This letter by UHL President Richard Brosal is from the Rockford Register Star and the reason it's relevant here is because many of these same questions would have to be answered whenever the question of the Komets and the AHL is brought up. These are legitimate questions that have to be answered in Rockford and would have to be answered here before any move could legitimately be made.
You can read the letter here.
Comments
As I said in Justin's Blog (he got it up first so don't yell at me) while I agree with everything Brosal had to say in the letter, the fact that Brosal is calling people liars when his credability is less than perfect after the Danbury scandal make me wonder how effective that letter will actually be.
As much as you guys jump on him for every perceived slight, does it really pain you that much to give him credit when he does something right? Does everything have to be negative?
How about how the officiating stance has changed over the last few weeks? Things do improve sometimes and deserve to be noticed just as much as the negative.
New Nickname:
Give 'em He** Brosal!
The message that Mr. Brosal delivered to the people of Rockford was both appropriate and needed to be made. The current owners have done a good job running their organization without being a burden to the local taxpayers.
Granted, Mr. Brosal does'nt want to lose a team that is doing well, but neither do any of the other teams. If this proposal ends up being a bust....the people it's going to hurt the most are the citizens and fans of the Rockford Icehogs.
Having a professional team (even minor league) in your city helps add to the quality of life in a community. That is one of the things corporations look at when they are considering moving into an area. Also, that would be less dates to bring in revenue to the MetroCentre if they end up not having a team period. We all know of several buildings that are dark and empty this season.
Lets hope that this situation does'nt bite everyone in the butt.
I never said I wasn't giving him any credit. What I said was that fact the he, being Brosal, is calling someone else a liar is bit ridiculous when his own recent past is a bit tarnished and that would be exactly the thing I would to the people of Rockford if I were the people pushing for the AHL franchise.
The structure and grammar of this correspondence disturb me, coming from someone who is essentially a CEO.
I am glad that he is making his case to the City of Rockford. The AHL in Rockford would be a huge mistake. Just as it would be in Fort Wayne. No one would want to pay the price for that league and what really would you gain? We lived through the end days of the IHL...we don't need that again. I hope those involved in Rockford see the big picture here and stop kidding themselves. I say go get em Dickie Boy.
I disagree with one thing he said...Fort Wayne has the best Hockey Fans in the League, not Rockford....LOL
John W --
Don't be too hard on Brosal.
Wait until you get a letter from an attorney like I have that opens with the salutation "Gentlepeople."
Then goes on, "In re yours dated 16 June instant, please find .... "
Talk about stilted and archaic language ...
How is the AHL doing in Peoria? Without looking at stats because I am lazy today, aren't Peoria and Rockford about the same size?
As to the letter from Mr Brosal, I think it is a well thought out and passionate statement. This situation is a mess.
If anyone hasn't yet, you need to go to the UHL website. A letter from the owners of the Icehogs has been put out that's an interesting read.
Peoria is averaging 4,741 per game.
averaged 4,785 last year in the ECHL.
What the average for the AHL this year?
5,009
I wonder what the number is for an AHL team to run effeciently and successfully.
dnl it depends on many things such as building ownership, how much help you get from the parent club etc.
I think Rockford and Peoria are of similar economic standing and population. They seem to be making a decent go of it in Peoria but every city is different. Rockford has a good fan base but there is no way to tell if they are going to be wanting to start over again with a new team.
Figure an average of $10 per ticket net at 5,000 per 40 home games. That's $2 million or so. Maybe $1 million advertising revenue. Throw in merchandising and others for I'm not sure how much. If you own the building you can get parking and concessions and suite money, too, which you desperately need that revenue.
Budget for an AHL team is around $3 million and includes $800,000 to $1 million for NHL affiliation. It used to be the AHL team was responsible for paying for the coaches, too, and an affiliation did not provide a full roster so they had to go out and sign 5-6 of their own players. You can either go cheap with that and look for rookies, or try to win and sign more vets. That doesn't include travel costs, union dues or insurance which is the real killer. Worker's comp drives more teams out of business than poor ticket sales, including the Missouri River Otters.
I would guess, simply because you pay AHL officials more, that game fees are also more expensive. The Komets used to pay the IHL $2,500 every time they dropped the puck in game fees. That's an $80,000 bill no one every expects. Equipement budgets can also be unbelievable. I'm wild guessing, it can run up as much as $250,000. You figure players go through two pairs of skates per season, and that adds up in a hurry.
They say it's $3 million, but it's probably even more than that by the time you count everything.
The one advantage AHL has over UHL is in the UHL players' housing, furniture, even plates and silver ware are provided by the teams. AHL players have to pay their own way on all that.