'A tremendous loss'

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Feb 10, 2001 | by Erickson, Randy

For downtown La Crosse, losing the Bobcats will be like the Chicago Bulls losing Michael Jordan.

With the midseason folding of the Continental Basketball Association, the downtown team loses a star player, said city officials, business owners and fans on Friday. Nothing else has drawn people downtown so consistently as CBA basketball, and losing the Bobcats will be painful.

"I think it's a tremendous loss," said Bud Miyamoto, executive director of Downtown Mainstreet Inc. "It was a big disappointment to hear the news of the suspension of the CBA. It's a huge disappointment, not only for the downtown but for the city and the region."

The Bobcats offered family entertainment, Miyamoto said, and that will be hard to replace. "It's always been a neat attraction to bring people downtown," he said.

The news that the CBA was all but dead with 17 home games left in the season surprised Herb French, a season-ticket holder since "day one," when the La Crosse Catbirds first brought the CBA to town in 1984.

"I know it's going to leave a big hole in people's entertainment," said French, who is vice president of Coulee State Bank and one of about 1,400 Bobcats season-ticket holders.

No provisions have been made yet to reimburse seasonticket holders for the canceled second half of the season

French said that with the memory still fresh of the Catbirds' flight from La Crosse in 1994, and the recent desertion of the River Rats arena football team and now the CBA's surprise collapse, other sports franchises will face a lot of skepticism here.

"This may be a fatal blow to La Crosse as far as pro sports," French said.

Bobcats games offered not only entertainment, French said, but a social opportunity, a chance to meet with friends. He said he probably will fill the void with UW-La Crosse basketball games. But, he said, "It won't be the same."

What compounds the disappointment with the CBA's failure, said Mayor John Medinger, is that the Bobcats were drawing good crowds. "I was at the Bobcats game last Sunday, and there were over 3,000 people there," he said. "I feel really bad for the fans who were really loyal to the Bobcats."

Losing the Bobcats also is a blow to the La Crosse Center, which Medinger said has made great strides in reducing its deficit. "This has got to hurt," he said. "I do not believe anyone can tell you how much, but there are a lot of people (at the games) that spend a lot of money on popcorn and beer."

People not only spent money at the games, they also spent it at downtown La Crosse businesses before and after the event.

"We definitely would get a lot of people in before the games," said Rob Larson, general manager of Buzzard Billy's.

Any of the events at the La Crosse Center provide a boost to some of the downtown businesses, he said. In Buzzard Billy's case, the restaurant and bar sponsored the coupon on the back of the tickets.

At nearby Doe Powell's, crowds would flock in for the postgame party after every home game, and many Bobcats fans got an early start there before the games. The aftergame event was spurred by the chance to meet Bobcats players and the Bobcat Girls, said Arvon Frederickson, a manager.

"That drew a lot of people," Frederickson said. "It's going to hurt."

Asked whether the city plans to do anything in the wake of the Bobcats' departure, Medinger said, "If there is something we can do, we will, but I do not know what that is."