Sometimes...it just doesn't work

I've always been interested in the behind-the-scenes workings of sports business. The team sales, new arenas, relocations - that sort of thing. But, lately, I've been thinking about this fact: sometimes a new arena or a new location just doesn't work.

The National Hockey League's (NHL) Phoenix Coyotes are a great example of how both a new arena and a new location don't really work for a franchise.

The Phoenix Coyotes moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1996. When the franchise was the Winnipeg Jets, they struggled in a fairly bad market with a below-par arena. Matter of fact, the Jets almost moved to the Twin Cities as a replacement for our beloved North Stars, who headed south to Dallas a couple years before.

The Phoenix area beat out the Twin Cities for the struggling Jets. The first couple seasons, the newly-renamed Coyotes shared an arena in downtown Phoenix with the NBA's Suns. A couple seasons later, the Coyotes moved west to Glendale, AZ where they have played ever since.

But now, the Coyotes are even struggling in Glendale at the Jobing.com Arena. And, according to the article linked above (click on "Sometimes...it just doesn't work") and others floating around on the Internet, the Coyotes must find a local buyer by the end of this year, or the NHL will allow the team to move backto Winnipeg.

This is not new. You may remember, several years ago, Los Angeles lost not one but both of it's National Football League (NFL) franchises. The Rams moved east to Saint Louis, and the Raiders, moved back to Oakland; where they had left about 17 years prior. The Rams moved into a downtown domed stadium in Saint Louis, and the Raiders moved back to the dingy, old stadium (albeit some renovations) in Oakland they had left behind.

There have been rumors that the NBA's Sacramento Kings might move back to Kansas City, where they departed in 1985, to a more modern, shiny new arena just outside of downtown Kansas City.

There are the relocation successes: Washington Senators moving to the Twin Cities in 1961. Baltimore Colts moving (to the shock of everyone) to Indianapolis in 1983. Houston Oilers moving to Nashville circa 1996; and these are just a few. But, apparently, relocation to a shiny, new arena in another city, sometimes just doesn't work as well as expected.

As for the final fate of the Coyotes - stay tuned.

Too many sports teams?

I read the Twin Cities Business Journal on a regular basis, and this morning, I read an article that caught my attention; apparently, the Twin Cities has too many professional sports teams.

The study was conducted by Portfolio.com, and they tested 82 markets to determine the financial capacity of cities in both the United States and Canada to support professional sports. The professional sports they studied are teams in baseball, football, basketball, football and soccer.

Here in the Twin Cities, we have a Major League Baseball (MLB) team, the Twins. We have a team in the National Football League (NFL), the Vikings. A team in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Timberwolves, and finally, a team in the National Hockey League (NHL), the Wild.

This is the second time the Twin Cities has had four teams, in four major leagues. This region had four teams from 1989-1993. The Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and our old NHL team, the North Stars. Of course, the North Stars moved to Dallas at the end of the 1993 season.

So, we've done this before, and we've done well - in my estimation. The reason the North Stars left had nothing to do with attendance (having been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs a couple years earlier). The move had a little to do with the arena (the Met Center was getting old, and with the Timberwolves' new Target Center having opened a year earlier, made it hard for the Bloomington arena to stay competitive). The move had a great deal to do with Stars' owner Norm Green and personal issues he was dealing with, including his marriage.

I read somewhere that Norm's wife (I believe it was in Jay Weiner's 2000 book Stadium Games) gave Norm an ultimatum: either sell the team, or move to Dallas. And to the disappointment of many Minnesotans, Green chose the latter.

The Twin Cities got an NHL franchise back on June 22, 1997, to begin play in 2000, and we've been a four-team market ever since. The Twins stuck it out and waited 11 years to get a new ballpark to keep them competitive. The Wild sell out every game at the Xcel Energy Center. The Timberwolves are happy, just uncompetitive on the court.

This is just my opinion, but instead of complaining about having too many teams, wouldn't that be considered a good business model? A market this size, supporting four teams? The Twin Cities isn't the size of Los Angeles, and yet, we have an NFL team, Los Angeles doesn't. Saint Louis is a good-sized market, as is Kansas City; and neither has an NBA team. Kansas City had all four teams back in the 70s, but lost their NBA team to Sacramento in 1985; and their three-year-old NHL team to Denver in 1975.

I don't quite understand why soccer was thrown into the mix. Yes, we do have a pro soccer team here, the Minnesota Thunder, but they are in a minor-league type situation. They are not a member franchise of MLS (Major League Soccer), which sometimes uses NFL stadiums for their games; although, many teams are building smaller, soccer-specific stadiums.

With the stadium issue of the Minnesota Vikings once again waiting to rear its head in the 2010 Minnesota State Legislative session, and the NFL deciding to cut its revenue-sharing program for smaller-market teams (i.e. the Vikings), it will be interesting to see how much longer the Twin Cities will remain a market with four (five if you throw in the Thunder) pro teams. But, so far, I think we're doing well.

To read the article from the Twin Cities Business Journal, click here:
http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2009/12/14/story9.html

Thanks for reading, and have a great Christmas season.

When tragedy strikes at the arena

Some of you might have heard it on SportsCenter this morning, like I did. As fans were leaving the St. Louis Blues' (NHL) game at the Scottrade Center in Saint Louis, one of the escalators carrying fans malfunctioned and several were injured in the accident.

No one was killed, thankfully. Thirteen people were injured, according to the story at http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/958726.html . Things do happen, even at the sports arena. Several years ago, Wayne Gretzky's wife was struck in the head by a piece of plexiglass that had come loose after a hockey player slammed an opponent into it. About 12 years ago, a section of bleachers, loaded with fans collapsed at a San Jose Sharks home game. And in 2002, a 13-year-old girl was killed by an errant hockey puck that flew over the plexiglass, and hit her in the head.

