|
|
Post by Score on Dec 7, 2007 1:39:21 GMT -4
There's one less rumour about Rocket
Savard: NHLer is not buying the team, but rink deal with city is a concern
CHARLES REID
The Guardian
Is NHLer Brad Richards buying the P.E.I. Rocket?
Completely false, said Serge Savard Jr., Rocket president and governor, in dispelling the rumour, which filtered to The Guardian after the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team played in Saint John, N.B., last Sunday.
“Not true. It was never true, and Brad doesn’t even have one share of the Rocket,” Savard said from Quebec City, where he is attending QMJHL governors’ meetings. “We have never talked about that.”
Savard added the involvement of the Tampa Bay Lightning forward from Murray Harbour with the team is limited to his annual Rocketthon and buying $10,000 worth of tickets each year for his namesake section at the Civic Centre.
Tonight, the Rocket (13-15-1) hosts the Halifax Mooseheads (21-7-0-4). Game time is 7 p.m.
Savard isn’t standing on thick ice as Rocket attendance has been swooning this season.
Through 14 games at the home, attendance has dropped each game, starting at its highest 2,725 for the season-opener against Halifax and reaching its lowest with 2,000 people to see P.E.I. beat the Moncton Wildcats 3-1 Wednesday.
So would Savard sell if the right offer came along?
“Right now it’s very tough, financially. I don’t think we have enough people in the building to support the team. My father (Montreal Canadiens great Serge Savard Sr.) has asked me many times, ‘Serge, I’m doing this for you and (brother) Marc. If you’re not interested anymore, we’ll sell,’” said Savard. “My response over and over again was ‘this is my passion, this what I want to do, this is where I want to be in Charlottetown.’”
The Rocket signed a five-year deal in 2006 to play at the Civic Centre through 2011. The cost to run a QMJHL?team is about $1.5 million annually and the Rocket pays about $150,000 a year in rent.
The QMJHL website says P.E.I. averages 2,320 people per game, 11th overall in the league and seating capacity is almost 63 per cent — 15th overall in the league.
Ironically, the Rocket moved from Montreal in 2003 because of lagging attendance at the Bell Centre, where it drew over 1,100 less spectators.
Savard said the Rocket need about 2,600 per game to break even in Charlottetown.
And he said he wants meetings with the City of Charlottetown and the Civic Centre board to discuss the team’s lease and work on a deal similar to other markets roughly Charlottetown’s size such as Drummondville, Victoriaville and Baie-Comeau.
“We’re three times more than these teams in rent so for us to be here long, long, long-term we have to have the same conditions,” he said. “But then again I’m sure a lot of things can be done. I’m aware that if we win more, there will be more people, too.”
And if he comes to an impasse with the city and the Civic Centre how far does his love of the game go?
“Then we’d have to sit down, my brother, my father and I. I’m the only one involved directly, they don’t mind, but I’m sure (it’s) like any company, if you lose money over and over again, there’s a decision that has to be (made),” Savard said.
|
|
|
|
Post by wallee on Dec 7, 2007 8:10:31 GMT -4
i truly believe serge jr is being very honest in all that he is saying there. where things will go from here who knows?
|
|
|
|
Post by North Shore on Dec 7, 2007 8:51:25 GMT -4
Attendance has to be causing a cash crunch for sure. Average attendance is down by a 1000 seats per game since 04/05.
Thats more than $350,000 off the bottom line. No question its gotta hurt the long term viability of the team here in Charlottetown.
