Long Beach franchise folds after one season

 

By Manuel Gamiz Jr., On-Line Forty-Niner

Thursday, August 27, 1998

The Long Beach Stingrays, who came within one game of winning the American Basketball League championship last season, were shut down by the league yesterday.

ABL CEO and co-founder Gary Cavalli has indicated the closure is effective immediately.

"This was an extremely difficult decision for us, especially when you consider the human factor," said Cavalli. "On the court, the Stingrays experienced success as an expansion team and were one win away from sweeping the ABL finals." "Unfortunately, this is a business and revenues from season ticket sales and corporate sponsorship in Long Beach have fallen well short of expectations," he said. "Frankly, the financial losses of the team were just too great to justify playing another season there."

Long Beach, which was added as an expansion team last season, ended the regular season with a 26-18 record and only a five point-loss to the Columbus Quest in the fifth and final game prevented them from a championship season.

"There will be a question mark in how the whole thing turned out because the Stingrays were successful last year, and they were building a strong fan base in the Long Beach area," said Mark Edrington, general manager of The Pyramid. The Stingrays used The Pyramid for its home games.

"I'm really disappointed, I'm really angry too," Linda Reid, the team's media relations director, said. "We weren't given all the tools to succeed."

"We really felt like we were on the upswing this year. We had a great team too," Reid said. "We had one of the top two or three women's teams ever assembled. To not have an opportunity to play devastates our players, coaches and staff."

The 10 Stingray players were assigned to play for other ABL franchises.

Natalie Williams and Rhonda Smith were assigned to play for the Portland Power; Clarissa Davis-Wrightsil and Pam Hudson to the San Jose Lazers; Cass Bauer and Katrina Price to the Philadelphia Rage; Stacey Lovelace to the New England Blizzard; Andrea Nagy to the Seattle Reign; Deanna Tate to the Chicago Condors and Beverly Williams to the Columbus Quest.

Stingray coach Maura McHugh and general manager Bill McGillis will be reassigned to other positions in the league. The remaining full-time employees in the team's front office lost their jobs as a result of the closure.

"We're doing what every responsible corporation in America does - look for ways to improve the bottom line," Cavalli said. "This decision to close the doors is part of our effort to streamline operations, reduce expenses and remove profitability."

­ The Associated Press contributed to this story