By Alan Snel/LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Las Vegas Lights founder Brett Lashbrook has sold the second-tier soccer team to former Major League Baseball player Jose Bautista after Lashbrook and his family launched the expansion club to play at downtown Cashman Field in 2018.
On Monday, LVSportsBiz.com broke the news that Lashbrook was selling the soccer team and that Bautista’s name was mentioned in a group as buying the Lights, which play in the USL Championship league that is based in Tampa.
In a press release Tuesday morning, Bautista was quoted as saying, “Las Vegas is the place to be and has emerged as a big professional sports town, and I will do everything I can to push this club forward . . . I look forward to sharing my love of sports with the Las Vegas soccer community.”
Bautista has involved himself in business after he last played for the New York Mets in 2018. Bautista, 43, known for his nickname, “Joey Bats,” was a six-time All-Star player for the Toronto Blue Jays and hit 344 home runs in his 15 MLB seasons
The release said Bautista was an early equity partner, lead investor, and board member for Marucci Sports, a baseball equipment startup that was sold to Compass Diversified Holdings in 2020.
Additional business interests include stakes in Canada Goose, which went public in 2017, and Endy Sleep, which was acquired by Sleep Country in 2018. Bautista serves as a partner and senior advisor to Aquilance, a household financial management firm.
“Throughout my playing career, I recognized the importance of giving back in meaningful, intentional ways,” Bautista said in a release statement. “Likewise, as an owner, I am committed to having a real impact on the local community and fostering a deep connection with the people of Las Vegas.”
The USL welcomed Bautista: “José brings a competitive athlete’s mindset to everything he does, and he will certainly bring new expectations for the club’s performance, on and off the field,” said USL President Paul McDonough. “Jose’s vision for the sporting side is ambitious, including the acquisition of international players and the forming of an academy. We will support Jose during this transition period and look forward to seeing Lights FC shine brighter than ever in Vegas.”
The Lights’ season starts in less than two months. The Lights open play March 9 against Memphis 901 FC before returning to Cashman Field to host FC Tulsa on March 16.
Goodman said Lashbrook deserves credit for starting the team in Las Vegas.
“He got it going,” Goodman said of Lashbrook starting professional soccer at Cashman Field six years ago. “It was so embraced. People could attend without bleeding through the nose. He has 100 percent support from this family.”
Indeed, the enthusiasm for the new pro soccer team in the USL Championship league was high at the start. The Lights enjoyed good attendance in their inaugural season and attracted many fans from Las Vegas’ Latino community.
“We owe the man a lot of credit for bringing soccer to downtown. He started something and got people excited,” said former Lights coach Eric Wynalda, who is a major name on U.S. soccer. “Was it run perfectly? No. But years from now his legacy is that he started it.”
While the team was warmly embraced in the first few seasons, fans slowly became disillusioned over the many losses on the pitch and the appearance that Lashbrook favored zany promotions over quality play on the field.
Wynalda, who told LVSportsBiz.com that Lashbrook fired him four of five times but kept him anyway, recalled several instances where Lashbrook favored sponsors and promotions over wins and losses. “Brett was the most difficult person I had to work with in the game.”
LVSportsBiz.com has reached out to Lashbrook multiple times, but has received no response. If Lashbrook gives us a comment we will include it in this story.
The Lights play in a second-tier league in the U.S. that is kind of like the Triple-A of pro soccer in this country. Some USL Championship teams are affiliated with Major League Soccer teams, while others are independent clubs. The Lights were an independent team, but then in 2021 were affiliated with the Los Angeles FC team of the MLS. The team is back to being independent.
Before the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, Lashbrook was involved in a proposed deal where a potential Cashman Center developer was interested in rebuilding the downtown Cashman area while also trying to move the Lights to Major League Soccer as part of the deal. But the plan fizzled after the pandemic took hold and Lashbrook never sold the team to the investor.
To drum up attendance to the downtown stadium, Lashbrook has used unusual sports promotions over the years like using a helicopter to drop money during halftime at Lights games. Federal aviation officials did not appreciate that promotion and investigated the stunt.
During the Lights’ first seasons, the team attracted crowds that were bigger than the average sized crowds in the USL. In the first season, Lashbrook forged a business relationship with downtown Las Vegas company Zappos that helped the Lights.
Lashbrook received much support from Goodman, who liked the team playing inside the city limits. Most of the teams in metro Las Vegas such as the NFL Raiders, NHL Golden Knights and WNBA Aces play in sports venues that are in Clark County, not the city of Las Vegas.
Goodman said she was impressed with Lashbrook from the start and he deserves credit for bringing professional soccer to downtown Las Vegas.
“He did the whole thing,” Goodman said of the effort to start the Lights. “Oscar and I were so enthused.”