Charlottetown can hardly afford the sport and rec facilities it has even with the cash flow from the Rocket's current lease. It wont be easy for the City to give up the revenue, but I suppose a little less is rent is better than none because if the Rocket move or fold there will not be another major tenant beating down the door.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockon on Dec 7, 2007 9:46:15 GMT -4
i truly believe serge jr is being very honest in all that he is saying there. where things will go from here who knows? Yes but what is it he's "not saying". If the product you're selling is not attracting enough people to stay in business then you’ll have to improve your product or your marketing of that product. |
|
|
|
Post by bois on Dec 7, 2007 10:04:43 GMT -4
maybe the Rocket need to trim the ole payroll a bit..... look in house Serge
|
|
|
|
Post by SteveUL on Dec 7, 2007 10:06:28 GMT -4
Attendance has to be causing a cash crunch for sure. Average attendance is down by a 1000 seats per game since 04/05. Thats more than $350,000 off the bottom line. No question its gotta hurt the long term viability of the team here in Charlottetown. Charlottetown can hardly afford the sport and rec facilities it has even with the cash flow from the Rocket's current lease. It wont be easy for the City to give up the revenue, but I suppose a little less is rent is better than none because if the Rocket move or fold there will not be another major tenant beating down the door. The name of the team is the "PEI" Rocket ... is the Province kicking in anything or providing any sort of discounts to make life a little easier on the Island for the Rocket ? Having a Major Jr team is great for a municipality ... it provides name recognition for your community all across the country. Maybe the City of Charlottetown would be more interested in being a strong partner if the team was named the Charlottetown Rocket. Charlottetown does benefit from the marketing of PEI ... but so does Summerside and Souris and Alberton. I think their might be a little of an imbalance there with Charlottetown having to carry the ball when the Province should be in there as well. |
|
|
|
Post by rockon on Dec 7, 2007 11:21:14 GMT -4
Attendance has to be causing a cash crunch for sure. Average attendance is down by a 1000 seats per game since 04/05. Thats more than $350,000 off the bottom line. No question its gotta hurt the long term viability of the team here in Charlottetown. Charlottetown can hardly afford the sport and rec facilities it has even with the cash flow from the Rocket's current lease. It wont be easy for the City to give up the revenue, but I suppose a little less is rent is better than none because if the Rocket move or fold there will not be another major tenant beating down the door. The name of the team is the "PEI" Rocket ... is the Province kicking in anything or providing any sort of discounts to make life a little easier on the Island for the Rocket ? Having a Major Jr team is great for a municipality ... it provides name recognition for your community all across the country. Maybe the City of Charlottetown would be more interested in being a strong partner if the team was named the Charlottetown Rocket. Charlottetown does benefit from the marketing of PEI ... but so does Summerside and Souris and Alberton. I think their might be a little of an imbalance there with Charlottetown having to carry the ball when the Province should be in there as well. Actually you raise a very good point. There are other groups that are benefiting from having a Major Jr Hockey Team on PEI. Perhaps the Rocket should be charging the province for carrying its name on the team logo and any other business that benefits from the team being here and operating in PEI? |
|
|
|
Post by bois on Dec 7, 2007 11:47:35 GMT -4
what groups are benefitting from the Rocket? the Civic Centre is for sure ... but I disagree strongly the province should be on the hook for the Rocket using the name PEI..
That would make for some great discussion in the house ...... arguing over why the province gave money to a hockey team lol.. polar foods on skates
I agree the team should have a similar lease to markets of similar size.... and the city needs to work with them on that as without the Rocket the CCC becomes a true morgue..... but Savard needs to address the problems on his bottomline by reviewing his business plan... most people have stated repeatedly the negative perception the team has acquired from the business community... fix that and put a competitive team on ice and nobody is having this discussion
Hire someone with an understanding of the PEI marketplace to market your team.. you could save money (because Islanders are used to working cheap) and improve your image greatly
|
|
|
|
Post by mboyan on Dec 7, 2007 12:08:58 GMT -4
Great discussion.....but is it really worth examining......yet again?
Every year, we hear Savard saying the same things, and you can talk about bottom line dollars all you want....but the real bottom line is in this statement, is it not?
Sound familiar? It should....it's the same thing he spewed last year....and the year before. But yet, each year, it's the same thing
How long has Savard been telling fans this year things will be better, and yet it never is? You have to spend money to make money. You can't give consumers something, then take it away (video screens, for example), and expect people to be happy, and want to run back the next time.
Everybody talks about the game day experience, and we've all tossed around ideas of how that can be improved upon, but, really, IMO, Savard doesn't have to be very forward thinking to realize little things like that will attract fans, does he? Use your father's connections to bring in some legends of past hockey eras, for autograph sessions, and recognize them during the game. Serge Savard Sr is a celebrity, and a hockey legend. How many fans, who aren't attending now, would attend a game to have a chance to hob-nob with him, and maybe get an autograph or a picture? How many parents would bring their kid to have an opportunity to actually touch a Stanley Cup ring?
Whatever happened to the "Committee" that Serge was going to form last year.....obviously, that's not working. Did it even get off the ground? There's never been anything ever mentioned about it...has there? Just another in a long line of what seems to be a never ending saga of "Tell the people what they want to hear"
Sorry, Serge....talk is cheap....it's time to put your money where your mouth is.
