Jeff Scott bought the Kent Predators Indoor Football League team because he believes it is “a viable product that the community wants.”
Scott, of Renton, a former owner and coach with the King County Jaguars semipro football team that played in Kent, is the new majority owner who along with four partners helped make sure the Predators will return for the 2011 IFL season.
IFL officials approved the ownership change late last week.
“It’s a group of five individuals with diverse backgrounds,” IFL commissioner Tommy Benizio said in a phone interview Monday from New Orleans, where the league will meet with team owners this week. “Each of them brings something to the table for secure financing and the ability to sell partnerships to successfully run the team.”
Scott, who is team president and chief executive officer, declined to name his partners.
“We want to hold off before we release everything because some of them don’t want their names out there yet,” Scott said in a Tuesday phone interview. “They are mostly local, in the region.”
Ken Moninski, of West Seattle, sold the Predators after one year of owning the team. An initial deal late last year to sell the team to the Michael Tuckman-led West Coast Sports fell through at the last minute.
The Predators open the season Feb. 25 at the ShoWare Center. They are scheduled to play seven home games in their second season.
“We are going to work hard to be successful and are not in this to lose money,” Scott said. “There is a lot of upside to it. We’ve received a lot of calls to renew season tickets.”
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.
Scott said he is an “entrepreneur” who owned sports bars in SeaTac and Seattle before he sold them.
“My Kent connection is I ran the semipro King County Jaguars from 1999 to 2008,” said Scott, who also coached the Greater Northwest Football Association team for several years. “I sold the team in 2008.”
Scott said he had looked into bringing an indoor football team to Kent four years ago when plans were announced for a new city arena, but he parted ways with a potential ownership partner.
“Then this opportunity popped up,” Scott said.
Benizio expects the new owners to do well in Kent.
“It’s a pretty neat group, I’m excited,” Benizio said. “The team will become more stable.”
A key to the success looms around how much Scott and his partners can get local businesses and fans to support the team.
“We need more brand awareness,” said Scott, who attended one Predators game last year. “The previous owners didn’t put a lot of money into marketing. If people knew about it, they would have come out.”
Scott hopes to use the recent victories by the Seattle Seahawks and University of Washington Huskies to pump up the Predators.
“With the success of the Seahawks, Huskies and Eastern Washington there is a big buzz about football,” Scott said. “We want to continue that buzz at the ShoWare.”
The Predators plan to announce a new coach and player signings by the end of the week. Players are paid $225 per game.
Tickets are expected to go on sale by the end of this week at the team’s new Web site at www.kentpredators.net or call the team office at 253-236-5568.
The IFL started in 2009 with 19 teams, had 25 teams in 2010 and will have 22 teams in 2011. The league, based in Richmond, Va., was created in 2008 with the merger of the Intense Football League and United Indoor Football.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
