http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/

Bon Jovi gets to live out a dream
Co-owner wants Soul to rock Philly
By PAUL DOMOWITCH
pdomo@aol.com

THERE'S SOMETHING you should know right up front about one of the owners of the city's new Arena Football League franchise.

He's a stinking Giants fan.

That's right. New Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi, who will officially be introduced today as the co-owner of the Philadelphia Soul along with local real estate developer Craig Spencer, bleeds Giant blue. And if you're expecting him to convert now that he owns a 50 percent chunk of a Philly sports team, dream on.

"I hope Philadelphia fans will have a good time embracing me in spite of my loyalty to the Giants," Bon Jovi said yesterday. "I do have one common bond with them. That is that we both hate the Cowboys. I'm going to go out of my way each time here to beat Dallas [whose AFL team is owned by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones] as a Philadelphia Soul owner. Like every Eagle and Giants fan, I hate the ground that the Cowboys walk on."

Bon Jovi and Spencer have ponied up almost $15 million for the AFL expansion franchise, which will play its home games at the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum. The season runs from February to May. They have hired longtime AFL executive Joe Hennessy to be the club's general manager. They have brought in Mike Trigg, who won an Arena League title 2 years ago with Grand Rapids, to be the head coach. Ex-Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski will be the club's president.

"The good part is Jon and I know what we don't know," Spencer said. "The first thing we did was get the best coach in the league and the best GM in the league. One's been in the league 13 years. The other's been around 15 years. They've both won Arena Bowls. There's only so much I can lend. I'm a businessman in the real estate business. Jon's a rock star in the music business. Bringing those two guys on board, along with Ron, was a big coup."

Bon Jovi didn't do this on a lark. He has been interested in owning a piece of a pro sports team for several years. Had surface discussions with his longtime pal Bill Parcells in the early 1990s about buying a minor league baseball team and putting it near his home in central Jersey. But football is his true love.

"I'm a football fanatic," he said. "I like other sports, but I love football. I live and die football. The day after the Super Bowl, I usually go into mourning."

He became interested in an Arena League franchise earlier this year after talking with former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway, who is part-owner of the AFL's Colorado Crush.

"What appealed to me most about the league was the fan-friendly aspect," Bon Jovi said. "I have an 8-year-old playing his second year of Pop Warner. I've realized how influential sports can be in kids' lives. The opportunity to meet, really meet, the players in this league and not be just No. 99 in line at the mall, is a part of what the AFL experience is about.

"After looking at it closely, I decided it was something that was very viable; something I wanted to be involved in."

Bon Jovi and Spencer didn't know each other previously. When both expressed interest in buying an AFL team and putting it in Philadelphia, commissioner David Baker suggested they go in on it together.

"When I initially called the league about bringing a team to Philadelphia, I wanted to do it myself," Spencer said. "Then the commissioner asked me whether I'd consider a partner. My first answer to him was no. He said, 'Well, we'd really like you to consider it because there's another gentleman that's been looking at this very seriously.' "

When he found out the other gentleman was a rock star, he had even more reservations.

"Jon brings a lot of celebrity," Spencer said. "But for people who are not celebrities, the sense of celebrity can be a lot of baggage. That was my initial concern. But from the first time I met him, I realized he was hard-working, smart, savvy, sophisticated, everything I didn't think he would be. I've been incredibly impressed with everything he's done and how he does it."

Having a rock-star owner certainly can't hurt the 16-year-old league's popularity.

"His celebrity-ness is helpful," admitted Baker, who has been the AFL's commissioner since '96. "We've never had an owner who sold out Veterans Stadium. Or, for that matter, someone who owns the Ritz-Carlton [Spencer].

"John Elway got us in Sports Illustrated twice last year. But we've never been in Rolling Stone or on 'Access Hollywood' or so many other areas that Jon gives us entree to where people are interested in sports and entertainment."

Said Bon Jovi: "[My fame] has gotten us to places that the league hadn't been before. If it's People mag or 'Entertainment Tonight' or the 'Today' show, these are things that I'm obviously going to open the doors for. But at the end of the day, we have to put a good product on the field and off the field.

"There's a big risk for me to damage my wonderful relationship with this town that I've built over 20 years. It takes a lot for me to put my entire relationship on the line with this. It's not like I'm opening a restaurant down on South Street and said, 'Hey, come on down to a place I'm never going to show up at.' This is my reputation. I waited 20 years to sell out Veterans Stadium. I'd hate to ruin that by promising something and not delivering on it."

Soul season tickets will go on sale immediately. Bon Jovi said the team plans to have a meet-the-team pep rally for season ticketholders in January before the start of the season. The pep rally will include a free Bon Jovi concert.

"[Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Wachovia Center and the Spectrum] gave us a date as a gift for a meet-your-team day, so people can meet their quarterback, meet their coach, meet the players," Bon Jovi said. "We're just going to happen to be the house band that plays that day. So you buy your season tickets, come to the pep rally and you see a Bon Jovi concert.

"I'm not going to do this at every halftime. I'm not going to do it every week. I'm not going to show up at Sixers, Flyers and Phillies games and do it. This is going to be something special."

And he promises not to wear his Giants jersey.