Certainly, hiring Chouinard, and handing the GM reins over to him was the first step in getting this organization on the right track. I only hope that Savard gives him the proper time....and money....to do it right. And, I agree that an in-house cleaning is probably in order. Time will tell.
|
|
|
|
Post by rockon on Dec 7, 2007 12:30:43 GMT -4
Sounds like "bois" and "mboyan" got it all figured out. So are you guys going to work for the Rocket on a business plan and a marketing strategy?
|
|
|
|
Post by mboyan on Dec 7, 2007 12:53:05 GMT -4
Sounds like "bois" and "mboyan" got it all figured out. So are you guys going to work for the Rocket on a business plan and a marketing strategy? Nah.....I've already got a job that is less stressful....I work in IT!!! ;D |
|
|
|
Post by fireside on Dec 7, 2007 12:57:57 GMT -4
Sounds like "bois" and "mboyan" got it all figured out. So are you guys going to work for the Rocket on a business plan and a marketing strategy? They would definately be a step up from what is being done in the "marketing" now.....tends to happen when you are fan and actually understand the market you are playing in.... But hey...what about that committee?  |
|
|
|
Post by Score on Dec 7, 2007 16:11:38 GMT -4
Everybody talks about the game day experience, and we've all tossed around ideas of how that can be improved upon, but, really, IMO, Savard doesn't have to be very forward thinking to realize little things like that will attract fans, does he? Use your father's connections to bring in some legends of past hockey eras, for autograph sessions, and recognize them during the game. Serge Savard Sr is a celebrity, and a hockey legend. How many fans, who aren't attending now, would attend a game to have a chance to hob-nob with him, and maybe get an autograph or a picture? How many parents would bring their kid to have an opportunity to actually touch a Stanley Cup ring? I agree 100%. The Savard's have some advantages, but they are not making use of them. All of what you mentioned could make the game day experience more enjoyable, and bring out the "average" fan more then they are. Bring back the hype that surrounds this team, and this league. Im not sure if it got off the ground or not.......but I really like the idea of it. Put together a group of fans and meet with them every so often to discuss what can possibly get done to improve game days and bring the excitment back. What better thing to do then to actually listen to a group of fans? And it wouldn't be hard to find 10 fans that wouldl volunteer their time for this. |
|
|
|
Post by wingman on Dec 7, 2007 23:21:25 GMT -4
I really don't understand Savard when it comes to the lease he signed with the city as it was only signed last year and he already doesn't think it's a good deal for the Rocket. I can understand wanting a deal similar to what Drummondville, Victoriaville, etc have, but why didn't he negotiate that when the lease was signed in 2006? He knew then (at least you would think he did) that attendance was a problem, so why not sign a lease that would help alleviate some of the financial problems from low attendance. I can understand if it was the 3rd or 4th year into a lease where attendance all of a sudden became a problem, but in the 2nd year of the lease knowing attendance was steadily declining. Come on....bad deal by Savard and he has no one to blame for that but himself as he knew what the numbers were on his lease. The other thing about the lease, why is he going to the papers and the fans? We heard this before the season started and here we are almost 4 months later and he still hasn't met with the city about it. Don't complain to me about it, sit down with the city and at least talk about it, it's not going to get done by talking to Charles Reid from the Guardian.
As far mentioning about attendance, what has the Rocket done in regards to renewing/generating interest since the last time he brought up the attendance...nothing. Talking about decisions potentially being made due to declining attendance to you, me or any other fan who attends the games regularly is not going to solve the problem because we are already buying the tickets, what more does he want us to do? And if he is using the media with talk like that to spurr on the fan who lost interest or the fan who never had the interest, to go out and start supporting the team to prevent them from leaving, is simply not going to work. At least get off your arses and go sell some tickets, for once work to get the interest back up because the on ice product alone is not going to do it.
|
|
reggiedunlop7
Blue-Chip Prospect
It's sunny and warm outside...not hockey weather
Posts: 346
|
Post by reggiedunlop7 on Dec 8, 2007 9:28:09 GMT -4
Too bad the Heroes of Hockey game in Jan wasn't close to a Rocket game. Could have maybe gotten Trottier, Billy Smith and Habs fav Chris Nilan to make an appearance to drop the puck and sign autographs inbetween the periods.
Yeah it is a little weird to bring up the lease only a year or two into it. If it was getting near the end of it I could see the ploy of going through media to put pressure on the City.
Fact is a winning team brings fans....not free noisemakers, calendars, magnets, etc. and they know that and have admitted that. Show the fans that you have a plan regarding the development of the team and sell the potential moves about to be made player-wise and fans will buy it if it presented well and it makes sense to them.
|
|
