If change is good, then Kent just might end up with the best team in the professional Indoor Football League.
New owner Tom Dowling made it official at a press conference Friday at the ShoWare Center that the team will be called the Seattle Timberwolves rather than the Kent Predators; coached by Sean Ponder rather than Keith Evans; and owned by Dowling rather than Jeff Scott.
Kent is only midway through its second season and it’s already had four coaches, three owners and now two names.
New General Manger Mike Barry explained the reason for the change of names.
“There’s been a bit of a negative connotation that went along with the name Predators and we’d like to separate ourselves from that moving forward in a positive way,” Barry said. “We also want to expand our footprint to greater community support and greater fan awareness by use of the name Seattle.”
Tommy Benizio, the Indoor Football League commissioner, said himself and team owners in the league agreed a name change would benefit the Kent team even though it’s happening in the middle of the season.
“It’s highly unusual for a team not to wait until the offseason,” Benizio said in a phone interview Thursday from the league office in Richmond, Va. “But they wanted to rebrand themselves and separate themselves from the previous owners.”
Dowling, of Lakewood, bought the team this month from Scott, of Renton, and several other partners. Scott had just purchased the team in January from Ken Moninski, of West Seattle, who owned the team during its first season.
“I feel better and more optimistic than ever before,” Benizio said about the ownership change. “I feel comfortable in how Tom will run the business and finance it.”
Benizio, of course, said similar things about the previous ownership groups. He knows fans might doubt whether a team can succeed in Kent with so many changes.
“The proof will be in the pudding,” Benizio said. “Multiple people have been coming in with the same claims. I know people would rather see it than hear it.
“But it’s a terrific market and a gorgeous arena. The third component it needs is an owner-operator who can make the proper investments and has business savvy. The teams that struggle in the league are poorly operated. It has very little to do with the community or even wins and losses. I think he (Dowling) will come in and fill the role. But I know it needs to be proven rather than spoken.”
Dowling said he makes his money through capital investments as well as real estate and foreign investments. He works out of a home office but often is on the road.
Dowling attended the second Kent Predators home game last year and ended up becoming a season ticket holder. When the team needed a new owner, he decided to buy it. He had looked at buying the team before Scott did, but that partnership deal fell through late last year.
“This is a passion for me,” Dowling said. “I enjoy the game immensely. I’m not doing this to make a lot of money. I love the game, Kent and the ShoWare.”
Dowling said he plans to keep the team in Kent beyond this season.
“I have no plans of moving the team,” he said. “The ShoWare is a great venue. It has the Seattle Thunderbirds (hockey), the Seattle Mist (lingerie football) and now the Seattle Timberwolves.”
Dowling wants to reach into the Seattle market in an effort to boost attendance, which has dropped a lot this year after averaging about 2,000 fans per game last season.
The Timberwolves have just a 1-5 record this season with eight games remaining. They debut with their new name and coach at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at the ShoWare against the Wenatchee Valley Venom. They have played three home games and have four remaining, including the regular season finale on June 12.
Seattle quarterback Charles McCullum already likes the change of ownership and coaches and its impact on the team.
“The attitude now is way better,” McCullum said. “I like the new owners and coaches. It’s an all-around better vibe.”
Players, who are paid $225 per game, struggled under the previous leadership.
“There was a lot of chaos,” McCullum said. “There was minimum structure. But now that’s all behind us and the sky’s the limit.”
McCullum likes the name change to Seattle from Kent.
“That will bring more exposure to the team,” he said. “When you say Kent, people are ‘Where’s that?’ When you say Seattle, they know.”
The team also a new website, its third in two seasons, go to www.gotwolves.com.
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