The mayor of Glens Falls and Barry Melrose came up with a plan of asking 1,500 fans to pay $1,000 each to keep the team going. I'm not even sure that could be done here. Do you think we could find 1,500 people to do that if we had to?
That's an awful lot of hair product.
Oh, crap, who am I to be making fun of someone else's hair. At least he had hair.
Comments
Trying to raise $1,500,000 will be a major challenge. Could you find out when/if there is a deadline for this fundraiser? Will the donors get anything other than knowing that their team gets bailed out? (like become shareholders?) I have never heard of anyone doing this.
Hey, here's an idea....if they raise the money, Barry has to get a haircut! LOL
That's one and a half million! Is that what they need to cover the entire team budget for next year? Pay off debt? Build a cash reserve? Add luxury boxes? For what? And no, I don't think that could be done even here in Fort Wayne. I don't wish anyone ill, but that could mean one less team in the East. It could be one more down and apparently just two more to go.
Do you really think they do this stuff in the AHL. No, because it's a real league.
Why not get out of this Mickey Mouse UHL and go to a league thats more stable than any other minor league. The AHL is backed with NHL money, not fly- by- the- seat- of your pants owners.
We are a first class organization that deserves to be with the best.
Yes Ed, but Fort Wayne fans are notorious for being tightwads. They always have been. When the Pistons were still here, they drew 4,500 for Bill Russell and the Celtics. People said the tickets were too expensive. Nothing has changed.
If I was an owner, there's no way I'd gamble on the AHL. Look at the AHL playoff attendance figures. Those folks are losing hundreds of thousands on travel alone. Shoot, look at Peoria's attendance numbers. They are horrible.
I still can't belive someone actually moved Peoria back to a higher league. They couldn't get anybody to there Chl team (or was it echl). There is a team they can bring to the uhl. By the way the 1000 from 1500 people is that for season tickets??? Or just a telethon give us money please please??
And for the nut that constalty keeps asking for the AHL please stop!!!!!!! We are not willing to pay 30-40 dolllars for a ticket. Plus the payroll in the league is 10,000 a week. In the Ahl it is 100,000 a week (or more). Plus not to mention travel costs would triple if not more. Plus you have to pay a NHL team for players which is probrably 100,000 to a Million a year to get. Plus the owners lose all control over everything and ours wouldn't stand for it.
Overall are Fort Wayne residents tightwads? Maybe.. However, I have to say that many Komet fans are not. Between season tickets, parking, food, BEER, jerseys, the jersey auction, and other merchandise I would estimate that I spent $3102.00 on the Komets last season between my wife and myself. I realize that the food and beer are MC revenue for the most part, but the point is I think that the die-hard season ticket holders in Fort Wayne are anything but tightwads when it comes to the Komets. The casual fan may be turned off by higher prices but I think alot of us would be willing to pay a higher price for a better product. I think estimations of ticket prices at $40 is over the top. I would bet on S22-$30 tickets for lower areana AHL tickets. But then again nobody takes this into account because season ticket holders are taken for granted and the decisions of the front office are based on the casual fans and corporate support.
91,971 fans this year for the frostbite, so their total ticket sales were roughly $500,000.
Salaries $275,000
W/C $300,000
Sticks $115,000
Bus Transport $45,000
Skates $???
Pads, helmets $???
Jerseys $12,000
Training room supplies $???
Items i've missed $???
sooooo just thinking and typing here -- their ticket sales don't even cover player costs.
looks like they need to run it like a real business and get advertiser revenue, group ticket sales and the like.
so it looks like the $1,000 is a donation request as the only return on investment i see is being able to go to the games.
IMO no minor league team could pull this off in any sport.
I for one would probably give up my season tickets if the K's went to the AHL. The cost to me would be too high. I live in Lima, OH and still make as many games as I can. This year I made 32 games. Gas alone lately has been enough for me too question when I should go or not. If the K's wnet to the AHL, ticket prices would go up across the board beacuse the budgets are higher. I for one could not afford it.
The AHL is a real league in name only.
Granted, many UHL players are cast-offs from higher levels, but right or wrong, AT LEAST teams in the AA leagues get to make their own decisions on personnel (coaches, players).
I would not be interested in jumping leagues again, especially any league with 25-30 teams - does anybody remember the initials IHL? Look at how big that league got. Where is it now?
Get prepared. This is a long one and maybe a bit rambling.
Make sure you have seen a few AHL games before calling for it. It's really not a whole lot better - and no way is it good enough to warrant a 30% rise or so in tickets. Just look at the stats. Scoring is the same and penalty minutes are less in the AHL. And what about building rivalries. Who would be the K's rivals in that league? I see Grand Rapids, Peoria and Chicago as the only possibilities - and that sucks. And would we play them more than 7-8 times during the season?
When Wilkes Barre and Omaha and Norfolk (and Waypal) and Rochester come into town - who in the world is going to get excited about that?
A regional league is the only thing that makes sense.
To say we deserve the best...Well, maybe so but what makes the AHL the best. The best minor league players? OK - But that doesnt mean diddly to 90% of the fans. As long as it's a professional winning team that plays exciting hockey it's Komet hockey.
It doesn't matter if we had 5-6 future NHLers. That's great and all but it gets down to 1) Are they playing on a winning team 2) Are they playing against a team from a city that I can drive to
Look at the 98-99 Komets. Bounced in the first round, nothing special about the season. No less than 5 future or former NHLers including an ex Red Wing coach and attendance was around 6,000. I don't remember much excitement coming out of that season.
On donations:
I am a huge fan of the CFL. People in the U.S. consider it "minor league" football even though it isn't (but that is another rant lol)
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are mostly a community owned team and have more than once asked for "donations" for things like stadium renovation. Their fans are as passionate as Packer fans so folks have always helped out when needed.
