City and Rocket ........

[peifan]

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Last updated at 10:14 AM on 17/01/08


City, Rocket to take fresh look at lease arrangement

BY DAVE STEWART
The Guardian

The City of Charlottetown plans to sit down after the current Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season and re-examine the lease arrangement with the P.E.I. Rocket.
Mayor Clifford Lee met recently with Rocket owner Serge Savard Sr. and the team's president and governor, Serge Savard Jr., over the club's desire to re-open talks on the lease.
The meeting included Stan MacPherson, president of the Charlottetown Civic Centre board.
The Rocket signed a five-year deal in 2006 to play at the Civic Centre through 2011.
Lee said the first topic that came up in the meeting addressed rumours last month that the club was up for sale or being moved.
"The Savard people indicated they have no interest whatsoever in relocating or selling the team,' Lee said . "They decided to come here and it is their wish to stay on P.E.I. for many, many years to come.'
Lee said he left the meeting feeling confident that that rumour has been put to rest.
The next issue the Savards wanted to discuss was the lease arrangement.
The cost to run a QMJHL team is about $1.5 million annually and the Rocket pays about $150,000 a year in rent.
Lee declined to mention specifics when asked what exactly the Rocket want renegotiated.
"They compared the lease arrangements to other clubs and they feel the lease is very generous to the city. They're looking for a better deal.'
Lee says he recognizes the importance of keeping the Rocket in Charlottetown but he wants to be careful not to make that happen at the expense of city taxpayers.

[p19peteg]

Looks like the beginning of the team being moved to Summerside. The Civic centre and the Rocket do not attract enough fans to the games. Think I read somewhere that they need to draw 2500 to break even. Last I checked on the QJMHL website we were only drawing on average 2100. If this is coreect then Savard has been losing money all year, not to mention having to pay Jean for the remainder of his deal.

Would not be surprised to see Charlottetown dig in their heals and lose the Rocket.

[Krang7]

How does that look like the beginning of the team being moved to Summerside?

It actually looked pretty positive to me, but politicians are known for their spin. At the very least they're talking and they both seem committed to keeping the team in Ch'town.

[Score]

p19peteg said:

Looks like the beginning of the team being moved to Summerside. The Civic centre and the Rocket do not attract enough fans to the games. Think I read somewhere that they need to draw 2500 to break even. Last I checked on the QJMHL website we were only drawing on average 2100. If this is coreect then Savard has been losing money all year, not to mention having to pay Jean for the remainder of his deal.

Would not be surprised to see Charlottetown dig in their heals and lose the Rocket.

Someone brings this up all the time.......and Im not sure why.

The Rocket will not move to S'Side........and I will bet anything on that.

The Rocket could not survive in S'Side......and don't bother telling me that the Caps draw such amount of fans Etc, Etc.....

It won't happen.

[p19peteg]

Hey I didn't say I wanted them to move but speaking from experience Charlottetown does not support sports teams. Look at our softball and little league baseball leagues, they are dwindling real bad. I work in Summerside and see all the effort this city puts into their sports teams over the years. The Peewee baseball championships were held there for years because of all the work the city was willing to do for the event.
If the team does move I don't really blame the city but the residents of Charlottetown and surrounding areas. I know we get alot of fans to the games that travel from Summerside West but to ask people from Charlottetown East to travel to Summerside would not even be worth it.
They may not survive in Summerside either but I can't see Savard keeping things the way they are right now. He might have made some money their first two years but has lost alot over the last few.

Like I have stated in some of my other posts, the Rocket and the Civic centre need to find a way to attract more fans. Alot of good ideas were posted and I hope that someone from the Rocket office takes note.
I am tired of going to the games (I am a season ticket holder and always will be, regardless of where they are on the island) and seeing a good number of seats empty. Very frustrating that we won't support this quality product.
Moreover, I am only a season ticket holder, how does the management of this team feel. I am sure we will find out as these discussions go on.

