BLOOMINGTON, Ill – “Beware the Ides of March!” – With those words, Shakespeare warned the lead character in his play, “Julies Caesar,” foreshadowing his assassination. It is often around the Ides of March that the fate of a minor pro hockey team will be revealed to their fans. For Caesar, the foreshadowing of his demise by the Soothsayer came early in the play. In a similar manner, rarely does a franchise fold without ample warning signs. It doesn’t take a Soothsayer to see when a team is in trouble. It only takes someone who can pay attention to the signs. Watch the Signs
The first signs to look for are, oddly enough, signs. Check out the dasher board ads at your rink. White spaces are a very bad sign. These ads represent corporate sponsorship of the team. While ticket sales are a frequent barometer for the health of a team, corporate ads represent significant support of local business. However, beyond white space, look for ads that are for the team or arena itself. Dasher ads that promote a birthday party packages indicate space not sold to a corporate sponsor and should be considered a warning sign.
In the minor leagues, a local company will often put their logo on the team’s jersey or helmet. Zambonis are billboards that dominate the ice for five minutes, three times a game. Even the ice itself will often have several ads embedded underneath it. Unsold ad space means an under-performing front office sales staff. Any blanks in these areas are income not obtained by the team and, in this economy, every dollar counts. Watch the Front Office
It takes money to make money, it has been said. I believe it to be true. Take a good look at the front office roster of your team and how it evolves over the season.
Marketing and Sales positions are often the keys to fiscal success in this business. There are so many other choices consumers can make, a team really needs to hustle to make themselves the choice for those consumer dollars. Marketing people are chasing after increasingly shrinking advertising budgets. Sales staff are trying to get consumers to buy tickets. A team that is struggling will often do well to *increase” their marketing and sales staff. An increased marketing staff can contact more business and generate new revenue streams for their teams. Increased sales staff will be out there selling season tickets, group packages, and creating promotions to make those turnstiles spin. While it isn’t unusual for any company to cut a little deadwood from the staff from time to time, paring a thin front office even more is usually a desperate measure and is often counter-productive. At the end of the season, a team’s front office should be gearing up, not gearing down. Financially successful teams are made during the off-season. Come playoff time, front offices are beginning to gear up for the off-season. If a front office ‘team’ is breaking apart instead of coming together at that time, this could turn out to be bad news for the fans. However, there is one exception to that rule. Check the front office “roster.” Does a front office have a lot of people working in it with the same last name? While an owner is wise to have people they know and trust working for them, nepotism can create a top-heavy front office. While not always dangerous, too many relatives, especially related to the owner, might cause the amber ‘check engine’ light to come on. Watch the Stands
How full are the stands on any given night? Of course, the more tickets sold, the more likely a team will be profitable. There are other reasons it is important to fill the stands that go beyond the price of a ticket. Some teams get a percentage of concession sales. Obviously, the more fans in the stands, the more hot dogs, popcorn, soda, and beer are sold. Attendance can even affect the price of a dasher ad. The more eyes that will see the ad, the more the team can charge for that ad. While declining attendance will always put a strain on a team, the key is to watch for how a team reacts to declining attendance. Beware of a team that seems to have given up and has stopped planning for the future. If the Ides of March are upon you and your team isn’t selling season tickets for next season yet, beware. Watch the Players
Many players, especially at the lower levels of the game, tell you they would play for free. You almost believe them. The grueling road trips in stuffy buses for a few hundred bucks a week sounds like a pretty crazy life to fans who grew up in the town they work and live in and make a good enough living to afford season tickets. Sure these guys would play hockey for almost nothing, and it seems some of them almost do…but they won’t play for free. Players not getting paid, poor working conditions, and poor equipment maintenance have been cited as reasons for players who flee teams in trouble.
While some player movement is to be expected, an exodus of players to a different league (especially to Europe) is a huge red flag for a team.
Rumors come and rumors go but sometimes the writing is on the wall. All you have to do is know how to read the signs. Contact the author at shaun.bill@prohockeynews.com .
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