StingRays’ Franchise in Limbo

The Long Beach StingRays, an expansion team that nearly won the American Basketball League championship last season, might be disbanded.

The financially strapped ABL is considering such a move, among others, sources told The Times.

Gary Cavalli, ABL chief executive officer, denied Saturday such a move is imminent, but wouldn’t rule it out.

“As of today, there is no plan to close any franchise,” he said.

“We’re looking at everything, trying to run a responsible business, and part of that process is streamlining operations. We’re kicking a lot of things around.”

Cavalli acknowledged the StingRays were “under scrutiny” but added: “We’re looking at other teams. . . . Philadelphia [the Rage] is an underperformer too, although we’ve sold a lot of season seats there the last couple of weeks.”

The StingRays went to the final game of the league’s playoff finals last March before losing to Columbus, but finished last in attendance.

Crowd counts grew at the 4,200-seat Pyramid at Long Beach State as the season progressed, but the final average of about 2,200 was last in the league by a margin of more than 1,000 per game.

The cost of running the franchise--player and staff salaries plus office and Pyramid rent--was roughly $800,000, without including travel costs.

Cavalli said season-ticket sales for the 10-team league were up about 14% over last year, but another source Saturday said StingRay sales “weren’t good.”

The ABL’s schedule, originally to be released in mid-July, still isn’t available.

StingRay General Manager Bill McGillis wasn’t available for comment late Saturday about a possible closure of the Long Beach franchise, but had said earlier in the day of future cutbacks: “They’re [the league office] looking at everything, A to Z, looking at every single element in league operations.”

Meanwhile, cutbacks continued Friday. The San Jose Lasers’ highly respected general manager, Christine Forter, plus two other staffers were laid off and replaced by Rodger Rickard, league senior vice president and an ABL investor.

He will continue to work in the league’s Palo Alto office, recruiting investors.

League office and team staffers had already been hit with 10% salary cutbacks, and team rosters dropped from 11 players to 10.