Never Miss a Chance to Talk to the Big Man
Dan Ryan
Monday March 17, 2003
Since the Fabulous Baker Boy was in section 101, along with some guys from the front office and a few others from the NFL, and since Kauffman can always write the gamer on this one … that’s what your humble correspondent did Sunday afternoon at the St. Petersburg Times Forum in beautiful downtown Tampa.
You look like you have more fun sitting in the stands rather than networking the skyboxes (this after he shakes hands and chats with a couple of Storm fans like they have the money to buy the Carolina Cobras)
Absolutely. First and foremost, I’m a fan. I spend time with each and every owner, but it’s important to talk to those guys [fans].
Are you where you want to be after 7 weeks and ready for the next three?
Attendance is up 25 percent. Merchandise is doubling. The credibility of the NBC broadcasts have been tremendous. We want to see the ratings climb, even though we know it’s going to be tough the next 3-4 weeks against March Madness. As we go in the playoffs, this is the first time we’ve had center stage -- when we’ve had a year of national exposure -- and if we have the same kind of playoffs that we’ve always had, we’ll really catch fire.
It seemed that when the Gladiators moved to Las Vegas, you had an Irsay pulled on you. Were you mad at the time?
It was a move that I endorsed in the end. Our board voted on it and endorsed it. The last several years, New Jersey is a difficult place to draw a crowd . The Nets, even though they’re Eastern Conference champs in the NBA, and the Devils of the NFL, struggle.
When the Gladiators came to us, there was the prospect that they could move either next year or now. Frankly, we thought it was better that they move now before we got on the radar screen. I was there for the first game and within 45 days, they had legitimately 12,000 in the stands. I think they’ll do well.
It was a difficult situation. Even if you only have 3,000 fans, you don’t want to disappoint any of them.
The economy sucks. Are you worried how it will affect the growth of the sport?
We just got back from the World Congress of Sports. The AFL was one of the hot topics. Everyone’s going to be impacted by the economy. Maybe we won’t have as many expansion teams, for example. But you know, it still is an affordable product. In some respects, a difficult economy may help us because people are looking for more affordable means of entertainment.
When Jay Gruden went down in Charlotte, were you thinking `Darn, there goes one of our high-profile players?’
The NBC guys thought that. He’s one of the guys they were building into a star and developing fan interest. Good news is that he’ll back in a few weeks.
Dan Ryan has been involved with all forms of arena football since 1988, including writing for ArenaFan when Joe Kauffman and Tim Capper aren’t killing his columns because they don’t get his jokes or perspective. His day job is at Bethune-Cookman University, which has produced both an NFL Hall of Famer (Larry Little) and an Arena Football Hall of Famer (Stevie Thomas) and his hobby is tracking how many f-bombs Adam Markowitz drops in the chat room on game nights.
