It's a cold new world out there for minor-league hockey teams
Say you want a Revolution?
Well, maybe not.
While the Grasshoppers' classy new ballpark continues to draw big crowds, the city's new arena football team didn't draw flies in the air conditioned Greensboro Coliseum in its first season.
The Revolution averaged 1,671 in paid attendance a game, less than one-third what the city's previous arena team, the Prowlers, drew in their first season in 2000.
The Prowlers eventually folded.
This is not good news for the coliseum, which needs pro sports tenants to help boost revenues.
Concerts and circuses are nice, but they aren't as steady or dependable as a franchise that has a set, regular schedule and pays rent as a hometown tenant, not an occasional visitor.
Meanwhile, Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown continues to pursue a hockey team to replace the defunct Greensboro Generals.
Brown said in an e-mail Thursday: "I have had and continue to have dialogue with ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna, who advises me that the Executive Committee had quite a bit of discussion of GBO being a priority and continue to have conversations with a prospective owner about his interest in relocating a team here if the League can identify a team that would be interested in selling it to him. He wants it hopefully resolved by September to allow a whole year to properly market and sell the team. We'll see."
But Brown acknowledges that the economics of minor-league hockey are a lot tougher than they used to be.
Consider a recent news item from the Greenville (S.C.) News that notes the struggles of the ECHL's Greenville Grrrowl (no, my "r" key isn't stuck; that's how they spell it). Note that the team will need revenue sharing with its arena, the Bi-Lo Center, to stay alive.
The Greenville Grrrowl almost certainly will return next season with restructured ownership and a new revenue-sharing agreement with the Bi-Lo Center, according to the Greenville businessman who leads the private investor group that owns the minor-league hockey team.
"It's not definite in that we hadn't raised the money, but in my mind, we're 99 percent there," said Champ Covington, who assembled 15 investors to buy the struggling ECHL franchise from Bi-Lo developer Carl Scheer last year.
"Our intent is to begin restaffing the Grrrowl offices," process ticket requests and pay the team's seven remaining employees, who haven't been paid since mid-May, Covington said.
Todd Korahais, chairman of the Greenville Arena District, which owns the Bi-Lo Center, said many details of the restructuring still must be worked out.
The team has secured agreements in principle for one year of deferred rent and reassignment of certain seat revenue to the team.
"All the details will have to be worked out," said Korahais. "We've agreed to everything in principle, but the 'we' is with a capital W, meaning six different parties."
Those six groups are the team, the arena district, city and county councils, a consortium of banks that backed revenue bonds used to finance part of the local arena's $63 million cost and officials from Spartanburg-based Centerplate Inc., which operates the Bi-Lo Center where the Grrrowl plays its home games.
The Grrrowl lost $1 million last season.
Comments (5)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Considering what a great facility it is it's a shame that they are pursuing the ECHL. The only way you can get lower quality hockey than the ECHL is to freeze over the parking lot and have two captains pick from among the spectators.
Posted on July 7, 2006 6:53 PM
You've got a point, Dudley. ECHL hockey may be the only brand I've seen where players occasionally reach down and grab the puck with their hands.
Posted on July 7, 2006 7:17 PM
AHL hockey was successful with the Monarchs. Does Matt not think it is possible to bring that level to town?
It's a HUGE difference, and a LOT better brand of hockey.
Posted on July 9, 2006 4:35 PM
If anyone tells you they want to follow the example of Champ Covington in purchasing a hockey team for you, lock up your money, quick. First, the Grrrowl was officially terminated by the ECHL when the team didn't get its financing together by the league-imposed deadline. I guess the 99% of financing that Covington claimed was lined up wasn't really there after all.
Let me also fill you in on the story of how Champ Covington profited by pretending to save a hockey franchise. When the Grrrowl was going under, Covington and his co-investors rode to the rescue! They purchased the team, but part of the deal was that they would get a portion of the arena's revenue once its debt was paid off. As for the team's debt, they contacted the team's many creditors and told them that the creditors could accept 25% of what they were owed, or they would get nothing. In the year between then and now, they did very little marketing of the team, let it fold, and walked away with a portion of the arena revenue.
If Champ Covington or anyone like him comes your way, run!
Posted on July 14, 2006 8:49 PM
Bubba, that's true about the Monarchs on the AHL level .. the hockey was faster and cleaner. But the attendance dropped.
The fans seemed to miss the intimacy they felt with the old ECHL players and teams.
Posted on July 17, 2006 9:19 AM