ROME, NY – With the way the inaugural season for the Rome Frenzy went, it would not have been unexpected if owner and general manager Brian Hall just walked away, chalking the mid-season closing of the team’s doors to experience. Thing is, Hall isn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Despite the initial failing of the franchise, Hall is pushing forward, choosing to suspend operations for the upcoming 2011-2012 season in hopes of finding a new home in time for the 2012-2013 campaign. While Hall has bought himself more time to solve the home ice issue, it does not equate to a summer off resting in the Bahamas. The Fort Ann, NY native is actively and diligently working on the next big step for his franchise: finding that home for the Frenzy.
“We’re continuing the search. We’re committed to being back next year (2012-2013).
Mohawk Valley fans will have to wait a year and travel to watch the Frenzy in 2012(PHN photo by Wendy Hull)
Playing out of the J.F. Kennedy Civic Arena in Rome, the Frenzy did not generate enough fan support to make the franchise successful in its inaugural season. Hall said that although the team did have a loyal core of fans, the bulk of the came from Utica and surrounding areas instead of the Rome community.
“We had a lot of die-hard fans. We had about 140 people that came every night,” he said. “I think you could, if you had it in the right area in the Mohawk Valley, be successful.
To that end, Hall began looking around at other facilities in the Valley region with an eye toward finding a home for 2011. Neither the Utica Memorial Auditorium, which plays host to Utica College’s division three hockey program, nor the historic Clinton Arena, where some scenes for the iconic movie “Slap Shot” were filmed, were available to house the Frenzy this fall. In all likelihood, this would not change for the 2012-2013, leaving the Mohawk Valley without a professional hockey team.
With no other choice, Hall started looking outside the Valley for a potential home that could be ready for this year. He said that there were several cities that the team looked at but nothing came to fruition.
“We were negotiating with several cities. Unfortunately, (with) a couple of them we lost out to higher level teams pretty late in the negotiations,” he said. “The remaining locations on the table, while they may be viable, there were still some big question marks in the business plan as to whether or not we could make them work in the reduced time frame.”
Faced with no other alternatives, Hall approached the league office to seek permission to put their operations on hold for a season. The league was amenable to Hall’s request, requiring him to pay the annual league dues for 2011-2012 in return for holding the franchise in suspended status.
Where exactly the Frenzy will ultimately end up depends on numerous details and how they relate to Hall’s “2.0 business plan”. Seating capacity, economic stability of the community, proximity to the nearest public transportation, liquor licensing, ice time and availability are just some of the big details that need to be ironed out before committing to a location.
After his experience in Rome, Hall feels that there is little room for overlooking anything, even the smallest of details, when considering a truly viable market.
“A lot of little things if you’re not careful with (them) are going to cause you major, major headaches down the road,” he said. “And a lot of this is stuff we learned from year one.”
When the decision to shut down the franchise was made, both Brian and Sam Hall (V.P. of Sales and Game Day Operations) indicated that learning from the mistakes of year one would be essential to defining the Frenzy as a franchise. The hope was that they could use the perspectives from the aborted season to build a much stronger and more successful business.
One of the lessons from the Hall’s experience in Rome was about finding equilibrium between seating capacity and ticket prices. The low attendance at the Kennedy was attributed in part to the $10 price for tickets at the gate. The last home game played in Rome drew 200 fans, slightly below their season average of 215 in the arena which has a seating capacity of less than 1,000 people.
“It’s a volume business. The more seats you have, the lower you can go per seat and survive in a depressed area,” Brian Hall said. “We did have several families in Rome last year that loved the product but they couldn’t afford the $10 ticket per game. We needed to have $10 tickets if we even wanted some sort of a chance of breaking even. We’re trying to find the right balance.”
While Hall will be busy off the ice building the franchise, the former Frenzy players will be bringing their on-ice experience to other teams in the league. Earlier this month, a large number of the Frenzy players were “traded” to the expansion Niagara Falls Nationals franchise which will hit the ice in October. The Nationals now own the rights to the players but they will all have to survive training camp in order to make the opening night roster.
Heading to Niagara, among others, are Tibor Varga, who spent some time last year with Bakersfield in the ECHL and former Utica College player and fan afvorite Vincent Nucci. Others are going elsewhere. Swedish center Marcus Gustafsson was picked up by the Thousand Islands Privateers while former Frenzy captain and Nichols College all-time top goal scorer Anthony Monte recently inked an agreement with the Danbury Whalers.
And what about the Frenzy name and logo? Hall said he hopes that they are allowed to bring the brand with the franchise wherever it ends up.
“We added value to the Frenzy name,” he said.
In the end, where the team drops anchor will help to determine the name but don’t be surprised if the FHL faces another attack of the feisty blue piranha a year from now.
Contact the author at wendy.hull@prohockeynews.com
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