Englebrecht Hoping Arenaball Concept Takes Hold at Pond

Roy Englebrecht didn’t have any expectations when he attended his first Arena Football League game eight years ago, but he remembered to take a few notes.

“I remember a thousand fans at the Sports Arena going crazy for the L.A. Cobras,” Englebrecht said. “They were rocking and rolling and cheering and it wasn’t even halftime yet. My 8-year-old son Drew was in love with the Cobras. I locked that away, saying to myself, ‘This is a great concept.’ ”

The concept of Arena Football has grown from four teams in 1987 to 15 in 1996. One of those 15 teams is Englebrecht’s Anaheim Piranhas, who debut against the Texas Terror in an exhibition game tonight at the Houston Summit. Englebrecht, the team’s president and managing partner, sounds as excited about the Piranhas as his son was eight years ago.

With ticket sales for the Piranhas’ home exhibition opener Saturday against the St. Louis Stampede reaching 10,000, Englebrecht talks of selling all 17,000 seats at the Pond for the seven regular-season home games. He talks of the Piranhas winning the Arena Football League championship and creating an environment for football that hasn’t been seen in Orange County since the Eric Dickerson, John Robinson days with the Rams in the 1980s.

Englebrecht was on the “Save the Rams” committee, but he said he realized the Rams did not want to be saved. So he called his friend of 24 years, Dave Baker, and decided to pursue an Arena Football team.

Their timing couldn’t have been better from a financial standpoint. Instead of paying $1.25 million for an expansion franchise, they were able to purchase the foundering Las Vegas Vegas Sting for $1 million. Baker and Englebrecht formed a limited liability corporation of nine Orange County business.

“I saw there was window of opportunity there,” Englebrecht said. “I said, ‘This is the right time to do this.’ The numbers looked good.”

But the numbers also say Englebrecht is trying to sell a new sport to an area that didn’t support the NFL when it was here and drew only 27,000 for the Angels’ home opener this season. Englebrecht said he has defied the skeptics before and he will do it again.

“I put a minor league franchise together [the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes] 10 years ago with minor league baseball in trouble and we’ve enjoyed phenomenal success,” said Englebrecht, a member of the Quakes’ board of directors and a part owner. “People looked at us funny when we tried to put boxing at the Irvine Marriott 11 yeas ago and now we’ve got the longest running club boxing show in the nation. Any sports ownership is a gamble. But we think this is less of one than others.”

Arena Football’s growing popularity tends to support Englebrecht.

* In 10 years, Arena Football has expanded from four to 15 teams--the league already has added New Jersey and Nashville for 1997 and is planning to add Salt Lake City, Portland and Chicago for 1998.

* League attendance was up more than 100,000 last year from 1994 and five teams averaged more than 12,500. The Orlando Predators, who play in the Orlando Arena, sold out every game and drew 93,828 for six home games. The league’s four expansion teams averaged more than 10,000, including the San Jose Sabercats, who averaged 14,199.

* ESPN and ESPN2 will televise 22 games, including four Piranha games. Locally, Prime Sports will televise five Piranha games.

* Arena Football already has outlasted the USFL, the World League and Canadian football in the United States. Combined, those leagues lasted nine seasons. Arena Football begins its 10th and longest season (14 games) April 25th.

* Arena Football franchises once were worth $200,000, but for 1997 they are going for nearly 10 times that.

But for all its success stories, the league still has stories like the one told in Las Vegas last year. The Las Vegas Sting, which finished 6-6 and a game out of the playoffs, averaged a league-low 5,223 fans.

“Vegas is a tough town,” said Piranha Coach Babe Parilli, who was the Sting coach. “They’d rather gamble than see a sports show. We didn’t get any help from the casinos. They’d rather keep them in the casinos than send them to a sporting event.”

Parilli, who has started five franchises in his eight years in the league, said the key to success is marketing.

“To make it, you need to draw between 12,000 to 14,000 fans and to do that, you need to do a good job of marketing,” Parilli said. “I had a chance to go somewhere else and coach, but I wanted to be here. They’re much more committed here.”

So far, the marketing campaign appears to be attracting fans. Almost 4,000 season tickets have been sold thanks to a marketing blitz that started about four months ago.

“There’s only one chance at a first impression and we needed to make it,” Englebrecht said.

One thing the Piranhas won’t be doing is giving away tickets.

“We’ve given some group discounts to more than 20 people, but if you start giving tickets away that spells problems for future years,” Englebrecht said.

What the Piranhas’ have done is sell their season tickets at an average price of $19.47. Those who buy now will have the same price locked in for three years. A lower level seat costs $14.50. Tickets will range from $39.50 to $7. Englebrecht’s goal is to sell 5,500 season tickets by May 5, the regular season opener against Florida.

Englebrecht said he will give the fans plenty for their money.

“We’ve got a pregame show with music and lasers that will knock your socks off,” he said.