Sports Businessman
In the early 1990s, Couhig decided to bring a minor league baseball team to New Orleans (which had been without a baseball team since the demise of the New Orleans Pelicans). He negotiated with the owner of the Denver Zephyrs with the goal of bringing the team to New Orleans. He lobbied three governors for a stadium off Airline Highway in Jefferson Parish. In 1995, Couhig put together an investor group to buy the team at an undisclosed price. The new Zephyr Field opened on April 11, 1997, and the team has been a household name ever since.
Couhig also developed an interest in soccer. In November 1997, he purchased the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers, a team founded in 1993, from Donnie Pate. Couhig renamed the team the New Orleans Storm and relocated it from Tad Gormley Stadium to Zephyr Field. On February 11, 2000, Couhig sold his New Orleans Zephyrs baseball team to Donald Beaver. Two weeks later, Couhig announced he was suspending operations of the Storm pending a move to another stadium. Couhig told Kathy Finn that he probably lost $1 million on the team.
Couhig sold his pest-control company in 2001 and enrolled in the executive MBA course at Tulane in 2002.
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