If anyone cares to see their latest community funding request (they got me hooked for $250 last year)
http://www.riderville.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7897
As to the AHL. Gheesh in the last 15 years they have had a TON of turnover. Just in Canada they had lost teams in St John, St Johns, Moncton, Fredrickton, Cape Breton, Halifax,
Newmarket, Prince Edward Island,Cornwall,Quebec and I am probably missing a couple.
Not to mention failed attempts to put 2 teams in Kentucky, and a bunch of other team movements.
The field turf is not always greener......
Acutally Blake, in answer to your question. If you ask the fans and you get roughly the average attendance, yuo'd only have to ask for about $200 per person. I think that's more attainable than looking for 1500 poeple to put up $1000.
That could be Greg.
Has everyone forgotten how much people wailed when the Komets said they had to raise ticket prices in the IHL?
As for ignoring season ticket holders, that's life simply because there aren't enough. Franchises don't make their money off season-ticket holders, they pay expenses. They make their money off the families who come to one or two games a year. That's the same thing as the diehards always moaning about the NHL. It's the fourth or fifth sport in America because they continued bowing to the diehards for so long that all that was left was the diehards.
Pro sports, especially in the minors, always, ALWAYS has to look at the broader audience. That's just the way it is.
Thats just the way it is until the diehards are alienated to the point that they too become casual fans. Not debating your point, Blake. Just making a statement that at some point if a franchise doesn't show respect to the STH that pay those expenses they may start to disappear. That will never happen in FTW, but imagine being a STH in Flint. Yikes!
OK, JM, what should they do to show STH more respect? Make your case.
Part of the problem in Flint is that they let the STH get away with murder and no families will come to the games anymore. I have some friends up there who say they will never take their kids to a game again because of the profanity and such. Pretty much, the STH are the only ones left.
Let the teams in the east rot. They were nice teams to see but we only got to see them once or twice a year, if that. They pretty much played themselves most of the season anyway....for travel reasons.
This is why I don't fault the Frankes for holding their cards close to their vest right now because there could be some massive player movement upcoming.
I think the STH's are treated okay. They have the Orange Collar Card which gives STH's access to many things that the fans that come to the odd game or two.
Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner! Scoops nails it on the head.
I said in another blog to just dump the east teams period. I got grief beacuse a couple were in good standing why get rid of them. My response to that was, fine just don't schedule any teams in the east to play any teams in the west. Let them play each other 30 times a year. granted it's not they're fault they're in the league, but still, it a joke to have them right now.
Burgee:
Anybody without access to the internal financial information from a team is NEVER going to be able to guess accurate results.
As I understand it, worker's comp insurance is a MAJOR expense. I pay $2,640 a year for a nine (9) person convenience store business.
Can you imageine what it would be for a hockey team?
I, for one, would LOVE to see the Komets numbers. It just ain't gonna ever happen.
What do the STH get for their money? Discounted tickets. The orange collar card program is pretty lame. You end up with a couple hundred points at the end of the year from attneding games. So you can get a autographed puck. Guess what. I can take a puck down and get it signed after the game if I want to for free. Then there was "movie night with the Komets". You can really get to know a player in a dark movie theater. I'm sure that Flint has gone to hell just because of the STH. The place is a dump. The owner is an idiot. My point is the STH get taken for granted here. If you polled all of the STH and asked them if they were as excited about Komet hockey as they were 5 years ago I bet a majority would say no.
Ditto, Ditto, Ditto on Ding, Ding, Ding!
Skate -- since i never sleep at night i stay up and mess with numbers all night hoping that it will bore me to death so i can fall asleep. on the expense side i identified 71 expenses and couldn't put numbers on 45 of them, but the ones i did guess at or gathered info from the blogs/other areas etc i came up with a mill in expense for those 26 items alone. i boogered the above stick expense up though it should be $11,500 i guessed 5 sticks each for 20 players $115 a stick.
I had dinner this evening with my friend and told him about the $1,000 Adirondack deal and he said if the komets were the team he would do it for "some ownership".
forget the ahl ive seen their games and its not a lot better than the uhl.// the problem i have is with the uhl itself. too spread out, a league office thats not central and leaque officials who dont even live there. add to that some of the rinky dink decisions theyve made and the decsisions they didnt make aand add to that letting some teams operate like a college club team, add it all up and its a pretty unprofessional organization. i dont know how feasable it is, but i think the frankes should explore reforming the ihl and making a strong 10 team leaque here in the midwest. the frankes alone could have two teams, ft wayne and kansas city add to that kazoo flint muskegon a stronger port urine and rockford and the new group in chicago and illinois and youve got 9 teams there. go for motor cities owners in a new town and add s bend and maybe indy and theres 12
. then who knows how many echl and ahl teams in the area would be interested in joingin to save and actually make some money, peoria? dayton? toledo? cincy? up the vetern limit up the rookie minimum up the number on the roster, add a higher salary cap, maybe even a hard cap and run with it. put the lwague office in ft wayne and the rebirth of the international league has begun!!!!!!!!
I would expect some return on my investment if I was asked to fork over $1,000! A few shares of the team would work for me. Regarding Chuckitt's remarks...I think that you might see something that will look like your "rebirth of the IHL" with the majority of the teams being Midwest based, but I don't see the Frankes owning a team in KC again, I doubt that the league offices will move anytime soon and we will challenge for the Colonial Cup, not the Turner Cup. However, this will be one of the more interesting off-seasons in recent years.
Burgee, that stick budget would have covered about three players this year.
As for worker's comp, Missouri paid over $300,000 this year. Think on that.