Cost-Cutting Moves Spark Silver Family Battle

Another family feud has led to recent hirings, firings, and rehirings that have pitted Bullfrog owners against each other.

The Silvers have been at odds over the team budget, which is in the neighborhood of $700,000 a year. A recent downturn in attendance has cut into revenue, so the owners have argued over how best to cut costs. At the same time, they have increased print advertising to try to attract more fans.

Some of their decisions have backfired.

Apparently, it was President Stuart Silver, one of two sons of club founder Maury Silver, who pressed for the firing of broadcaster Lew Stowers after Stowers refused to take a one-third pay cut as part of a midseason cost-containment plan.

Hold on, said Maury Silver. Stowers is like family. He’s better known than our family to our fans, who listen to us on a family radio station. He may be the best known Bullfrog, so it looks bad to fire one of our own.

The players didn’t like the idea, either. They were so upset when Stowers was released they held a team meeting and told Maury Silver that they would raise the money, estimated to be about $100 a game, to bring back Stowers.

“The owners are businessmen,” said one player, who asked not to be identified. “The team is losing money. They just see it as a business decision. They didn’t realize the importance of Lew to the players and fans.”

This isn’t the first time that the Silvers have tried to cut costs. Shortly after the 1995 season ended last August, they fired Steve Pona, their marketing and public relations director, and didn’t replace him until mid-spring of this year. When Coach Grant Sonier took an ice hockey job last winter, the Silvers saved about $30,000 by holding his position open, rather than hire another coach.

The family would have saved about $2,000 by firing Stowers. That is a small figure compared to the annual radio budget that is a reported $60,000. About half of that, $1,000 a game, goes directly to station KPLS for air time.

No hard feelings, asserted Stowers, who will keep his $300 a game salary, after missing only three games.

“We’re one big family,” he said.

His broadcast partner, Charlie Simmer, might not return, though. While he’s on personal leave, he’s been replaced by a revolving door of injured or benched players. It’s unclear how much the Silvers save by not having to pay Simmer.

Meanwhile, Maury’s youngest son, CEO and Chairman of the Board Nelson Silver, has been quietly renegotiating with another former employee.

Former General Manager Bob Elder, who helped establish the club, no longer works for the Bullfrogs after a contract dispute in which he reportedly wanted more control and more money. Elder strongly denies published reports that he was fired, but several within the organization say he was terminated.

Nelson Silver wants Elder back in some capacity. Elder promised to phone Nelson when he gets back from a cruise and an extended vacation with his own family, perhaps in about two weeks. Photograph of Elder’s family still remain on the desk in his former office.

Not so fast, says Stuart Silver, who said he has assumed Elder’s old job. We can go it alone. After all, we’re family.

The family is not broke by a long shot, Stuart Silver said, but it doesn’t want to lose money, either. The Piranhas and Splash, who share the Pond, and the Angels, who have increased their appeal to families under Disney by lowering some ticket prices, are cutting into the gate. Still, Silver said he expects the team to break even if it makes the playoffs. He said that he is just a businessman trying to contain costs and that he and his brother sometimes disagree on how best to do that.

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RHI officials made a mistake when they allowed Oakland goalkeeper Mark Cavallin and his San Jose counterpart Joe Bonvie to play in their next scheduled games, contrary to league rules, after being ejected for fighting.

The official line was that San Jose did not have another goalie, so Bonvie could play in the next regularly scheduled game, while it wouldn’t be fair to punish Cavallin, one of the league’s best, if Bonvie didn’t sit out.

Such rulings send a message that league rules aren’t as sound as they are made out to be. Bending rules can affect the outcome of games, too.

This isn’t the first time that league officials have looked the other way on game misconduct penalties. Last season, Bullfrog Coach Grant Sonier was tossed out for arguing with a referee after losing a shootout to the Skates in Oakland.

The next Bullfrog game was at the Pond, and, noting what a crowd-pleaser Sonier is, the league told the Anaheim coach he could wait to serve out his suspension when the team played in Oklahoma City.

McLeod can be reached at (714) 966-5904 or e-mail at Paul.McLeod@latimes.com