A Lot of City’s Money Riding on Vigilantes’ Appeal

MISSION VIEJO — Consider the possibilities.

The Vigilantes--born as the Long Beach Barracuda, reborn as the Long Beach Riptide--play to a bulging grandstands at Saddleback College all season. The city of Mission Viejo gets a tidy attendance cut and spends $6 million for a 4,500-seat stadium, which it later expands to 10,000 seats to accommodate the ticket crush.

On the other hand. . . .

The Vigilantes open to a packed house, but the novelty wears thin. The team bolts after its one-year permit expires, leaving a Saddleback College maintenance crew to tear down the “temporary” stadium, which cost the city about $871,000.

For the time being, no one can be certain where the Vigilantes--who started play Friday night--are headed.

It has been nearly a year since Pat Elster and Paula Pyers, managing partners in the Western Baseball League’s Long Beach Riptide, contacted Mission Viejo city officials to discuss relocating. Unhappy with their deal in Long Beach, Elster and Pyers sought what they perceived as fertile ground.

“People who like baseball in this community are excited,” Mission Viejo Mayor William Craycraft said. “It’s possibly one of the finest forms of family entertainment for a community.”

Others are more cautious.

“This activity is costing the city money,” councilman Larry Smith said. “We are subsidizing it with taxpayer money. It has the potential to be self-sufficient.

“They approached us about building a stadium. The council debated and [decided], ‘Let’s get them down here and have one season under our belts to see if it can be a success.’ ”

Thus a tentative agreement between the ballclub and the city was reached last fall, and trustees of the Saddleback Community College District voted, 6-1, in January to allow the team to play on the campus baseball field for at least one year, despite objections from the academic senate.

The plans for a $6-million, 4,500-seat stadium to be completed by 1998 or 1999 are contingent on an environmental impact study.

The city plans to use $6 million in redevelopment funds to finance the stadium and has already appropriated $1.1 million for this season. That includes a $150,000 relocation fee that has been given to the team and $100,000 deposit toward season-ticket guarantees.

Last month, Elster and Pyers paid a $52,000 debt to the city of Long Beach and a $42,000 debt to Long Beach State, city and university officials said. The debts were left over from the team’s first owner, Chris Gibbs, who had financial problems during the 1995 season.

Elster and Pyers worked for Gibbs and later gained control of the team. Gibbs is suing them and the league for breach of contract. Attorneys for Elster and Pyers made a $50,000 settlement offer to Gibbs in mid-October, which he Gibbs said he rejected.

Craycraft said he was aware of Gibbs’ lawsuit but didn’t know the details.

The deal that brought the franchise to Mission Viejo led to the formation of a citizen-action group that opposes the use of public money for a baseball team. The group of 15, headed by attorney Brad Morton, question whether the city should invest so much money in a team that did not draw well in Long Beach.

“[City officials] asked them for a $300,000 letter of credit to protect the city and they couldn’t come up with it,” Morton said. “Instead, they got a personal guarantee from Pat Elster.

“This league is operating on a shoestring budget. If it goes under in a few years, the taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.”

Mission Viejo City Manager Dan Joseph said if the team does not provide a letter of credit before the 25-year lease is finalized, the city will “want something more.”

Morton’s crusade angers Elster and Pyers, who say he is positioning himself to make a second run for city council. Morton lost in the 1996 election.

“If it’s a multipurpose community facility or an apartment complex or a car wash, there are NIMBYs [not in my back yard],” Pyers said.

“The comments some people make is because they don’t understand the deal. We are sharing revenues.”

Elster and Pyers talk in glowing terms about the future of Vigilante baseball. To date, they say they have sold more than 1,000 season tickets, in various packages.

“I can guarantee we will have about 2,000 in paid attendance [every game] before the first walk-up ticket is sold,” Elster said.

The city has guaranteed 1,750 ticket sales for each game. It is part of a deal that gives the Vigilantes large chunks of the concessions and parking revenue.

