Indoor Football League commissioner Tommy Benizio said he remained “very optimistic” that the Kent Predators would return for a second season in February.
League officials are expected to decide by Friday whether to approve an ownership change that would keep the Kent franchise alive. The Predators are scheduled to open the season Feb. 25 at the ShoWare Center.
“I’m very optimistic they will be playing,” Benizio said in a phone interview Tuesday from IFL headquarters in Richmond, Va. “We’ll know more in the coming days.”
Ken Moninski, the current owner of the Predators, has put the pro team up for sale. After a deal fell through last week to sell the Predators to the Michael Tuckman-led West Coast Sports of the Puget Sound area, Moninski found another interested group of buyers.
“We’re trying to put it together but it’s not finalized,” Moninski said in a phone interview Tuesday. “There is another group of partners who want to step forward and take over the team.”
Neither Moninski nor Benizio would reveal the names of the potential new owners.
“I can’t say yet until we finalize it,” Moninski said.
Benizio said league officials are reviewing the new owners to decide if they have the financial backing and business savvy to run the Predators.
“Unfortunately, I can’t assure anything until we are all done,” Benizio said about whether the Kent team will return this season. “This is not a process you can do in a day or two. We’re trying very hard to conclude the matter this week.”
Tim Higgins, ShoWare Center general manager, said arena officials need to know if the Predators are coming back.
“I’m concerned and spoke to the league (Monday) because we want to know what is happening,” Higgins said in a phone interview Tuesday. “They’ve given us a timeline of the end of the business day Thursday whether it will happen or not.”
The Predators are scheduled to play seven home games this season at the ShoWare Center.
“We reached out to the league because we are holding dates for them and need to know if we should keep those,” Higgins said.
Higgins hopes the ownership sale goes through.
“We would love to have indoor football back at the ShoWare,” Higgins said. “We thought it went well last year and gained momentum. And from what we have heard, the community wants it back.”
The Predators drew an average of about 2,000 fans per game at the city-owned ShoWare Center. They played seven home games from March through June at the 6,000-seat arena.
Kent finished the 2010 season with a 5-9 record. The Predators were fourth out of five teams in the Pacific North Division and failed to make the 16-team playoffs in the 24-team league.
Moninski, of West Seattle, owns Tukwila-based Global Aircraft Services, a company that provides flight crews and logistics for the managed movement of commercial aircraft around the world. He decided to sell the Predators after one season.
“It was a number of things,” Moninski said about his reasons to sell. “There were financial losses last season and I was the sole financial backer of the team. I also got married in June and have a child on the way in March.”
Moninski said he needs to focus on his primary business and his family and would not have the time to devote to running the IFL team.
“It would be best to have a new group step in and take over,” Moninski said.
Kevin Jones, a defensive back last year for the Predators and a former Kentwood High School star, wants to play in Kent again this season. He hopes a decision about the future of the team happens soon.
“I’ve heard nothing at all,” Jones said about whether the team will return. “I knew coach (Heron) O’Neal resigned. I was excited for him to be here.”
O’Neal resigned last month just a couple of months after the Predators hired him. He told the Billings Gazette that he had not been paid for the three months he had the job. O’Neal has since taken a job as the defensive coordinator with the Colorado Ice of the IFL.
Kent had hired O’Neal, the former Billings Outlaws coach, after the Billings team folded in early October. O’Neal coached the Outlaws to the 2009 and 2010 IFL titles.
If IFL officials approve the ownership sale, the new owners will need to act quickly to hire a head coach.
Kent announced in November that it had signed a lot of players for the 2011 season, although players are not paid until they play a game. They receive $225 per game. O’Neal signed several former Billings players to play for Kent.
“I’m not sure if any of them will stay or not,” Jones said. “It’s all up in the air.”
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