Owners Still Want Thunder to Play in ’89

The owners of the San Diego Thunder decided at a meeting Thursday to proceed with plans to field an indoor football team in 1989, team president Johnny Sanders said.

“We’re still in business, and we’re getting ready to play in April,” Sanders said. “We’re sticking together.”

Sanders said the decision to go ahead was unanimous among the team’s 10 co-owners or their representatives, all but one of whom attended a meeting Thursday at the San Diego Sports Arena.

“They were all interested,” Sanders said. “It was an easy sell.”

The Thunder originally was to open its first 10-game season Monday in St. Louis, but those plans were abandoned when the San Antonio-based World Indoor Football League announced June 9 that it would delay its debut until 1989 after three of the proposed six teams were unable to raise enough funds to operate.

Sanders said he is confident that at least three of the other original WIFL franchises--Indianapolis, St. Louis and Las Vegas--will join the Thunder next year. Other teams were planned in Baltimore and San Antonio.

“We have four solid cities that are working together,” Sanders said. “Just because two cities are unable to field a team does not mean we’re going to stop.”

The Thunder had 30 players and a three-man coaching staff when it suspended practice June 8. All have been released, and no decision has been made on when any of them might be rehired, Sanders said. It will be several months before the team begins to reassemble its office and coaching staffs, he said.

Sanders said he hoped enough interested cities could be found to field an 8- to 12-team league that would start play in April and conclude in August. The earlier start would allow the teams to play a longer schedule, 12 to 20 games, Sanders said.

“We had some more cities that were interested last time, but they said they didn’t have enough time to get ready,” Sanders said. “This way they’ll have enough time.”

The extra time also will give the Thunder time to solicit season-ticket and advertising interest from the San Diego business community, he said.

“We expect to have this league organized this time,” Sanders said. “Last time, maybe we assumed too much. We assumed that some people would do what they said they would do.”