What? A ski resort in Northern Vermont will have a professional hockey team? That was my first response too. The rink they will call home is the newly built Ice Haus Arena that has a seating capacity of 400 bleacher seats. I don't think Danbury will have to worry about the Crushers competing for their attendance record (average 1700 per game).
With this recent announcement one has to beg the question what is the Federal Hockey League thinking? First they announce they want a franchise to have a rink with 1500 seating capacity, then they announce they are putting a franchise in Illinois (other side of the FHL geographic map), and now this announcement. I like the colour scheme, very similar to the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (copy maybe?), but the name and logo, could use some work; sounds like a lacrosse team (Calgary Roughnecks come to mind).
Will this franchise survive on max capacity of 700 bleacher seats? No. Unless they reno the rink and add 600 more seating, a pro franchise cannot survive on ticket revenue for 400 fans (see Broome County Barons or Rome Frenzy fails).
The town of Jay, Vermont has population of around 500, meaning, without the resort, the entire town could almost fill the rink for a game. Newport is the closest city with a decent population of around 5,000 people, and that is located 30 mins away from the resort.
If this franchise is financially supported by the Resort, then this team could survive, because this team will not be making any profits. The question is how long will this franchise survive? Only time will tell and FHL is finishing up its freshmen season that saw two franchises fold, with one of them relocating to Cape Cod.
I do like the idea of watching a game, drinking a Vermont micro brew, after a day of skiing/snowboarding. But I do not like the idea of sitting on uncomfortable bleacher seats after paying $10 to watch mediocre 'A' Tier 2 pro hockey. Now time to see where the Illinois franchise will be located.
No comments:
Post a Comment