The Utah Starzz left town Thursday, in broad daylight, effective immediately. From here on, they are officially the property of Spurs Sports & Entertainment. There were none of the cloak-and-dagger maneuverings that often accompany a franchise departure. Larry H. Miller, the only owner the team has ever known, got final word from the WNBA in the morning; by early afternoon he was fighting back tears at a press conference.
Too bad, he was saying, he really wanted to make it work. So much so that he lost over $1 million a year for six years. That's a lot of commitment. But rich guys don't stay rich burning money.
"How much money am I supposed to lose in a venture?" he said.
The departure of the Starzz will be met mostly with indifference. A handful of loyal fans will mourn. "Natalie's" restaurant will notice a dip. The media will be one sport shy of something to cover on summer nights. But the loss won't change many lives. Cars, food, movies — those are Miller-owned businesses with real followings, real profits. Sports are riskier. There's a saying among entrepreneurs: Want to know how to make a small fortune investing in sports? Start with a large one.
"I couldn't afford the Jazz if nobody came to the games," added Miller.
Something to think about in the future.
The departure ended a short but colorful chapter in Utah sports history. The first coach was Denise Taylor, whose wardrobe was planned better than her defense. Next was Frank Layden, who left realizing his blood pressure was rising but his life expectancy wasn't. Fred Williams started the Starzz on an upward track but couldn't fire up the troops. Finally, 1 1/2 years ago, they hired Candi Harvey, who brought the Starzz' efforts to fruition. The team made the Western Conference Finals last summer, for the first time.
It was a commonly held opinion the Starzz would see a championship before the Jazz.
Still, attendance never kept pace. They tried selling tickets cheaply, or giving them away, in hopes of drawing wide interest. They also stabbed at selling them at face value to gauge real interest. Not much improved. Paid attendance in 1999 was 6,189 a game; this year, just 3,770.
It couldn't be blamed on lack of media coverage — a common complaint among failed entertainment ventures. In fact, the media probably over-covered the Starzz, considering the interest. But the games were in summer, when there was little competition for air time or newspaper space.
There was a core of loyal and loud fans, but in the general community the Starzz were ignored. Nobody stood around the water cooler at work, saying, "Hey, did you see Natalie Williams got 22 last night?" Finding a ticket was like picking out a head of lettuce at the market — always available and at a cheap price.
But like the ballet, opera and Main Street rejuvenation, everyone is in favor of having them. The question is who's paying. Miller admitted he could have kept the franchise in Utah. All he needed to do was keep absorbing losses. Last year, for instance, overall attendance was up three percent. But marketing costs rose 10 percent.
Rumors persisted all summer the Starzz might move to San Antonio. When WNBA officials met with Miller this week, the general conclusion was that a move was in the best interest of all parties. "If I could have seen daylight at the end of the tunnel, I would have stuck with it," said Miller. "But this equation is going backward."
To say Salt Lake simply doesn't like women's sports is oversimplifying. Women's gymnastics at the University of Utah has one of the nation's best draws for two decades. It's not exclusively a Salt Lake problem, either. Nobody came to games in Miami, Orlando, Charlotte or Detroit, either. Some markets flatly refused to even try when the league was formed, such as Chicago, Golden State and Philadelphia.
Moreover, three years ago, a market study showed the Starzz had the best attendance per capita in the NBA.
Houston, New York, Los Angeles and Washington draw well overall, but those are far larger markets. Miller estimates about three other markets are losing money as badly as the Starzz, three or four are making money, and the rest are breaking even. Teams in Miami and Orlando folded within the last month. Meanwhile, there is talk of a work stoppage if player salaries aren't increased.
Not exactly promising news for the six-year-old league.
At the same time, the WNBA announced teams may now be located in non-NBA markets, and non-NBA owners may now pursue franchise ownership. So the league is rethinking its strategy.
Perhaps teams can survive in large markets. Maybe adding teams where women's basketball is already thriving is the answer. But in Utah, it's a moot point. As Miller pointed out, whether it's Toyotas or basketball you're selling, if it's not broken, don't fix it. But if it's not selling, don't sell it.
E-MAIL: rock@desnews.com