Silverados plan to stay in McAllen

[bdyer]

Had a nice chat with co-owner (now majority owner) Dr. Jordan Maswoswe during the Silverados home finale Sunday. He and the front office staff are actually cautiously optimistic about a second season in the McAllen Convention Center. There was a crazy amount of action going on behind the scenes during this tumultuous season. I'll try to put together some of the story soon, but suffice it to say it took quite an effort to finish the season and the ownership and staff seem eager to improve on all aspects of their team's performance.

BTW - I've been posting for some time under a different screen name, but decided to start using my actual name.

[Minor League Man]

So, did you bring up the D-League's Vipers to him? What did he say?

[bdyer]

He believes the Silverados can be viable regardless of the status of the Vipers. According to him, most of the sponsors appear willing to stick with the team and that there is some untapped potential in the partnership with the Convention Center. There has been some evidence of the latter, since the CC worked with the team to improve the initially unwieldy arena configuration that unnecessarily took up both exhibit hall spaces to a more intimate set up in one hall that can still hold 2500. Attendance has been varying wildly for both valley teams (I can verify that) -- they need to look back and see what worked and what did not. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, but the team is only beginning to operate under the direction of the formerly silent partner Maswoswe. As always it will be interesting to see what happens.

[Aaronhere]

He believes the Silverados can be viable regardless of the status of the Vipers. According to him, most of the sponsors appear willing to stick with the team and that there is some untapped potential in the partnership with the Convention Center. There has been some evidence of the latter, since the CC worked with the team to improve the initially unwieldy arena configuration that unnecessarily took up both exhibit hall spaces to a more intimate set up in one hall that can still hold 2500. Attendance has been varying wildly for both valley teams (I can verify that) -- they need to look back and see what worked and what did not. There is definitely a lot of room for improvement, but the team is only beginning to operate under the direction of the formerly silent partner Maswoswe. As always it will be interesting to see what happens.

I think there is potential here, but I would love to see a few more teams in that region to build a nice rivalry with Oklahoma and the Silverados....Any ideas? El Paso? Beaumont? Shreveport? Arkansas (Little Rock)? Wichita? Topeka?

[Pounder]

Corpus Christi?

How 'bout a bit of a novel idea: Brownsville. Set up a real bloodbath rivalry.

[panchess]

I'll agree that Ricardo's international expansion ideas are a bit off the wall, but having a team in Mexico not far from RGV (and maybe Brownsville, another area that fits the CBA profile and the D-League is extremely unlikely to touch) would be a good idea if the right person could be found to run it.

Brownsville is an hour from McAllen, just far enough for a good rivalry without undercutting the market. When Albany and Glens Falls were in the AHL together, both teams drew reasonably well and the games against each other were nasty sellouts.

If the rumored merger with the PBL comes through, there would be a team in Arkansas, but that isn't really that close. It's like 10 hours to Lawton from RGV by car, don't forget.

I wonder if any of the former USBL teams (particularly Oklahoma, which was a solid franchise and geographically fits this profile) could be brought in as well.

[bdyer]

I think there is potential here, but I would love to see a few more teams in that region to build a nice rivalry with Oklahoma and the Silverados....Any ideas? El Paso? Beaumont? Shreveport? Arkansas (Little Rock)? Wichita? Topeka?Beaumont and Shreveport would be the best choices if one was trying to group the team geographically. El Paso is pretty easy to get to by air and has a couple of potential venues that might be priced right -- though there is always the shadow of UTEP to deal with.
Corpus Christi?That would be ideal -- more specifically up I-37 a bit in Robstown, which has a couple of venues that could work well and whose operators seem eager to fill dates.How 'bout a bit of a novel idea: Brownsville. Set up a real bloodbath rivalry.I'd personally love that, but I don't think Brownsville has a proper venue, though I could be wrong since they have built all kinds of crap since I lived there. UT Brownsville currently has no basketball program -- I would have to check if a new gym or similar space is in their master expansion plan.

[jjbballfan]

what about wichita falls texas? they had a CBA team when the CBA was great and they were represented well.....

[bdyer]

I think Wichita Falls a little too close to Lawton which doesn't have the benefit of other population centers to draw from like Brownsville would in a rivalry with the Silverados.

[OKCAVS67]

Wichita Falls would be ideal, they have an Air Force base there plus a D-II college, Midwestern State Univeristy.

The Dallas Cowboys had used their facilities for a couple of years.

They have a nice arena - Kay Yeager that is used for a Junior Hockey team.
They even had a Indoor Football team once.

One of the Cavs owners said they were looking at trying to get a team there so they get an Army vs. Air Force rivalry thing going.

[bdyer]

If the Cavs don't have a problem with it, then play ball. It would be neat to see how the media covers both teams (aren't they in the same market?).

Amarillo has a decent arena that might work if the dates could be worked out with the hockey team. They are getting close to the saturation point with minor league sports, but it's all third tier stuff that might be able to coexist.

[OKCAVS67]

As for Media coverage for Wichita Falls/ Lawton...

Lawton has an ABC affilitate that covers mainly the Lawton area. Sometimes they cover stuff south of the Red River, but only if it is big news stuff like a big grass fire or the like. I don't remember them covering anything sports related except when the Cowboys where down there.

Wichita Falls has two stations there, CBS and NBC stations. Same for them covering stuff up here. Unless it is a big ticket news item, Tornado, fire, ect. they don't cover much of what goes on up here.


Amarillo was another town that the CAVS owner was talking about.
They have a CHL hockey team there, the Gorillas.
They also have an AFL2 team there, the Dusters.
Adding a CBA team there might make it abit crowded?

[bdyer]

Like I said, the big sticking point with Amarillo would be scheduling in the Civic Center with the Gorillas. I think the market could actually support all the teams since they are all pretty cheap tickets (they also have an independent league baseball team) and there's a decent enough median income for the city which is poised to break 200k in population. The main advantage is its distance from West Texas A&M (folks don't want to drive half an hour one way to watch their basketball games), and the main disadvantage is getting people downtown at night (folks don't want to drive ten minutes one way to watch a basketball game).

[Pounder]

I'd argue that Wichita Falls is just OUT of Lawton's range.

Aren't the Amarillo Gorillas perennial candidates to fold? Seems like I'd risk barging into that market. I'm not sure that's a hockey town.

[OKCAVS67]

Good thing about Wichita Falls is that they are around 50 miles away from Lawton.
Could build up a good rivalry with the CAVS.


As for Rio Grande, I think a team located around them like in Lardeo or Corpus Christi would be good for them, both are around 140-150 miles away, which is much better than the 700 miles to Lawton.

[Kev the Cav]

I doubt if many (if any) people from Wichita Falls are coming to the Cavs games, so I think it could only help if they got a team too. I'd go to the games down there too and maybe their diehard fans would come here too.

The 2 TV stations in Wichita Falls both have covered the Cavs. I've seen the CBS station at the game filming so they could show highlights. The NBC station showed the score against Yakama a few nights ago.