ORLANDO, FLA – Hockey is a fast sport played by fast-skating players moving the puck at a fast pace. Decisions on the ice have to be made in a split second. The same can’t be said for decisions that are made off the ice, especially when it comes to building a franchise. Everything has to be planned out otherwise the results can be disastrous.
A little more than three months after introducing the team to the city of Orlando, two of the men in charge of creating the ECHL expansion Orlando Solar Bears are preaching patience as they assemble the team behind the team. Information has not been coming along quick enough for many fans but it isn’t for lack of work.
Managing Partner/Team President Jason Siegel and Managing Partner/C.O.O. Bob Ohrablo have been spending a lot of time in the team’s offices at the 
RDV Sportsplex in Maitland putting the pieces together. They are following a plan that is predicated on not releasing bits and pieces of information in favor of having everything in order before making an announcement.
Siegel, who has worked for the Dallas Stars in the early days of the franchise’s relocation to Texas and earned a Stanley Cup ring with the New Jersey Devils, is a stickler for detail. He said that the plan the team will follow may not provide as much news as some might want but the information will be complete, thorough and absolute.
“We’re going to be methodical in our approach and at a pretty even pace. Sometimes it’s hurry up and wait but the good news is there is more great news on the horizon,” Siegel said. “We want to relay complete information at all times. Everything affects everything else. In a lot of the cases, if we don’t have a complete story to tell and there’s a piece missing when we’re on the phones talking to people or providing information – it could be one small piece that we know will be a question that’s asked over and over – we’d prefer to wait to have all of the information so that when we do provide next steps we can answer all of the questions.”
Ohrablo, who runs his own marketing company and was with the AHL’s Connecticut Whale a year ago, added that all of the decisions made now will have a say further down the road.
“We can’t be in a situation like Jason said where we release pieces of information until it’s complete. We’re building this not just for next season but for many years into the future,” Ohrablo said. “As we create announcements and create events, it takes a little bit of time to put those things together. We don’t want to send things out half done because we want this to be run as though we’re a major league organization. That’s how they do it.”
One of the first things the pair did was to bring in staff people to handle season ticket accounts. Both men said that the response from fans making deposits has been great up to this point. When asked to quantify the response, Siegel said that doing that at this juncture would not be prudent because the deposits still have to be turned into actual ticket purchases.
“It’s premature to comment on season tickets. We’ve been taking deposits and we’ll probably give some information out after we’ve converted folks,” Siegel said. “In order to do that we’ve got to have our Select-A-Seat process and we’re getting ready to do that in late April. Once that’s done, we’ll have a better footing as to what our full season equivalents look like.”
Even though they did not quote numbers, Ohrablo did indicate that the interest has been more than they expected and may require adding more sales people.
“We’re exactly at the point that we thought we would be at this point in
time, maybe a little bit ahead in terms of planning for a few more people because of the reaction we’ve gotten so far,” Ohrablo said.
So far the announcements that have been made have been done so in both traditional and non-traditional ways. The franchise introduction was done with a big press conference in front of a large media contingent and many local hockey fans. The next item to be rolled out was the new team’s logos. Designed by Joe Bosack Graphic Design, the three logos were introduced between periods of an Orlando Magic NBA game at the Amway Center. The announcement during the game was augmented by Ohrablo’s appearance with Magic TV host Paul Kennedy (a former TV voice of the original Solar Bears team) at halftime of the local broadcast produced by Fox Sports Florida/SunSports.
It was by all standards a unique way to acquaint a potential fan base to a new team. It was also a good indicator of how the Solar Bears front office is thinking outside the box to maximize any and all exposure in the marketplace.
“We actually talked about it before we had everything in place. We were talking about it the night of the Tampa game, the preseason Tampa-St. Louis game. Certainly at the time, the NBA hadn’t committed one way or another whether they’d be playing right away. One of the comments we made was if the timing was right, what better way to do that (roll out logos) than in front of 18,000-plus,” Siegel said. “Traditionally you’ll see things with a press conference. We’d like to continue to do things in a different way every time we make an announcement. Some of them will be traditional.”
