Cleveland Fighting Walleye

[Guest]

Buffalo-->Cleveland would make too much sense.

What's going on in Omaha? The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights aren't capturing young hearts?

[rams80]

Ok...rundown time.

Rumor has it that the Sabres and the Americans aren't real happy with one another right now, so Buffalo could be shopping around.

Colorado is sharing Albany with Carolina, but if Chicago pulls out of Norfolk for a rumored Rockford team, Carolina would likely affiliate there, leaving Colorado in Albany.

Orlando's pretty much dead.

Omaha has too much competition from the USHL and UN-O, getting butchered in the attendance office.

[Guest]

Rockford Blackhawks would be great.

[yh]

If the Hawks move their farm club to Rockford then the team should be called the Files. They'd certainly have the snazziest fight song in the AHL.

[DEAD!]

If the Hawks move their farm club to Rockford then the team should be called the Files. They'd certainly have the snazziest fight song in the AHL.

You're saying that the A-Team should be the Rockford Files?

[Guest]

Well, yes, but what if people misheard it and thought they were the 'Philes?

[yh]

Well, yes, but what if people misheard it and thought they were the 'Philes?

Good point . . . let's hope they don't overplay that Gary Glitter song.

[BB61]

was "Steamers" taken?

No, but apparently after giving it some thought, the ownership group felt there were already enough brown-clad teams in Ohio. No confirmation on the rumor they were considering "corn yellow" as a secondary color.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who got this.

[Brian in Boston]

If I remember correctly, there are a number of affiliation agreements that are in their final seasons:

* Springfield's agreement with Tampa Bay is up.

* Rochester's full agreement with Buffalo and partial affiliation with Florida are both up.

* Grand Rapids' agreement with Detroit is up.

* Milwaukee's agreement with Nashville is up.

* Hershey's agreement with Washington is up, but both clubs have an option they can exercise for an additional year.

* Albany's agreement with Carolina is up, but both clubs have options for the 2007-8 and 2008-09 seasons.

* Norfolk's agreement with Chicago is up after this season, though the Admirals have announced that they were in the process of attempting to negotiate an extension.

* Binghamton's agreement with Ottawa is up, but both sides say that they've agreed to an extension through 2011-12. Delays in finalizing the agreement are due to the B-Sens having not yet finalized a new lease with the Broome County Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Things could get very interesting.

[twi]

If I remember correctly, there are a number of affiliation agreements that are in their final seasons:

* Springfield's agreement with Tampa Bay is up.

I'm 90% sure they've signed a longer deal. I'll see if I can find verification, it was a little while back.

[IceCap]

Fighting Walleye?

Sounds like Dr. Evil's ill-tempered sea bass.

[Sodboy13]

Ok...rundown time.

Rumor has it that the Sabres and the Americans aren't real happy with one another right now, so Buffalo could be shopping around.

Colorado is sharing Albany with Carolina, but if Chicago pulls out of Norfolk for a rumored Rockford team, Carolina would likely affiliate there, leaving Colorado in Albany.

Orlando's pretty much dead.

Omaha has too much competition from the USHL and UN-O, getting butchered in the attendance office.

It's just odd to me that college hockey and junior hockey are not only outdrawing, but are appraently actually hurting a top-level minor league team. To me, that's like a Triple-A baseball team coming to town and fans saying, "Oh, no thanks, we much prefer our Northern League team." But hey, team loyalties are what they are. And not only are the Knights suffering from a distinct lack of fannies in the seats, for me, the real sign of impending doom is the lack of ads on the boards. I haven't seen pro hockey boards that white since about '86.

Rockford Blackhawks? Genius, pure genius. It's such a good idea, I'm a little taken aback at the Blackhawks considering it. The I-90 rivalry with the Wolves would probably become one of the AHL's top rivalries in a hurry. I can picture the bus trips now, and I want in. And the fine hockey fans of Rockford have suffered with a team named "IceHogs" long enough.

[iowahoo]

It's just odd to me that college hockey and junior hockey are not only outdrawing, but are appraently actually hurting a top-level minor league team. To me, that's like a Triple-A baseball team coming to town and fans saying, "Oh, no thanks, we much prefer our Northern League team." But hey, team loyalties are what they are. And not only are the Knights suffering from a distinct lack of fannies in the seats, for me, the real sign of impending doom is the lack of ads on the boards. I haven't seen pro hockey boards that white since about '86.