In return, their “rent” is 25% of the net ticket revenues after the 1,750th ticket. The city will also receive 25% of the net concessions and 30% of the net parking.

“For us to break even, they need to draw 3,000-3,500 fans a night,” Smith said. “If they draw 2,000, that would concern me.”

It’s a much better deal than the one the team had at Blair Field in Long Beach.

“I wish I had a deal like the one they got from Mission Viejo,” Long Beach City Manager Henry Taboada said. “I went to their games and took my grandchildren. It was a nice experience. But there is community spirit and then there is business.”

Elster and Pyers are reluctant to talk about their time in Long Beach. “It’s ancient history to us,” Elster said. “It’s not the greatest memories in the world for us.”

The team was formed as the Long Beach Barracuda when the Western Baseball League began in 1995. Elster and Pyers worked in the front office for Gibbs the first season.

Bruce Engel, the league’s president and owner of the Reno franchise, said the league stepped in when Gibbs was financially unable to run the operation. After the 1995 season, Elster and Pyers, who said they represent 14 shareholders, were awarded the franchise, which they renamed the Riptide.

Elster and Pyers said Long Beach charged $50,000 in rent per year and the team received 7 1/2% of the concessions and had “about 100” parking spaces.

“No minor league team can survive on 7% of concessions,” Elster said. “We had a horrible, horrible arrangement.”

Elster said they attempted to talk with the city about improving their situation. They particularly wanted to play games on Saturday night. The Connie Mack League, which has operated in Long Beach since 1967, plays Saturday evenings in Blair Field.

“They might have 100 parents come to games,” Elster said. “We would have had 3,000 in the stands for Saturday night games.”

Last season, the team--then know as the Riptide--drew 74,440 in paid attendance for 45 home games at Blair Field in Long Beach, according to David Ayers, the Vigilantes’ director of public relations and group sales.

Long Beach officials said that number is high.

“It all depends on how you count it,” said Ralph Cryder, director of parks and recreation in Long Beach. “They always maintain they had something like 2,200 season ticket holders. We found out later it was something like 1,200. They also sold two-for-one season tickets, so when you get right down to it, they probably had 600-700.”

Pyers first denied the team had any two-for-one deals. Elster later said there might have been “a few deals.”

Pyers and Elster told the Mission Viejo city council the team averaged 1,600 in paid attendance last season.

“They gave us some figures, but it wasn’t anything certified,” Joseph said.

“We had some 700-800 crowds, but only for Saturday afternoon games,” Elster said. “But believe me, if we were happy with the attendance, we’d still be there.”

As for the baseball team, almost all the players have been released by at least one major league organization, many after spending years playing minor league ball. In recent years independent leagues have formed, giving players a last-chance stop.

The eight-team Western Baseball League has limped along its first two years. Of the original eight cities, five still have franchises. Engel, the league president and founder, owned a share in three franchises last season.

Pyers and Elster are also managing partners for the Salinas franchise.

The quality of play? Depends on whom you ask.

“I think we’re similar to any normal double-A club,” Elster said.

“If they have double-A talent, why aren’t they playing in double-A?” said Don Lindeberg, who has been a professional scout for 52 years, 30 with the New York Yankees. “These are players trying to hang on a little longer.”

The Vigilantes’ owners talk about how their team will appeal to families.

“It always seemed to me that southern Orange County would be a terrific spot for a franchise like this,” Elster said. “Certain places grow crops, South Orange County grows families.

“You don’t see the beer-swilling, screaming, obnoxious fan in our stands. It’s apple pie, baseball and family entertainment. We don’t sell beer.”

By law, they are not allowed to sell beer on a community college campus. They did sell beer in Long Beach the last two seasons.

“There are not a lot of things to do in south Orange County at night,” Elster said. “If you go to the bowling alley, there’s about a three-hour wait. It’s tough sometimes getting into movies. There is not a lot of entertainment for people down here. We’re very excited about the possibility.”