Print, electronic and billboard advertising has long been a staple of getting the message out. The Solar Bears have effectively used all three methods 
to get their name out in front of the public. In late February, the team placed an ad on the front page of a pullout section in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper that was specifically for the NBA All-Star weekend that was hosted by the Orlando Magic. Ohrablo said that it was a perfect opportunity to reach the perfect target group: sports fans.
“What’s the biggest story that this area has had in a while besides the NBA coming back? The All-Star game. And who is reading all that stuff? Sports fans. And who are we trying to reach? Sports fans,” he said. “There was a lot of interest in the NBA All-Star game and we wanted our name out there in some fashion.”
These days, getting the name out there has extended into the world of social media. The Solar Bears have been actively using Twitter and Facebook to communicate with fans. They recently ran a contest asking fans to change their Facebook picture to something showing them with Solar Bears gear from when the original team played in the IHL. The team then picked five winners who each received a new Solar Bears puck. The team is also reaching out to the fans in other ways. On March 31st, the team is running a bus trip to Estero, FL for fans who have made season ticket deposits to see the Florida Everblades play the Gwinnett Gladiators. It is a way to say thank you for the support as well as an early introduction to the ECHL.
“it’s just the first of many opportunities to engage and interact (with the fans),” Siegel said. “It’ll be nice for the folks to get together, put on their retro jerseys and go out and watch hockey. They’ll see the two teams that we’ll probably see the most of come the fall.”
Recently, the Solar Bears announced that they will hold an open call to search for fans to be part of the team’s “I am a Solar Bear” campaign. Twelve winners will have their images used in advertising with one grand prize winner being seen in print ads in the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando Magazine as well as in collateral materials. The winners will be announced at the franchise’s jersey unveiling on April 10th. One day later, the team will have merchandise available for ordering including pucks, hats, t-shirts and jerseys.
Siegel and Ohrablo are out and about on a daily basis meeting with potential corporate sponsors. Building strong business relationships is just as important to success as selling tickets because of the potential that exists in networking in the corporate world. The biggest business relationship that the Solar Bears have made has to be with RDV Sports and the Orlando Magic. Ohrablo said that the Magic have been instrumental in opening doors within the Orlando business community and with basketball fans.
“They’ve been excellent partners on a daily basis. Just recently there was an email sent to their premium seat holders about their first rights of refusal on the loge boxes and club seats,” he said. “They’re representing us now in the marketplace for sponsorship. We brought them in as a sponsorship partner.”
The relationship between the Solar Bears and RDV Sports is a key one. It was RDV’s ownership of the original Solar Bears team that built the long-standing reputation that the name still carries with it even though the team hasn’t played since 2001. Ohrablo attributes the new ownership’s wish to maintain the high standards set by the original team as being an integral part of why RDV is so willing to help.
“The Solar Bears were a brand that was done incredibly well here. They were here for six years and ten years later they’re still very much entrenched in the community even though they haven’t played a game in ten years,” he said. “I think that the Magic, Alex (Martins, Magic CEO) and those people who had the name needed to be reassured that the group coming in had experience and knew what they were doing. We’re well funded and really committed to representing, not just on the ice but off the ice as an organization in the community, the ideals that they set for the Solar Bears. We wouldn’t be doing this if we weren’t going to do that.”
Siegel said that the response from fans attending Magic games, where the Solar Bears have a table set up, has been great. He said that team representatives have talked to fans who remember the original Solar Bears vividly, hockey fans who have transplanted to the Orlando area since the team closed its doors and people who are curious about the sport.
“What we’ve found is that Orlando and the folks that are here, while they may be from somewhere else and root for other teams as well, they adopt their home teams,” he said. “That’s been the response – great this will be my team – and that’s the feedback we’ve been getting at the (Magic) games. Very positive, very encouraging.”
Both men acknowledged that there is still a lot of work to go before the Solar Bears hit the ice in the fall. Until then, fans will have to be patient and take the news as it comes – even if it feels like they have to hurry up and wait.
Contact the authors at monique.griffin@prohockeynews.com and
don.money@prohockeynews.com
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