The San Jose Stealth had much to celebrate on the floor last season, as a late season run carried them into the playoffs and within one game of reaching the championship game.
NEW OWNERSHIP FOR SAN JOSE STEALTH
Bay Area business leaders Luczo and Watkins purchase team
09/17/2007
Silicon Valley business leaders Steve Luczo and Bill and Denise Watkins have gone from season ticket holders to sports owners by leading an investor group in purchasing the San Jose Stealth indoor professional lacrosse team, it was announced earlier this week.LW Lacrosse LLC bought the Stealth, one of 14 National Lacrosse League teams, from majority owner Lacrosse Owners Group, LLC, including minor investors comprised of a group of Bay Area business executives, business executives from Ontario, Canada, and Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment (SVS&E), the owners of the National Hockey League's San Jose Sharks. The new ownership group also includes Stealth President/General Manager Johnny Mouradian. The ownership change keeps the Stealth from leaving the Bay Area.
"Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport in the United States and we want to help continue that growth here in the Bay Area," Denise Watkins said. "Lacrosse is such an active sport, it's a great game for kids. It's fun, fast family entertainment and is much more accessible from a cost perspective than other professional sports. We want to expose more people to it because it's a fun game to watch."
The Stealth will open their 2008 home schedule Friday, January 11th vs. Calgary at 7:30 PM. It is the first of eight regular season home games, all on weekends. While the team will continue to play its games at HP Pavilion, they have moved their office headquarters to Pleasanton, CA.
In 2007, the Stealth bounced back from a pair of losing seasons by qualifying for the postseason and advancing to the Western Division finals. Continuing to improve the team's performance, increasing sponsorship opportunities, as well as helping expand the sport of lacrosse in the Bay Area are initial goals of the new ownership group.
The Steve Luczo-Bill Watkins partnership has been impacting the Silicon Valley and the world of technology for more than a decade. The leadership that both Luczo and Watkins have provided to Seagate Technology has helped established the company as the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disc drives and storage solutions with a market capitalization of $16 billion. Luczo served as CEO of Seagate from 1998-2004 before becoming the current Chairman of the Board. Watkins became President/COO of Seagate in 2000 and was elevated to CEO in 2004.
"The National Lacrosse League is pleased to welcome Stephen Luczo and William and Denise Watkins to our dynamic group of team owners," NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings said. "They are leaders in the local business community with a passion for the sport. We have every confidence that they will build the Stealth into one of the Bay Area's most exciting and fan-friendly experiences in professional sports."
Aside from their Silicon Valley successes, Luczo and the Watkins family have experience in sports investment. In 2001, the Watkinses founded Primal Quest, the first environmentally friendly, world class, multi-sport adventure race in North America. In 2002, Luczo launched Balance Vector, a broad-based entertainment company that includes sports ownership and athlete sponsorship as an operating business. He has a minority ownership stake in the Boston Celtics and is a founding partner of Luczo Dragon Racing, an Indy Car race team that finished fifth in the 2007 Indianapolis 500. Among the athletes Balance Vector has sponsored are Kit DesLauriers, two-time women's free ski world champion (2005, 2006), Nathan Fa'avae, adventure racing team world champion (2006) and Cindy Mosey, the three-time women's kiteboard riding world champion (2002-2005).
"We believe in lacrosse and are happy that such a solid ownership group will keep the team in the Bay Area," SVS&E President Greg Jamison said. "The growth of lacrosse, coupled with the fan-friendly atmosphere at HP Pavilion, should continue to drive the Stealth's success."
In reaction to the sale, Stealth forward Colin Doyle told the Canadian Press, "it's an injection of new blood that will add some jump to the whole organization. It's nice for the players to know there's some stability to the franchise going forward so we can continue to push lacrosse on the West Coast."
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