[juniorcormier16]

This is stupid Everyone knows that The Rocket Would never move to summerside If they were to move it would be off island. As stated before Summerside Can not support a Q Team. They have the caps that the fans want they do not want a Q team as the polls stated. A Q team would not last up there due to the fact that you wouldn't get enough people up there U would loose the whole central and eastern part of the island. Its not just the Rocket that are not doing enough for the fans Its the fans not being good hockey fans. This island fan base Sucks they only go when they win Which is a shitty way of doing things and trying to support a Q Team, I feel bad for this team they are here to play hockey and that's what they are doing but yet they only get a fan base of 2,200, I think islanders should be ashamed of themselves I don't know how they can sit back and watch a team sink. And loose money Not that the rocket are loosing a shit load of money but not making near what they did in the first season or 2, And i know people are going to say well produce a winning team. But thats no excuse not to support the team Maybe if they saw fans were going to the games etc and fan base gets better they may pull out all the stops. And I know they do have to spend more money to make money, But the fans need to pull it together to and Do their part.

[p19peteg]

Agree, we can't blame the club if the want to make a change. We have to change for them to keep them here.

[drno1]

juniorcormier16 said:

This is stupid Everyone knows that The Rocket Would never move to summerside If they were to move it would be off island. As stated before Summerside Can not support a Q Team. They have the caps that the fans want they do not want a Q team as the polls stated. A Q team would not last up there due to the fact that you wouldn't get enough people up there U would loose the whole central and eastern part of the island. Its not just the Rocket that are not doing enough for the fans Its the fans not being good hockey fans. This island fan base Sucks they only go when they win Which is a shitty way of doing things and trying to support a Q Team, I feel bad for this team they are here to play hockey and that's what they are doing but yet they only get a fan base of 2,200, I think islanders should be ashamed of themselves I don't know how they can sit back and watch a team sink. And loose money Not that the rocket are loosing a shit load of money but not making near what they did in the first season or 2, And i know people are going to say well produce a winning team. But thats no excuse not to support the team Maybe if they saw fans were going to the games etc and fan base gets better they may pull out all the stops. And I know they do have to spend more money to make money, But the fans need to pull it together to and Do their part.

First of all I do not think the Island fan base suck, people are looking at this all wrong. For one, they are 22-2400 strong...How many did we have for the baby Sens when they were here 14-1500? I personally think the Rocket organization need to earn back the fans. The past couple of years they have made some costly mistakes 1) Lack of talent & effort on the ice 2) very poor coaching over the last 2 1/2 years 3) The Tim Hortons fiasco ....etc etc

The Rocket are well on their way to rectifying those mistakes with recent moves....My hat is off too them...they will soon be filling the CCC once again.

[wendel17]

drno1 said:

juniorcormier16 said:

This is stupid Everyone knows that The Rocket Would never move to summerside If they were to move it would be off island. As stated before Summerside Can not support a Q Team. They have the caps that the fans want they do not want a Q team as the polls stated. A Q team would not last up there due to the fact that you wouldn't get enough people up there U would loose the whole central and eastern part of the island. Its not just the Rocket that are not doing enough for the fans Its the fans not being good hockey fans. This island fan base Sucks they only go when they win Which is a shitty way of doing things and trying to support a Q Team, I feel bad for this team they are here to play hockey and that's what they are doing but yet they only get a fan base of 2,200, I think islanders should be ashamed of themselves I don't know how they can sit back and watch a team sink. And loose money Not that the rocket are loosing a shit load of money but not making near what they did in the first season or 2, And i know people are going to say well produce a winning team. But thats no excuse not to support the team Maybe if they saw fans were going to the games etc and fan base gets better they may pull out all the stops. And I know they do have to spend more money to make money, But the fans need to pull it together to and Do their part.

First of all I do not think the Island fan base suck, people are looking at this all wrong. For one, they are 22-2400 strong...How many did we have for the baby Sens when they were here 14-1500? I personally think the Rocket organization need to earn back the fans. The past couple of years they have made some costly mistakes 1) Lack of talent & effort on the ice 2) very poor coaching over the last 2 1/2 years 3) The Tim Hortons fiasco ....etc etc

The Rocket are well on their way to rectifying those mistakes with recent moves....My hat is off too them...they will soon be filling the CCC once again.

A very positive post. I agree, I think the Rocket organization is on the up swing. It's going to take some time to repair some of the damage mentioned above. But, I believe we have already started to see some positives, starting of course with the hiring of the new coach and the good moves made at the trade deadline.