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Michigan Warriors packed up? - Junior Hockey
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Michigan Warriors packed up? Are they packing it in? Or, are they packed up for move elsewhere? Or, are they staying put and simply angling for a better agreement with Perani Arena? The saga surrounding the Michigan Warriors of the North American Hockey League ... Read More...
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Hi Randy: From what I was told today the Warriors will be staying in Flint and at Perani.
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I have just been told that there could be an announcement from the Michigan Warriors and Perani Arena as early as this week.
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The arena previously drew 1500-2000 fans a game for the IHL Generals. The IHL overall was just absolutely horrible hockey. The problem with NAHL hockey is that most teams are underfunded and don't have the ability to promote themselves adequately to the community. What a shame.
I wouldn't be surprised if instantaneously upon their being a vacancy, the USHL steps in and the place becomes a cash cow.
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By the way Perani's is a great 4000 seat Junior barn.
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Steven,
Great barn, depressed city. Maybe minor league basketball is the only thing that is going to work in there.
Go Flint Tropics.
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America's Most Dangerous Cities, 2011....
That's the headlines on Yahoo about Flint which is rank #4. Link Below.
http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-dang
Do we really want to send our children to a billet family in an area that is so unsafe. The warriors need to move to a city that is hockey savvy. Hockey has a certain demographic which follows the sport and Flint in not a city that has enough of those individuals.
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Perhaps a sollution to "underfunding" is for Perani Arena to partner with the Warriors to better promote this team. I agree that Perani is a great Arena with so much history as the former IMA Sports Arena. Like Detroit Flint's economy is rebounding and with a great Arena to play in the Warriors have that covered they just need to promote better. I don't know what there advertising budget is maybe this is where Jim Cain and Perani come into play.
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As an example of promoting a team through the media, I know that the Soo Eagles advertising budget with the local radio stations for the 2011-12 season is more than $10,000 -- and it shows at the gate where attendance is up 40 per cent from two years ago.
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I wonder if the Warriors spend $ 10 Grand plus on radio advertizing???
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Is anyone out there a business major... First rule of business, Location, Location, Location. You can have a great arena but if its not in the right location it an automatic recipe for failure.
Hockey needs to move out of Flint it is not a successful hockey market. Is this to hard of concept to grasp. In the NAHL you need to generate $300k to 400k a year to break even.
Lets go back to the basics people....follow the first rule Location, Location, Location. Unless you want to use the teams financial failure as a tax right off for the Billionaires out there who own NAHL franchises which is none.
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Mike,
I'm not sure about your "location, location, location" theory. Before the Michigan Soo Eagles became a box-office success in the NOJHL, two prior franchises failed miserably in the same town, in the same league -- the Northern Michigan Black Bears and the Soo Indians. Both were successful on the ice -- the Black Bears went to the league finals in '05-06 and the Indians won the league championship in '06-07 -- yet both were box-office disasters. In come the Eagles and thanks in part to aggressive marketing, they are a box office success. This I know as a sportswriter; I didn't need my business degree.
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Randy,
being successful on the ice doesn't mean you will have a financially successful hockey franchise. We also need to look at Tier 3 "pay to play" model vs the Tier 2 and Tier 1 models which players play for free. A Pay to play model can survive just about anywhere with 25 players flipping the bill for the franchise this is proved by the EJHL and AJHL which have less then 100 people at there games.
If you are going to be franchise who pays all the bills based on money raised from revenue such as Tryouts-advertisers-vending-and attendance then you need to make sure you are in the right location to be have long term financially stability.
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Mike, I didn't say that. On the contrary, in fact. I merely pointed to how much better the Soo Eagles were doing than their NOJHL predecessors -- and that I think marketing has a lot to do with it. Also, in case you thought otherwise, the Eagles are not "pay to play."
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Randy,
All former soo teams played at the big bear. Which you know got terrible fan support. I agree that the ownership is much much more dedicated to the success of the program now then previous groups, but you also didn't mention that the soo eagles play in the pullar stadium right downtown. Which is a much better location. I'm not around the soo anymore so I can't say I know too much about how they run it but it seems a hell of a lot better than when I was in town.
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Paul,
You are correct. But Mike was saying "location, location, location" regardless of the rink, ergo I believe he was talking city, not arena.
Also, check out the attendance from previous Eagles ownership to current Eagles ownership, both playing at the Pullar.
Previous Eagles ownership averaged 377 fans at the Pullar. Current Eagles ownership has averaged 607 at the Pullar this season -- and that is without a playoff game.
My point was that marketing has a lot to do with it.
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