Technically, they’re a success

By Ron Kantowski

Monday, May 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The other day the Las Vegas Wranglers issued a news release that said the ECHL team had exercised a three-year option on its lease at the Orleans Arena.

The release consisted of seven paragraphs. Two of those were about how to get playoff tickets.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was no big deal.

But if you have been around Las Vegas for any time, then you know this is a pretty big deal, indeed. It’s like trading a broken Slinky for what Jay has in the box on “Let’s Make a Deal.”

It means that barring the roof blowing off the building or the mother of all Zamboni accidents, the Wranglers will be here through at least 2011 (there is another three-year option after this one expires).

That will make the Wranglers the second-longest standing franchise in Las Vegas’ checkered pro sports history.

Somebody call Herb Alpert. Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti, too. We need multiple trumpets. If the Wranglers won’t blow their own horn, somebody should. It’s time to label them a success story, both on and off the ice.

“We’re very proud of what we have accomplished,” Wranglers president Billy Johnson said.

“We’ve been good, technically, on the ice; we’ve been good, technically, on the business model; and we’ve been good, technically, as far as a marketing approach.”

That’s the word — technically — that Johnson uses about running a minor-league franchise by the book. To use his word, the Wranglers technically haven’t been good on the bottom line. If you held a gun to his head, Johnson would probably say the lease precludes the team from making money hand over fist. Or even breaking even.

The Wranglers don’t get suite revenue, they don’t get concession revenue, they can’t charge for parking, etc., etc., etc.

What they do get is use of a beautiful building at a decent price, or at least a price that is a lot cheaper than what the defunct Las Vegas Thunder paid to use the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Thunder, which operated out of a trailer out back of the T&M, is still the second-longest standing pro sports franchise in Las Vegas history. It lasted six years before taking its place in our pro sports graveyard. But by year five, it was a lame duck. I still tell people that if the Orleans had been around when the Thunder was wreaking havoc on the Fort Wayne Komets, the mascot Boom Boom Bear still would be roaming the stands, getting in people’s way.

Show me a landlord and a tenant that agree on everything, and I’ll show you Fantasy World. Maybe the Wranglers aren’t making a ton of money. But if they were losing a ton, like the Thunder, they wouldn’t still be here.

Johnson said there is a new wrinkle in the lease option tied to attendance — which is why the Orleans got into the hockey business in the first place — that will make it easier for the Wranglers to make a buck. Or at least not to lose as many.

The Orleans will pay bonuses based on the number of hockey fans in the seats, even if they don’t stop at the blackjack tables or Big Al’s Oyster Bar on the way to and from the game.

Johnson said the new lease is something the Wranglers can live with. “We’re going to test our new shoes the next three years and see what we can do,” he said.

Steve Stallworth, the director of the Orleans Arena, is likewise pleased.

“They’ve been a great partner and are a great marketing organization. As a hotel-casino property, we want as many people visiting our property as possible, and they do a great job with that,” Stallworth said.

The good news for Las Vegas hockey fans, who don’t care two whits about lease agreements, just that there is one, is that the puck has stopped here again.

And that it’s not going anywhere for a while.