These incidents have just happened in the National Hockey League (NHL). Other professional sports have had similar incidents at their games in various arenas.

A gentleman from Belleville, IL, Shayne Hill, was seriously hurt in the accident. His foot got caught at the bottom of the escalator where two of the stairs collapsed into each other. His shoe had to be cut off to get him free. If being caught at the bottom of an escalator, "with nowhere to go" as he put it wasn't bad enough, other fans on the escalator had started falling on top of him.

Another fan had pushed the emergency stop on the escalator to prevent further injuries. If that hadn't happened, Hill said, "It could have been a lot worse." The Blues, while seemingly not issuing much in the news release category (at least that I saw) did spring into action. Dave Checketts, an executive with the team visited injured persons in the hospital. “He apologized for the incident in person, which I thought was a very nice gesture," Hill said.

Hill also said that he had tickets for this Saturday's (Oct. 10) game in the 300 level of the arena. With an injured foot, it's all but an impossibility to get up there. "[The Blues] graciously offered to upgrade my seats to be (team President) John Davidson's personal guest in his suite," Hill said.

I did not see a written statement or a news release on the Saint Louis Blues website. This surprised me; just because so many people were involved, and if nothing else, to reassure fans attending future Blues games at the Scottrade Center, that it is safe to attend events there.

"The safety of our fans is always our first and foremost concern. We are hopeful that they are well and being taken care of and we have already begun to investigate the cause of the accident," was the only 'statement' I could find regarding the incident (quoted in the article link above). It was made by Eric Gelfand, a spokesman for SCP Worldwide - the group that manages the Scottrade Center.

However, FOX2 in Saint Louis, reports that Peter McLoughlin, CEO of Blues Enterprises did make a statement saying, "The safety of our fans and customers is always first and most in our minds." That is almost identical to what Gelfand said.

Actions do speak louder than words-or a press release even. The Blues organization did visit injured fans in the hospital. The Blues president did make a very nice gesture to Hill by allowing him to sit in the owner's suite as a replacement for his Saturday game tickets. But, what about someone like Kim Muren, also of Belleville and injured in the accident, who said in today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch that she, "never plans to ride an escalator again after this."

So, given Muren's comment, it seems that a little damage control is in order for the Saint Louis Blues. Which leads me back to my statement earlier, that a press release or a written statement by the organization posted on the website would have gone a long way for fans like Muren, who now, will think twice when deciding where to buy seats for events at the Scottrade Center.

A 3rd jersey for the Minnesota Wild?

A ha, finally. an issue I love to write about: sports and corporate branding.

It has been announced that the Minnesota Wild (NHL) will unveil a "third" jersey to be worn this season. The unveiling will happen next Sunday at the Minnesota State Fair. There are speculations about what the jersey might look like. One can be found here: http://media.photobucket.com/image/Wild%20green%20jersey/puckdrawn/Concepts/MinnesottaWildConcept.png, and another can be found here: http://www.wildpuckbanter.com/2009/08/new-wild-jersey.html.

This is an interesting concept to me, sports teams have been using "alternate" jerseys for many years now. Some have been successful, and others have been total flops. However, the Wild had an alternate jersey a few years ago. The jersey seen here: http://www.icejerseys.com/item_details.php?id=5354.

What happened was, the NHL had switched jersey manufacturers. The league contracted with Reebok and their new Edge line of jerseys. The "Rbk Edge" was a custom-fit jersey, which was supposed to supply better comfort for players. And, the NHL made a rule that teams had to scrap whatever third jerseys they had, and couldn't unveil a new one for two years.

The Wild kept their white jersey, and opted to keep the red "alternate" jersey http://www.icejerseys.com/item_details.php?id=5354 and got rid of the original green sweater.

Here's what bothers me about the red sweater they kept. The logo on the front. In my estimation, a good and respectable corporate brand, should not have to tell you what it is. You will notice that the words "Minnesota Wild" surround it. Earlier in the franchise's history, the words "NHL Hockey" even appeared on a secondary logo the team was going to use.

If you see the logo for GM, you know that it's for General Motors. They make cars. The company does not need to put "auto manufacturer" on the logo. If you see an oblong "G" surrounded by a green and gold oval, you know that logo is for the Green Bay Packers. They don't need to put "We play football in Green Bay" on the logo. Let's not forget the Golden Arches. These are respectable, reputable, trustworthy corporations, that do not need to label what they are, or what they do, to get the point across.

I feel the Minnesota Wild made a mistake when choosing what sweater to keep. The Minnesota Wild have some of the best merchandise sales, if not the best merchandise sales in the National Hockey League. The only problem, most people can't figure out what animal the head belongs to, that you see on the front of the jersey. Is it a bobcat, cougar, a panther? No one knows. But, they DO know that logo.

On the other hand, looking at some of the concept drawings people have conjured up in their minds (the ones with a script font "Minnesota"), many sports teams in all professional leagues are putting the city or state of origin on their road jerseys.

Personally, I think the Wild should ditch the red jersey with the circle "Minnesota Wild" surrounding the cougar head (I'll call it a cougar). The Wild have made a name for themselves in the National Hockey League, in their ten years of existence - on the basis of their enormous fan base, merchandise sales and team ownership.

I feel that it is in the best interest, not just of the Wild, not just of sports teams, but of all corporations, to do their very best to cultivate a corporate brand, a corporate logo that is immediately recognizable - without being told what it represents.