Those teams are known commodities in the sporting and entertainment venue of Omaha. Remember that despite having a Triple-A baseball team the park and city are known much more for the College World Series. Also, years of spending between $8-$10 per ticket gets ingrained in the buyer's mind, then this "top level" hockey team comes in and their tickets probably start at around $10 per ticket.

A similar thing is happening in Des Moines, I believe.

[Guest]

Rockford Blackhawks? Genius, pure genius. It's such a good idea, I'm a little taken aback at the Blackhawks considering it. The I-90 rivalry with the Wolves would probably become one of the AHL's top rivalries in a hurry. I can picture the bus trips now, and I want in. And the fine hockey fans of Rockford have suffered with a team named "IceHogs" long enough.

It's also a bright idea from a logistics standpoint. Seeing as the Hawks are probably going to be an oft-injured and youth-oriented team for the next forever years, it's good to have the farm team just down the Northwest Tollway so you can get them into town fast and on the cheap. It's important to make a cost-cutting move like this when you consider the exorbitant amount of money the Organ-Eye-Zation spends.

[slapshot]

Through 13 games, Lowell is dead last in total attendance and average attendance. The push to increase attendance has bombed. The Devils entered an affiliation agreement with Lowell on the condition that attendance increased. The deal was originally for 2 years, before likely pulling out to put the affiliate in New Jersey in time for the NHL Devils' move to Hoboken.

A rumor floating around is that the Devils will pull the team out at the end of the season and eat the contract, due to the poor fan showings at the games.

[Guest]

Where in Jersey? Also, the Devils being concerned with poor attendance is kind of funny.

[slapshot]

Not sure where in Jersey. The ECHL affiliate Trenton Titans will be changing their name to the Devils next season. Sovereign Bank Arena (8500) holds more than Tsongas Arena (6400), so in theory, an AHL team there would fit what seems to be the average arena capacity for the league's teams.

[Sodboy13]

Well, in all fairness, if I was a hockey fan in Lowell, I wouldn't exactly be fired up about heading out to see a team that looked like it was basically using my town as a placeholder until something better came along. In fact, I'd want to get that team out of there ASAP and replace it with a team actually interested in being in my town, even if it was in the no-longer-East Coast League, or *shudder* the U-HauL.

[slapshot]

Yeah, it's tough. All the diehards are still there, but walk-up sales are practically nil. Aside from ads in the local paper (where you don't need to advertise, because most people in its circulation area already know about the team), the Devils have done very little marketing.

I was shocked to see a TV commercial for the Lowell Devils during a Bruins game. It was even narrated by Mike Emrick!

The thing is, Lowell itself is a very ethnic city. Much of the population is made up of Southeast Asian, African, Latino and Brazilian immigrants. Not exactly a big hockey demographic. It's very rare to see any of these nationalities represented in the crowd at the games. So the primary audience is white. And those fans going either played hockey, or love the game and want to go see it.

A lot of fans became bored with the team and franchise over the last few seasons. With the exception of the NHL lockout year (when Eric Staal, Cam Ward and Chuck Kobasew were on the team), Lowell has not been a good team. Most of the time, they didn't make the playoffs. And even though it's a new team (formerly LockMonsters, not Devils) with a new parent club, the average person sees it as the same team, and assumes it's still bad, and so attendance is down.

Also, walk-up seats are $18. There are $10 "no-alcohol" seats, but those seem to go very quickly. $18 is not conducive to walk-ups for minor league hockey. The Devils raised the prices on walk-ups to encourage more season ticket purchases.

The reality of it is, most of the fans figure the Devils to stick around for the 2 years of the original agreement, then bolt for New Jersey. If the fan support improves, it may look promising to another affiliate in need of its own franchise...but I don't think it's going to happen.

I don't see the ECHL or UHL as a viable option. The nearest opponents are in either New York state, or New Jersey, and that would significantly increase the travel costs for a minor league team. And with no other league franchises nearby at this point, raising interest would be a difficult challenge.

[jkrdevil]

The Lowell Devils will probably move to Trenton. The Devils purchased the Trenton Titans this past september and that should remove any possible roadblock as the Devils can just move the ECHL team somewhere else and move Lowell (which they also own) into Trenton. It's not so much the Devils are concered about attendance it's more of they want the team in New Jersey. Albany before was pretty close but Lowell is a pretty fair distance away and if they need to call someone up quickly it can be difficult. They Devils also want to try to get more of a footprint in central and southern new jersey. There new arena next year should be more accessible to those areas because of the train service that runs there that doesn't run to the meadowlands. The Devils bought Lowell with pretty much with an aye on moving them to NJ.