Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Dean Juipe: Tragedies, losses pile up for local team owners

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS have been adding up. One player in a coma, another one killed. One team underachieving, another stuck in a losing cycle throughout the 1990s.

These are not really the best of times for Ken and Hank Stickney, who own the Las Vegas Stars of the Pacific Coast League and the Las Vegas Thunder of the International Hockey League, as well as the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and the Lake Elsinore Storm of the Class A California League.

Already this year, one of Stickneys' players, Mike Sharperson of the Stars, has died in a single-car accident. Another player, Matt LaChapa of the Quakes, collapsed on the field while warming up for a game earlier in the season and remains in a coma.

And the two jewels of the Stickneys' collection, the Thunder and the Stars, have failed to match on-the-field (and on-the-ice) expectations. Despite winning the regular-season points title, the Thunder was eliminated in the conference finals of the IHL playoffs, while the Stars are under .500 after still another off-season in which the parent San Diego Padres promised the Stickneys and Las Vegas a winner.

There has also been a well-publicized skirmish of sorts over the Padres' commitment (or lack of commitment) to Las Vegas, as well as some blushing after Stars Manager Jerry Royster was quoted as saying winning games wasn't his chief priority.

As for the bottom line, the Thunder has done nothing but lose money -- $6 million over the last three years -- while the Stars manage to make a little.

Makes you wonder: Who would want to own a minor-league franchise in this high-cost day and age?

"You can't be the type of person who wants to maximize your investment dollar," answered Stars General Manager Don Logan. "If the Stickneys wanted to really make a buck, there are better things they could do with their money."

The Stickneys purchased the Stars five years ago from Larry Koentopp for $7 million, and three years ago they paid a $2 million fee to the IHL for the expansion Thunder. The real value in owning a minor-league team is that the franchises have appreciated; the Stars could probably bring $10 million on the open market, while the Thunder would likely fetch at least $5 million.

(Koentopp exploited the franchise-appreciation scenario to perfection, paying $125,000 for a Triple-A baseball team in Spokane, Wash., in 1981, moving it to Las Vegas, then selling in 1991.)

"Hank and I bought these teams to establish ourselves in the community," Ken Stickney said. "Actually, by Las Vegas standards, we probably got off cheap at $9 million to establish ourselves as pillars in this town.

"I know I'll never be a Steve Wynn or a Donald Trump. They push and parlay their money, but that doesn't really motivate me. What gives me a feeling of pride is going to the games or just driving past someone on the street who's wearing a Thunder shirt. That's the intangible benefit that makes me feel the greatest.

"If we simply wanted to make money, we'd have bought Turtle Stops or something like that."

Hank Stickney made the bulk of the family's money in the health-care business. He and his son are not trying to spend it all on minor-league sports teams, yet they've accumulated a portfolio of franchises in a relatively brief time. While their two teams in the Cal League have been very successful from a financial perspective, the situation is a little touchier in Las Vegas.

"But we've made a commitment and we're not going to quit," Ken Stickney said. "Hank and I have never quit anything in our lives.

"We're doing all right with the baseball team and we bought the hockey team knowing it would probably never be profitable. Right now we'd be happy if we could just show a slight increase in revenue every year. Anything to stop the hemorrhaging."

Logan, also the vice president of sales and marketing for the Thunder, said the IHL's lack of controls on player salaries makes owning a team in the league a risky proposition.

"The institution of a salary cap is absolutely necessary," he said. "Without it, this league, which has a great product and so much potential, will be dead."

To date, however, franchise values have continued to escalate.

"At some point it has to level off, but right now having a minor-league hockey or baseball franchise is like owning land or stock," Logan said. "You don't see a return until you sell.

"But I don't think the Stickneys will ever see a return like Larry (Koentopp) did."

Koentopp was additionally lucky because he owned the Stars when they were habitual winners, and it grates on the Stickneys that the Padres aren't providing the same type of players for them.

"If we don't win at least a half(-season) title, I don't think there'll be a lot of discussion," Ken Stickney said of the Stars' affiliation with the Padres, which has been in effect 14 seasons but expires after the current one. "We've already gone through four seasons without a half-season title, so that makes us 0 for 8. If that continues, it only makes sense to make a change.

"That's our only leverage right now with the Padres, but it's reason enough to be optimistic about the immediate future."

And optimism of any sort comes in handy when you've had two tragedies to deal with on top of setbacks in the win-loss column with your highest-profile teams.

"It's been awful," Stickney said of LaChapa (who has made only slight improvements) and Sharperson (who will be buried today in South Carolina). "It's made for a tough year, although it puts things in perspective. When someone you know dies or falls into a coma, you come to realize there are bigger issues than winning hockey and baseball games."

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