Thursday, March 16, 2006 | 6:52 a.m.
The concept could not have been more simple: We will give away cash.
That was a plan the Las Vegas Sting of the Arena Football League put into motion more than 10 years ago. The team is defunct, but memories of "Free Cash Night" will never die. And as the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team is set to host its inspired "Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night" Friday at the Orleans Arena, this Sting operation is worth dusting off.
The key figures in the promotional scheme were Sting marketing whizzes Tony Cordasco, Steve Stallworth and Mike O'Brian. Alarmed by a sea of empty seats at the Thomas & Mack Center during the 1995 season (which would be the team's second and last in Las Vegas), the organization's brain trust decided to provide cash for every Sting touchdown.
The concept was to award $100 for every point scored by the home team. After each Sting TD, reps rolled a giant drum full of tickets to midfield and plucked a single stub. O'Brian, the team's public-address announcer (and today half of the "Mike O'Brian and Beth Lano in the Morning" show on KSTJ 102.7-FM), then launched into a suspenseful announcement of the lucky winner.
"It was drama, a big buildup," said Cordasco, who today is the field marketing manager for Red Bull Energy Drink in Las Vegas. "We'd have a spotlight on the section and say, 'Section 105 stand!' And everyone would go crazy. 'Now row Q! Seat 17!' It was insane."
The Sting poured it on in their final game in Vegas, waxing the Arizona Rattlers 60-46 and happily paying out $6,000.
"It more than paid for itself," Cordasco said. "We at least doubled attendance."
But not enough to prevent the team from being sold and moving to Anaheim, leaving behind two seasons in Vegas and a legacy that lives on at the Orleans Arena - where today Stallworth serves as arena director.
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