Pond’s NBA Window of Opportunity May Be Closing

The Houston Rockets? Not interested in the Arrowhead Pond, at least right now. The Charlotte Hornets? Not looking elsewhere for their new arena, at least right now. The Clippers? Who knows?

Officials at the money-losing Pond covet an NBA team, but pickings are slim in a league with no plans for expansion and most franchises playing in new arenas. As the Rockets shop for a new home, in Houston and elsewhere, the Anaheim effort to lure the team ran into a huge financial obstacle.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has said the Rockets would move if the team and Houston authorities cannot agree on a new arena. But George Postolos, the Rockets’ chief operating officer, said the team does not wish to share an arena--and millions in revenues from NBA games--with another tenant. The Mighty Ducks’ lease forces any NBA team moving into the Pond to split its revenue with Disney.

“Most of the successful teams in the NBA control their own buildings,” Postolos said.

Although Pond General Manager Tim Ryan insists an NBA team could fare well here financially, despite the Disney deal, the Rockets have thus far resisted an invitation to visit Anaheim. Rocket officials are expected to tour Louisville, Ky., later this month.

The Rockets could land in Anaheim if Disney were willing to sell the Ducks to Rocket owner Leslie Alexander.

Alexander once bid $85 million for the Edmonton Oilers, hoping to relocate the NHL team to Houston. Postolos said Alexander would consider buying an NHL franchise if he could house that team in the same arena as the Rockets.

“Everybody likes that collection of assets,” Postolos said. “That’s something we would look at.”

Tony Tavares, president of Disney’s Anaheim Sports division, said he has not heard from the Rockets. Disney officials, including Chairman Michael Eisner, have said the company is not trying to sell the Ducks or Angels but could not rule out entertaining a serious offer.

Tavares also said Disney is willing to renegotiate its Pond lease to accommodate an NBA team.

Disney would be unlikely to sell the Ducks and keep the Angels. Postolos said Alexander would not rule out buying baseball and hockey teams, citing the enhanced broadcast revenues expected to flow from the joint venture of the New York Yankees, New Jersey Nets and New Jersey Devils.

However, the Angels and Ducks are committed to Fox through 2008, likely negating any chance for Alexander to buy those teams and launch a cable sports channel anchored by the Angels, Ducks and Rockets.

The Rockets play at the Compaq Center, with few luxury suites, no club seats and a 16,285 capacity, smallest in the NBA. Their lease expires in 2003.

Since Houston voters rejected an arena financing proposal last November, the Rockets have talked with several other cities while negotiating a new deal in Houston. That deal could be announced within four to eight weeks, Postolos said, and placed on the ballot in November.

The city of Anaheim must pay $7.5 million to Ogden Corp., which runs the Pond, if the arena fails to attract an NBA team before 2002. However, those payments pale in comparison to the $29.4 million Ogden reports losing in the first six years of arena operation.

Although the Disney deal restricts the money Ogden can promise to an NBA tenant, Anaheim Mayor Tom Daly said he believes Ogden can deliver, based on the reported $95-million package of cash payments, tax incentives and loans dangled before the Clippers in 1996.

“Ogden has proven to me they can be aggressive,” Daly said. “But neither Ogden nor the city want to be used by teams who are simply seeking better deals in their existing city.”

The Hornets are seeking a better deal in Charlotte. Their lease expires in 2004, but they can leave as soon as next year if the team and city cannot agree on a plan for a new arena by Dec. 31.

Hornet co-owner Ray Wooldridge recently floated a proposal for a $220-million arena, funded entirely by public money. “My initial reaction to that is: Ha! Ha! Ha! Are they out of their minds?” Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess told the Charlotte Observer.

The Hornets are not currently looking outside Charlotte, team spokesman Harold Kaufman said. Wooldridge and co-owner George Shinn last month bought Charlotte’s minor-league hockey club, intending for that team to join the Hornets in a new arena.

For the Pond, that leaves the Clippers, again.

Stern lobbied for the Clippers to move from the Sports Arena to the Pond, but Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling preferred to play in Los Angeles and joined the Lakers and Kings at the new Staples Center. The Clippers’ attendance jumped 33% in the new arena, but the average of 13,652 ranked next-to-last among the 29 NBA teams.

As part-time tenants at the Pond, the Clippers averaged 14,830 for 36 regular-season games from 1994-99.

NBA owners recently adopted a rule that allows the league to withhold millions of dollars from teams that fail to meet minimum attendance standards, starting in 2001-02. Those standards, according to the Sports Business Journal, range from 11,000 to 12,500 in average attendance and 7,000 to 8,000 in season tickets.

The NBA and its teams do not release season-ticket counts, but the Clippers are believed to have sold between 3,000 and 4,000 last year, in addition to the 4,000 sold as part of premium-seating packages. If the Clippers continue to struggle on the court and the novelty of Staples Center fades, the team could fall below those minimum attendance standards.

The Clippers can opt out of their lease after two more seasons, and Staples Center President Tim Leiweke suspects they might if they do not win.

“This is an expensive building,” Leiweke said. “If they’re not doing well, this is probably a worse situation for them, economically, than the lease they had at the Sports Arena.”

Staples Center, unlike the Pond and most arenas, can afford to lose an NBA tenant. The Lakers, Kings and Avengers already call Staples home. Leiweke said the arena could book more major events, like the Grammy Awards, without holding 41 dates for a second NBA team.

Leiweke said he would prefer the Clippers stay, and win. At the Pond, where Ryan said he would welcome any basketball team, even the minor league basketball team that wanted to play there may not materialize.

Al Howell, the Canadian sports broker who bought the rights to an Anaheim entry in the proposed revival of the ABA, had said he would talk with officials from the Pond and Anaheim Convention Center last week in trying to secure a home for his team. Officials at both buildings said they had not heard from Howell and said concerts and other events are rapidly shrinking the pool of available playing dates for a league that hopes to start play in November.

Howell did not return a call seeking comment.