Denver Post, March 8, 2005, Tuesday

Copyright 2005 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Copyright 2005 Denver Post
Denver Post

March 8, 2005, Tuesday

HEADLINE: Denver's Kroenke Sports Enterprises loses one of its top executives

BYLINE: By Julie Dunn

BODY:

David Ehrlich, recently named one of the country's hottest young sports executives by Sports Business Journal, has resigned from Denver's Kroenke Sports Enterprises, the company announced Monday.
Ehrlich, 39, who was chief operating officer at Kroenke Sports, will become an executive vice president at The Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports marketing firm.
"This is a very difficult day for me," Ehrlich said in a statement. "While I am excited about the new opportunity, I owe Stan Kroenke a debt of gratitude that I can never repay." Kroenke Sports said that "Stan Kroenke will continue to oversee business operations" with a senior management team. The company owns the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Rapids, the Colorado Crush and the Pepsi Center.
Ehrlich started his career as a corporate attorney. He moved into the sports business in 1994 when he became assistant general counsel for Ascent Entertainment Group, which owned the Nuggets, acquired the Avalanche and built the Pepsi Center.
In 2000, Kroenke -- a St. Louis-based real estate developer with close ties to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- purchased the teams from Liberty Media Corp., which had bought them from Ascent earlier that year. Ehrlich moved with the company, taking over operations after president Don Elliman retired in 2004.
"I think David is leaving Kroenke to go to an opportunity, not leaving to leave an opportunity," Elliman said. "I think he has a chance with Dean (Bonham, president and CEO of The Bonham Group) to really help build a business." Ehrlich's resignation is effective April 1, but he will continue working with Kroenke Sports, including on the 20,000-seat Prairie Gateway Soccer Complex, a pro soccer stadium in Commerce City that the company announced in July. The Bonham Group was hired last year by Kroenke Sports to find a naming-rights partner for the stadium.
A year ago, Kroenke spent millions of dollars launching Altitude Sports & Entertainment, a regional sports network, after ending its contract with Fox Sports.
The network televises Nuggets games and other programming but not Avalanche games because of the cancellation of the NHL season.
Many sports organizations nationally are struggling because of a loss of hockey revenues.
Bond-rating service Fitch Ratings said Monday it has placed the Denver Arena Trust, the organization responsible for the debt at the Pepsi Center, on Rating Watch Negative because of the season's cancellation.
KROENKE SPORTS ENTERPRISES: Since Stan Kroenke purchased the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets and the Pepsi Center in 2000, Kroenke Sports Enterprises has expanded its holdings with new teams and venues. Some of the deals:
--September 2004: Launches Altitude Sports & Entertainment, a regional sports network to broadcast Nuggets, Avalanche and other teams.
--July 2004: Announces plans to build a $ 131 million, 20,000-seat soccer stadium in Commerce City, expected to open in 2007.
--September 2003: Purchases the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team.
--October 2002: Starts the Colorado Mammoth professional lacrosse team.
PROFILE: David Ehrlich
--Company: Kroenke Sports Enterprises
--Title: Chief operating officer
--Age: 39.
--Childhood: Grew up in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.
--Education: B.S., industrial and labor relations, Cornell University, 1987; J.D., Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, 1991
--Career: 1991-94: Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker in Los Angeles, attorney, 1994-96: Sherman & Howard in Denver, attorney, 1996-2000: Ascent Entertainment Group, general counsel, 2000-05: Kroenke Sports Enterprises, vice president of business and legal affairs, executive vice president, chief operating officer
--Family: Wife, Meredith; son, Mason, 7; daughter, Eva, 5
--Awards: Recently named to Sports Business Journal's "40 under 40" list recognizing the industry's best young executives.
--Boards: Metro Denver Sports Commission advisory board, Gold Crown Foundation board
Sources: Kroenke Sports Enterprises, Sports Business Journal, The Denver Business Journal
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