Owners unveil plans to revive Jam, cut costs
| Friday, Jun 19 2009 11:01 PM
Last Updated Friday, Jun 19 2009 11:15 PM
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Alex Horvath / Californian file
Jam Owner Stan Ellis
Alex Horvath / Californian file
Jam Owner Stan Ellis
Alex Horvath / The Californian NBA development league commissioner Dan Reed speaks to the return of the Bakersfield Jam returning at a press conference at the Wyndham Garden Hotel.
The latest plot twist in a riveting professional-basketball drama was unveiled Friday at the Wyndham Garden Hotel.
Just two months after he folded the team that was costing him $1 million a year, there was Stan Ellis, announcing the Bakersfield Jam isn't dead after all.
And he couldn't have been much happier about it.
Citing a new business model that will severely cut overhead expenses -- namely, moving games from expansive Rabobank Arena to the team's practice facility on Norris Road -- Ellis, the Jam's majority owner, and minority owners David Higdon and Steve Chase, announced Friday that Bakersfield's NBA Development League team is back in business.
"I am excited," Ellis said. "I'm fired up. It's a good business model."
The Jam played three years at Rabobank and enjoyed its best season -- one that ended with a D-League playoff appearance -- in 2008-09.
But shortly thereafter, they were gone.
It was late April when Ellis announced the Jam would fold. He said at the time that the operation had lost about $1 million in each of the past two seasons. He said at the time that he and Higdon had other, more successful, business ventures to focus on.
Not long after that, though, Ellis began to change his mind -- with an assist from Los Angeles Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, the daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss.
"We're thinking, 'Well, we built this great new facility,'" Ellis said. "And sometime during that timeframe we met with Jeanie Buss, and Jeannie encouraged us to stay here. She said, 'Cut your overhead, talk with the NBA.'"
Ellis soon contacted the NBA and the D-League to see if the team's newly built practice facility, which will be called Jam Center, would be a viable game-day facility.
It will be the smallest in the D-League, but the answer was yes.
"There was a lot of feedback back and forth, but it was extremely positive," said D-League commissioner Dan Reed, who attended the news conference. "We did identify some areas (of concern), but for the most part, we were very comfortable with the situation, and we think it sets them up to be successful."
Ellis said Friday the Jam would keep its logo, colors and many of the same players. Previous coach Scott Roth also could be retained, though Ellis said Roth is busy dealing with personal issues and also has other coaching offers.
Whether the team's NBA affiliations with the Golden State Warriors and Orlando Magic will remain is yet to be decided, Ellis said.
The biggest difference is venue: Instead of Rabobank, where the Jam struggled to fill a quarter of the 9,000 or so seats, they'll play at the Norris Road facility that holds less than 1,000 and will provide a high school basketball-type atmosphere with talent that's just shy of NBA-caliber.
"If you apply the philosphy that a person would much rather go to a club that's small and packed with 100 people than go to a club that's not very packed and has 1,000 people," Ellis said. "It's the same concept.
"You're up close, you're close to the players, you're in an intimate setting. There's a lot more action going on. It's better all the way around."
And Ellis is convinced that this version of the Jam has staying power. Without the rent costs at Rabobank hanging over the team's head, he said, revenues at the smaller site will be more than enough to cover employee salaries and traveling costs.
And so basketball, after a very short absence, is back in Bakersfield.
"We never wanted to leave," Ellis said.
