RIP Fresno Falcons

I've heard rumors that the entire division with the Ohio/West Virginia teams are in trouble, but should finish the season.

Yes, Fresno was in first place.

 

James Mirtle has a long piece in his blog

http://www.fromtherink.com/2008/12/23/700504/why-the-falcons-folded#comments

Some of the other owners are pretty outspoken about what they perceived as management incompetence.

I have no sympathy for these guys [Falcons ownership]," said the Salmon Kings president.

"They operated and managed things poorly in a hockey market that can be successful and they’ve left the rest of the conference just hanging."

Dakers said a franchise bailing like this hurts everybody.

"I’m very disappointed. There is no excuse to leave mid-season," he said.

 

If they had 35 people working in the front office, that was one of their biggest problems.

 

Had a conversation with Dayton ownership a month ago indicating they're close to breaking even. They'd like to get a new arena built. That would take three to five years by the time the politicians were finished. Don't get the sense they'll hang in that long, but they will at least finish the season

 

Dayton was supposed to be an original WHA franchise but the lack of a decent arena scuttled that plan too. The team became the Houston Aeros instead.

 

Don't be surprised to see the IHL die after the season.

 

I guess the 35 total includes players. Some of the players were quoted as blaming the media for a lack of coverage which hurt the team (you only cover us when we're FOLDING!!!), and they may not be far off.

 

how wheeling still exists is mind-boggling, considering the economy of that area.

i remember going there in high school when the promotion was IC Light mugs with a gift certificate for a free beer inside, which they gave to us as well. good times.

 

Minor league hockey aint the same without the Dayton Owls or Gems... or whatever they are now..

 

I think the media angle is way down the list, if it's on the list at all. Hell, look what's happening at McClatchy these days-- their newsroom is being hollowed out by the month. Also, Falcons season coincides with the perennially dissapointing Bulldogs' football season, the opening of basketball for men and women (who went to NCAA's last year), and high school football playoffs. In addition their attendance fell of nearly 30 percent. If media outlets were still that influential they'd be hiring and not sending former employees out on the street.

 

Again??

Oh, you mean the renamed UHL, formerly the Colonial League. Why, are things that bad there?

The much-vaunted OHA Senior AAA league has only six teams this year. It'll be interesting to see what happens with it.

 

Minor-league hockey is not a recession-proof business.

The Depression severely constrained the minors in the 1930s, they went through another huge contraction after the onset of TV in the 1950s and early 1960s, and in the 1980s recession, things got *really* bad. The CHL (then a rival to the AHL) folded after 21 years. The EHL disappeared. The AHL shed a bunch of teams.

When prosperity hit in the mid-1980s, things boomed ... the IHL took the CHL's place as a top-tier league (and then got too big for itself), the CoHL/UHL/new IHL, ECHL, WCHL, WPHL, CeHL and SHL all showed up to get a piece of the pie, and many expanded far beyond their means ... and you had "ice wars" in several cities (including hockey meccas like San Antonio, Little Rock and Fort Worth). Now that people are hoarding their disposable income, things are dying quickly.

Thankfully, my local team is in a junior league supported by USA Hockey and doesn't pay salaries, so it's a little safer (and the junior USHL is probably more watchable than most of the ECHL/new IHL/CHL brand of hockey).