Checketts to Walk With Legends

Moving into the next phase of a turbulent and noteworthy career, Dave Checketts, owner of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues and the former chief executive of Madison Square Garden, will lead Legends Hospitality Management LLC, the concessions and sports-marketing joint venture of the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs GroupInc.

Enlarge Image

Close Getty Images

Dave Checketts after Real Salt Lake's win in the 2009 MLS Cup final.

For Mr. Checketts, principal of the boutique sports-investment group SCP Worldwide, the move represents a soft landing as he moves from daily oversight of SCP and is his latest prime opportunity in a three-decade journey that has seen him rise from NBA executive to leader of one of the world's pre-eminent sports-and-media companies to a sometimes rocky tenure as principal owner of two midmarket teams in hockey and soccer.

Mr. Checketts, best known for restoring luster to Madison Square Garden and executing a fateful trade of Patrick Ewing that helped cripple the New York Knicks payroll, said he has raised $50 million from private investors during the past year and is paying an undisclosed amount for a minority stake in Legends, where he will become chairman.

The company handles concessions and premium hospitality at Yankee Stadium, Cowboys Stadium and a handful of minor-league venues. But his vision isn't simply to sell snacks on behalf of the Steinbrenner and Jones families, which control the Yankees and Cowboys. In fact, Mr. Checketts said Goldman Sachs managing director Gerry Cardinale assured him during a recruiting breakfast, "I don't want you to just sell hot dogs and beer."

Rather, Mr. Checketts, 56 years old, envisions building Legends into an international sports-marketing and entertainment business that advises franchises on media strategy, financing and building stadiums, then helps sell tickets and suites and handles concessions.

"This is the exact kind of platform I was looking for when I started SCP," Mr. Checketts said. "It's two legendary brands and two great stadiums."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the power of the Yankees and Cowboys brands would open doors to possible business opportunities for Mr. Checketts in ways he has never experienced.

"Before I was a Cowboy, I spent a lot of time with my knee pads on in office waiting rooms," he said. "I don't wait anymore."

Mr. Checketts's stewardship of SCP has been mixed, industry experts say, highlighted by his leadership of Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake and hockey's Blues, which SCP acquired in 2006 for about $125 million. SCP will continue, and Mr. Checketts will still be chairman, but his full-time job and daily focus will be on Legends.

Mr. Checketts was forced to put the Blues up for sale last year when his lead investor, TowerBrook Capital Partners, lost its appetite for funding the millions of dollars in annual operating losses. In a statement, Towerbrook said it has been "pleased to invest in the St. Louis Blues franchise over the years."

When Mr. Checketts bought the team, the Blues were among the worst in the league and attendance was sometimes as low as 4,000 per game, Mr. Checketts said. The Blues are now among the NHL's best, but profits remain elusive. "Two-thousand-eight, nine, 10 and 11 were absolutely brutal for sports-team ownership," he said. Asked whether the Blues investment will prove profitable, Mr. Checketts said, "I think when we sell it will be."

Front-Office Type

Signature moments in Dave Checketts's career:

Highs:

At 28, becomes president of the NBA's Utah Jazz in 1984.

Takes over New York Knicks in 1991 and becomes CEO of Madison Square Garden in 1994.

Installed on board of JetBlue Airways in 2000.

Starts sports investment group SCP Worldwide in 2001.

Lows

Trades Patrick Ewing for Glenn Rice. Deal causes payroll problems for Knicks.

Leaves as chief executive of Madison Square Garden, 2001.

Forced to put St. Louis Blues up for sale in 2011.

WSJ research

A deal to sell the team to Chicago financier Matthew Hulsizer for $185 million fell through in December. The NHL is currently trying to work out a deal with a minority owner of the team, Tom Stillman. People involved in the deal expect the price to be lower than what Mr. Hulsizer had agreed to pay.

Mr. Checketts acquired the rights to launch Real Salt Lake for $10 million in 2004. He then battled local officials over stadium funding and threatened to move the team from Salt Lake City, his hometown. MLS expansion franchises now sell for $50 million, but Real Salt Lake has yet to show significant operating profits.

As Mr. Checketts shifts his attention from SCP to Legends, he and Legends' investors from the Yankees, Cowboys and Goldman are aiming to acquire media properties and perhaps sports events.

"We're open to different types of opportunities," said Yankees President Randy Levine, who oversees the baseball team's Legends investment. "The whole idea is to be expansive and not have any barriers."

Legends, which has annual revenue "above $200 million," according to Mr. Checketts, has successfully filled most of the suites and club seats in its parent teams' stadiums and fed millions of fans who have attended games there, but its concessions business has yet to penetrate other major venues.

Its advisory business has begun to grow. Legends is currently advising the Rose Bowl, the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Red Bulls on season-ticket and premium-seating sales. But the company is still proving itself in what is an increasingly competitive business.

Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose Bowl, which hired Legends last year to sell 2,500 premium seats whose revenues are key to paying off construction debt, said he was pleased with the performance of Legends so far, "but there is a lot of work to do."

David Carter, director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California and a longtime consultant to the Rose Bowl, said the challenge for a company like Legends is knowing the customers. "You can come in with all the expertise in the world," he said, "but if you don't know the local market you're not going to be very effective."