Columnist Dean Juipe: Bandits face tough task in Las Vegas

Dean Juipe

Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 | 9:43 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

En route to the Thomas & Mack Center Sunday night for a firsthand look at the Las Vegas Silver Bandits, the radio station that carries the team's games was broadcasting a call-in advice show with a daunting therapist. Among the program's sponsors was the manufacturer of a product that claimed "Aging is now a treatable disease" and it went on to hype the benefits of some secret "youth hormone" elixir.

The notion seemed pretty far-fetched, given that the "disease" of aging has few if any known deterrents and the Fountain of Youth has yet to be discovered.

Jump ahead now a few minutes and it seemed equally far-fetched to see the Silver Bandits playing in a virtually empty arena while believing they and the International Basketball League can withstand the skeptics and survive in Las Vegas' diversified market.

Yet there's a further correlation, a caveat if you will, between the secret-elixir commercial and the Silver Bandits' struggles, and it's this: You never know. Just because something sounds or looks like it can't possibly succeed doesn't automatically mean it will fail.

In all probability the Silver Bandits won't make it, but, keeping in the holiday spirit, who can say for sure at this premature date? While the telltale signs are not favorable, their 105-99 loss to the New Mexico Slam was only their third home game of their debut season.

So, in fairness, it's early yet.

But by actual count, as the national anthem was being sung by the Victory Christian Center choir, only 255 fans occupied the 17,000-seat arena. Even with the upstairs curtained off for perception purposes, the gathering was skimpy by anyone's standards.

Many in the choir even headed for home after their chorale task was completed.

It costs $25,000 just to open the doors at the T&M, with arena personnel and services eating up another estimated $15,000. Sunday night, the Silver Bandits got only $5,000 or so of that outlay back in ticket sales.

Unless there's a significant influx of interest in the team it will need to check the fine print for an escape clause out of its three-year lease with the Mack. Simple math says the team won't survive under the present circumstances.

Of course the IBL is treating the owner-less Las Vegas franchise like a bastard stepchild, which is no help whatsoever. It was one thing when the Silver Bandits had to take to the road for a 10-game trip because of the National Finals Rodeo confiscating the Mack, yet quite another when the league scheduled another lengthy voyage -- this time a seven-game trip that opens Tuesday -- right on its heels.

The Silver Bandits are 3-10 and the few people inclined to discuss the team don't talk about its personnel or the fact it recently rediscovered former child prodigy Marcus Liberty at the Doolittle Recreation Center, they're talking about the absurdity of a new league putting a supposed key franchise at such a competitive disadvantage. The Imperial Palace may take wagers on IBL games but here's an informal one that's getting all the action: Will this franchise survive what is starting out to be a horrific first season?

If it does, somebody, somewhere has deep pockets. Because right now, without local ownership and minus a fairy godmother, the Silver Bandits do not have the look of a business endeavor that is going to make it on its own.