Alumnus Jim Lindenberg works to save Milwaukee's 'Wave'
October 9, 2009
Business ideas sometimes come from unusual places.
Like Jim Lindenberg's decision to buy the Milwaukee Wave indoor professional soccer team.
The 1981 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater graduate purchased the team in August after he and his 13-year-old son, Jack, heard on the radio the city's indoor soccer team was in dire straits and in need of a new owner otherwise the team could fold.
"Jack said, 'That would be so sad,'" Lindenberg said. "He said he thought we should step up and buy the team." After talking with his wife, Nancy, Lindenberg decided the time was right to "Save the Wave."
Lindenberg knew it would be a challenge to get the Wave back in the black. But the team's financial woes didn't scare him. He'd been through a similar situation when he founded World Class Wire & Cable in 1994. The company struggled at first to achieve profitability.
Last October 2008, Lindenberg sold World Class Wire & Cable in Pewaukee, to Anixter International, a Skokie-Ill.-based wire and cable distributor.
Like his wire and cable company, the Wave has a good product. "The team has been around for 25 years and has a winning tradition," Lindenberg said. "We have a great coach in Keith Tozer, one of the best internationally. The product is good. It's the business side that needs to be run better."
Lindenberg thinks the Wave's long-standing community involvement is its greatest asset. Players and coaches make more than 150 appearances each year at schools, hospitals and community events. The team holds summer camps staffed by players and coaches. Most of the players and coaches live and work in the city during the off-season, and even though the team has been losing money year-after-year, it still offers scholarships to low-income families who want to send their children to the soccer camps.
All of Lindenberg's children have gone through the Milwaukee Wave camps.
"The team is doing so much good, but no one knows about it," Lindenberg said. "My biggest challenge is to spread the word. Southeastern Wisconsin will support a team that does so much good. The community just needs to know."
Lindenberg is turning to his contacts in the business community for help growing the Wave's corporate sponsorship program, which he said is very weak compared to some of the other teams in the league.
"This isn't the greatest time to ask for help, but no one is saying 'no,'" Lindenberg said. "A lot of people are giving what they can."
The hard work seems to be paying off. As of Oct. 1, the team had already sold 1,150 season tickets - nearly six times as many tickets sold by this same time last year.
Lindenberg encourages anyone who has never seen indoor soccer to come to a Milwaukee Wave game and give it a try. "It's an exciting sport," he said.
When Lindenberg's not working to save the Wave, he's running Lindy Enterprises, a small business consulting firm, and JML Holdings, a real estate investment firm in Waukesha County. He recently merged his World Class Health, Fitness and Sports Performance business in Hartland with NX Level, a sports performance training facility in Waukesha owned by 1995 UW-Whitewater graduate Brad Arnett.
"I'm a sports guy," Lindenberg said.
The Wave's first home game will be in early December. Tickets are reasonably priced at $22, $18 and $16. To help Lindenberg save the Wave, visit milwaukeewave.com, and spread the word.