This is your exclusive home for the disappearing act of the Wizards. On Sunday at the “Double C” (Bismarck Civic Center) it was time for the Wizards to put on their final act. Already down one game to none to Bakersfield Jam, this wasn’t the act that the Wizards wanted to perform in front of their fans. The Wizards would end up giving their fans a dreary performance on the court losing to the Jam 93-91. In part one of Wizards Say Goodbye you will hear from Dawn Kopseng, Chief Operating Officer of the Dakota Wizards. The first question that jeremiahboyce.com asked Dawn was how much money the Civic Center is going to lose, but Ms Kopseng would not answer that. Then we asked how much money does the team lose on an average year and Dawn stated “It varies every year. The NBA D-League gave some assistance. It was quite a bit of money that they lost.” We asked Dawn what her role is with the Wizards and she stated “I am the Chief Operating Officer.” She also used to be part owner. When asked if Wizards fans did their best to support the basketball team Ms Kopseng stated “Wizards fans are the best in the country.” When asked if the marketing worked on bringing people in, Ms Kopseng said “The Wizards nearly doubled their marketing in 2012. Marketing is expensive but we utilized it well.” We asked with the impending move if the Wizards still will be the Wizards and Kopseng stated that the Golden State Warriors have the naming rights, but that doesn’t mean that the Wizards name will be forgotten. In case another team comes to Bismarck, the NBA D-League will honor the Wizards name. When asked if she had to do it all over again what would she do differently, Dawn answered “I don’t know if there is anything we could’ve done differently. We did the best we were able to do.” We asked what her reaction was when the final horn blew and she stated ” Total sadness, it was very very sad.” When asked if she thought she represented North Dakota the best she could she said “Yes, I do.”
