World Basketball League (1992)
Tombstone
Born: December 1991 – WBL expansion franchise
Folded: June 15, 1992
First Game: May 1, 1992 (L 127-103 @ Youngstown Pride)
Last Game: June 12, 1992 (L 145-117 @ Calgary 88’s)
WBL Championships: None
Arena
Jacksonville Coliseum (10,000)11992 World Basketball League Media Guide
Opened: 1960
Demolished: 2003
Marketing
Team Colors: Purple, Teal & Gold21992 World Basketball League
Ownership
Owner: Terry May, et al. & World Basketball League
Attendance
The Stingrays played just eight home games at the Jacksonville Coliseum before folding in the middle of their first season in 1992. Jacksonville’s announced average of 579 fans per game was the lowest among the World Basketball League’s ten teams at the time.
A league-wide attendance average for the WBL’s 1992 season is not currently available.
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Sources:
- 1992 Stingrays figures3Perry, Tom. “Jades forced to fold; Jacksonville out, too”. The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL). June 16, 1992
Background
The Jacksonville Stingrays were a doomed minor league basketball outfit that lasted for only six weeks in the World Basketball League (1988-1992) during the spring of 1992. The WBL was a summertime minor league for players 6′ 5″ tall and shorter (seriously).
Under the WBL’s business model, the league owned 60% of each franchise. Local investors – when they could be found – owned up to 40%. The Stingrays reportedly had a 14-person local investor group led by club President & CEO Terry May. Problem was, with the league as the primary stakeholder and most teams earning minimal revenue from operations, almost every franchise was ultimately reliant on the league’s financial health and cash flow to pay their own bills on time. The Stingrays joined the league in 1992 just as the WBL’s criminal house of cards was collapsing.
Unbeknownst to the league’s other owners, league founder and owner of the Youngstown (OH) Pride franchise Mickey Monus had been systematically embezzling from his Youngstown-based discount pharmacy chain Phar-Mor for years to underwrite the World Basketball League’s losses. By 1992, Monus was on borrowed time as CEO of Phar-Mor. The stream of cash from the league office to the franchises slowed to a trickle. Monus’ unwitting partners in the league demanded information about the league’s finances. Monus assured them everything was fine. Nevertheless, league officials realized it was time for emergency cuts.
Euthanized
On June 15, 1992 WBL Commissioner John Geletka announced the closure of the Stingrays and the league’s other Florida-based franchise, the Florida Jades of Boca Raton, effective immediately. Both teams had played just 19 games of the planned 46-game schedule. The Stingrays were 5-14 at the time of the shutdown and averaging a reported 579 fans per game for eight home dates in the 10,000-seat Jacksonville Coliseum.
Just over a month later, Monus’ fellow Phar-Mor executives finally uncovered his scheme. He was fired and later sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. Phar-Mor’s ensuing bankruptcy caused the loss of 17,000 jobs – it was Enron before Enron. The revelations sounded the death knell of the World Basketball League. The circuit folded on August 1, 1992 without completing its fifth and final season.
Downloads
Justia case summary: United States of America vs. Michael I. Monus
2012 FWiL interview with former WBL Director of Public Relations Director Jimmy Oldham
1992 Newsweek Mickey Monus Profile
Links
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