K-E-R-S sign and pregame smoke show. They want the sport to make it as a sport, not as some sort of circus-like entertainment.

They quickly set the record straight with their free-wheeling players.

There were suspensions of 2 and 30 days for midfielder Juli Veee, the latter for slapping assistant coach Johan Aarnio. Paul Dougherty and Waad Hirmez later were suspended for one day each for their part in a late-night disturbance in a Wichita hotel Dec. 29, which resulted in the team being banned from the hotel for the remainder of the season.

Players must speak with Newman before making an appointment to see Fowler or Cady.

“The coach is the guy in charge,” Cady said. “We’re not going to have one of those doors that are always flapping back and forth, with people walking in and out all the time.”

Said Newman: “Bob was very close to the players. That was often a problem when it came to disciplining the players. Ron Cady won’t have any of that.”

NEW ATTITUDE

Cady and Fowler say they appreciate the unique personalities of the Sockers and plan to use the players as marketing tools, but they have strong feelings on the players’ dealings with the media.

“Certain things we’re not going to do in the press and certain things we are going to do in the press,” Cady said. “When we make statements, let’s think out what we’re saying. Let’s not make irrational statements, things just to cause a flash-in-the-pan type news.”

That’s fine, say some of the players, but it will take some getting used to.

“What they’re used to and what it used to be here are two different things,” Veee said. “It’s hard for them to understand that it took us 10 years of free-wheeling and hip-shooting and off the cuff (remarks) to get attention, because that’s the only charm we had. No one was interested in soccer.

“At one point, Ron Newman and Bob Bell, they came down and said, ‘Get us any publicity, as long as you don’t get arrested, and even then it depends on what you got arrested for.’ They were desperate. We were picketing in front of the newspapers. We brought our personality and charm.

“Suddenly they say you’ve arrived. If for 10 years or so they keep telling you to act any way you want, it’s very hard (to change).”

What Cady and Fowler really don’t want is for the Sockers to discuss problems in public. They would rather solve them internally. And it may be working.

“Attitudes of players that wanted to leave now are very open to staying,” Cady said.

An example is defender Kevin Crow, who earlier this season publicly asked to be traded because of differences with Newman. Crow is in the final year of his contract and will become a free agent June 1, but now Crow and Cady are both optimistic Crow will sign a multiyear contract.

“I can honestly say that it’s the new management that made me have a change of heart,” Crow said. “I’m really optimistic. They deal honest and up front. They’re willing to listen and communicate with the players. I think that will help solve the heartaches of the past.

“The last couple of years, it got very frustrating. (Under Bell), the door was open, but once you left, it was like you weren’t there in the first place.”

Players say there is a feeling of confidence that was lacking in previous years.

“There’s a trust factor,” midfielder Brian Quinn said. “Players believe in them. If they say our paychecks will be on time, they’ll be there.”

In the past couple of seasons, paychecks to players were late on a number of occasions.

“The players know the team needs to be run more like a business if it’s going to be successful in the long run,” Crow said. “The San Diego Sockers are headed in a positive direction. It’s just that everyone--fans, players, sponsors--have to be a little patient.”