Las Vegas Posse
| Las Vegas Posse | |
  |
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| League |
Canadian Football League |
| Division | West Division |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Folded | 1994 |
| Home field | Sam Boyd Stadium |
| Based in | Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Colours | Desert Sand and Black |
| Owner(s) | Nick Mileti |
| Head Coach | Ron Meyer |
The Las Vegas Posse were a Canadian football team that played the 1994 season in the Canadian Football League. The Posse were the least successful American team in the CFL, both on the field and off.
Brief Franchise History
On The Field
The Posse had notable football talent such as, QB Anthony Calvillo, KR Tamarick Vanover, RB Jon Volpe, LB Greg Battle and K Carlos Huerta. The franchise also had an experienced coaching staff with Head Coach, Ron Meyer who had previous coaching experiences with UNLV and in the NFL, and also had future Blue Bomber coach Jeff Reinebold as one of their Assistant Coaches.
The Las Vegas Posse started with a pair of wins over Sacramento and Saskatchewan, but things quickly went downhill from there. Players started to openly complain about the apathetic nature of their coaches and teammates and how they no longer cared about the on-field fortunes of the team.
The Posse finished the season with a 5-13 record and ended up finishing last in the West Division.
Off The Field
When the Posse started the 1994 season it was clear from the start that CFL football would not be coming back to Las Vegas.
Sam Boyd Stadium was far from the central area of Las Vegas and it was located in a casino parking lot. The field itself was only 70 yards long (way below CFL regulation), with the end zones being only 15 yards long, from the usual 20 yards. Ironically, the stadium had a Posse ad-sign that read "Field of ImPOSSEable Dreams." In addition, the stadium was uncovered, offering no protection from Las Vegas' infamous summer heat. Local interest in the team was virtually nonexistent.
The Posse never really had strong attendance levels, but when their attendance started to decrease even further, team management tried to find solutions to try to sell tickets, neither of which worked. Among them:
- Reducing ticket prices to US$9 for each seat. The few who bought season tickets for about US$750 (in more expensive categories) were given extra tickets to make up for the price difference.
- Advertising their scantily-clad cheerleaders ("Showgirls") and by staging half-time bikini contests.
The Posse's final home game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers only drew 2,350 (800 of them being Winnipeg fans--the lowest recorded attendance in CFL history. The Posse actually had one other home game scheduled, against the Edmonton Eskimos, but it moved to Edmonton was because attendance levels at Sam Boyd Stadium were dreadful. The Posse's average attendance was a dismal 8,953.
The franchise was also known for several infamous moments. The first was where, at the team's first home game against Saskatchewan, the singer of the national anthems, Dennis K.C. Parks, had only a vague knowledge of the Canadian anthem and so improvised something that made "O Canada" sound somewhat like "O Christmas Tree". Two weeks later he was brought to a game in Toronto where he sang it properly. Another time, Posse head coach Ron Meyer asked the "Showgirls" to loiter behind the bench of the B.C. Lions in an attempt to distract the opposition. The scheme did not work, as Las Vegas lost the game 39-16.
The only memorable moment for the franchise happened on July 8, 1994, when the team became a part of CFL history. On that day, the Las Vegas Posse played the Sacramento Gold Miners, which marked the first ever CFL game involving two American teams. The Posse ended up defeating the Gold Miners on that day, 32-26, at Sacramento's Hornet Stadium. In addition, Carlos Huerta (K) won the Jackie Parker Trophy as the Most Outstanding Rookie of the West Division.
In The End
A group tried to buy and relocate the franchise to Jackson, Mississippi, but the deal fell through.
The Posse were then quietly folded and a dispersal draft was held for its players in 1995.
After the dispersal draft, another group from Miami tried to purchase the remains of the Posse and move them to Miami. The deal was that the franchise would return for the 1996 season as the "Manatees." In 1995, a pre-season game was held at the Orange Bowl, between the Baltimore Stallions and the Birmingham Barracudas (with Baltimore winning, 37-0) to introduce the Miami fans to the CFL game.
However, nothing much came of the deal, especially when all of the American teams were (except Baltimore, who moved to Montreal) being disbanded after the 1995 season.
Players and Builders of note
Retired
- Ron Meyer