By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas Lights FC owner Brett Lashbrook is back to his ol’ promotional tricks, saying he is guaranteeing his United Soccer League team will defeat the Austin Bold in the club’s season-opener Saturday or all fans who attend the game will get free tickets to the next home game March 30 if the Lights lose or draw.
That’s a gutsy guarantee for Lashbrook because his inaugural season team in 2018 won a mere eight times out of 34 games.
One thing to consider is that new team manager Eric Wynalda has performed a facelift on the Lights’ roster. As a result, during a three-game preseason, the Las Vegas soccer team actually defeated Toronto FC and tied the Colorado Rapids, both of the first-tier Major League Soccer, and defeated the Orange County SC team of the USL, one of the best teams in the second-tier league.
The guarantee of victory is par for the promotions course for Lashbrook, who has a team sponsorship with a local marijuana dispensary, hired a helicopter to drop $5,000 during halftime of a game last season and has more promotions during the 17-game home schedule at Cashman Field.
Here’s Lashbrook today:
At a media luncheon Monday, Lashbrook announced the guarantee of Saturday’s victory.
After Lashbrook declared the guarantee, Wynalda quipped, “No pressure there.” Actually, Wynalda welcomed the guarantee of a win Saturday and has exuded confidence in his players during the three preseason games.
The team draws about 7,000 fans a game. So at $20 a ticket. Lashbrook will have to give $140,000 worth of tickets to fans if the Lights don’t win Saturday. He said he has the money to afford that.
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