Powers Behind Pond Seek Financial Boost

With financial losses mounting and the chances of attracting an NBA team fading, the operators of the Arrowhead Pond could increase revenue by constructing up to 12 more luxury suites as early as next year and luring indoor soccer and arena football back into the building.

The Pond lost $6.2 million in its last fiscal year and $24.7 million in its first five years of operation, according to documents filed with the city of Anaheim. With the Mighty Ducks playing 41 home games and the Clippers possibly ending their part-time tenancy at the Pond when they move into the Staples Center next year, Pond executives need sports tenants to help fill a calendar otherwise subject to the whims of concert and event promoters.

With a waiting list for the 84 luxury suites at the Pond, arena executives have joined with city officials and the Walt Disney Co., owners of the Mighty Ducks, in considering the construction of six to 12 additional suites.

“We know the demand is there,” Pond general manager Tim Ryan said. “It looks like it’s financially feasible. Our hope is the revenue generated from the leases of the suites would cover the cost of the construction.”

The project cannot proceed past initial studies, Ryan said, until Congress acts on pending legislation to revise the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Such action, expected next spring, could limit potential sites for suite expansion by restricting certain areas to disabled seating.

If Disney and the city approve a proposal in accordance with ADA standards, the suites could be built next summer, Ryan said, in time for the Ducks’ 1999-2000 season.

Pond suites cost from $85,000 to $120,000 per year. The Staples Center, which will open for the 1999-2000 season, charges from $197,000 to $300,000 per year for its suites, arena spokesman Michael Roth said.

While the Pond pursues the faint hope of attracting an NBA team to join the Ducks in the arena, the Staples Center will feature both of Southern California’s NBA teams, the Lakers and Clippers, as well as the Kings. The Clippers have played an annual series of games at the Pond since the 1994-95 season, but they are not committed to renew that agreement upon moving into the Staples Center. Joe Safety, Clipper vice president of communications, said the team will not comment on arena issues until the NBA lockout ends.

With the possible basketball vacancy, former Laker star Jamaal Wilkes said he had considered approaching the Pond about placing a Continental Basketball Assn. team there. However, Wilkes said, he isn’t sure a league with success stories in places such as Grand Rapids, Mich., and Sioux Falls, S.D., could succeed in Anaheim.

“It seems like the markets where it has worked have been more B-minus, C-plus markets,” Wilkes said. “Anaheim may be an A-minus market.”

Ryan suggested he would hesitate to welcome a CBA tenant into the Pond. Even if a CBA team would move to Anaheim knowing it could be evicted if the Pond ever secured an NBA team, Ryan said the CBA’s winter schedule is not attractive.

“That would be 30 dates during our prime concert season,” Ryan said. “It might make sense to have 30 CBA games drawing 6,000 people. It might make more sense to have 20 top-name concerts [selling out].”

The Pond struggles to fill its calendar during the summer months, with the Ducks out of season and concert tours preferring outdoor venues, and indoor soccer and arena football teams could plug some of those vacant dates.

The Premier Soccer Alliance made its debut last summer, with teams in Dallas, Portland, Phoenix and Sacramento. The West Coast-oriented league plans to add four teams for the 1999 season, league consultant Don Shapiro said. In conjunction with Ryan, league officials have talked to several prospective operators of a team that would play at the Pond next summer.

“The Premier Soccer Alliance considers Anaheim and Southern California to be an excellent market,” Shapiro said.

The Anaheim Splash played in the Pond from 1994-97, in the now-defunct Continental Indoor Soccer Assn. The Anaheim Piranhas of the Arena Football League played in the Pond in 1996 and 1997, operated the first year by the current commissioner of the league, David Baker.

“Both of us would like to see a team in Anaheim,” Ryan said. “I think that’s a matter of when rather than if.”

The Arena Football League last week awarded a franchise to Los Angeles, with play scheduled to begin in 2000 in the Staples Center. The addition of a team in Los Angeles does not rule out the addition of a team in Anaheim, league spokesman David Cooper said.

“It’s still a very viable market,” Cooper said. “We’re looking at the opportunity to get back to Anaheim.”

Ryan said he is still awaiting word on the possible return of the Anaheim Bullfrogs. The roller hockey team has won two consecutive championships but faces financial problems, including a bankruptcy filing by the corporation that previously controlled the team.

“And, unless somebody wants to introduce indoor lacrosse to the western United States, that’s our available inventory,” Ryan said. “If you want to see lacrosse, you’ll probably have to fly to Philadelphia or Buffalo.”