A word or two on Wheeling

With the Nailers up for sale, I'd just like to say that as much as I'd like to see Huntington and Wheeling back together in some single-A league, I'd like it even more if the Nailers stayed put. Fortunately Shawn Rine of the Wheeling Intelligencer is reporting that there are THREE local groups that have expressed interest in buying the team.

The situation there is a prime example of why sports teams HAVE to be locally-owned. The team is being sold not because of any financial problems, but so Jim and Rob Brooks can devote more time to running the Phantoms' new arena in Allentown.

Our new home--sort of

Colossal thanks to Adam Mullins, and a welcome to everyone who's arriving here from HuntingtonHockey.com. This will in time be the resource for all things pertaining to Tri-State hockey; for now, it is merely a very spiffy-looking catch-all site.

And what do you guys think of my new, completely unsolicited but well-appreciated logo? Quite nice IMO. :^D

Behold. The beginning.

Huntington Frozen Over

Five years ago I started this site as a work blog for this documentary. I finished it in time to graduate in May, but I wasn't done with it. I was told to narrow it's focus; unfortunately, that stalled, and I didn't resume work on it until after my college radio career was officially over. I basically relaunched this site, adding bits and pieces to what I dug out for that thing up there. A lot has happened, a lot hasn't happened, but I figured at the very least this should see the light of day.

And now the floodgates open?

Dave Walsh called me yesterday about the NPHL--while I was covering a basketball game! I have a line in this writeup; I can say I've already fielded a request for more information from potential investors...

Blowing up

Paul Swann talked with Chuck Harrison this afternoon about the NPHL coming to Huntington for it's inaugural season. I talked with Dave Walsh at the Herald-Dispatch this afternoon; I anticipate something in the paper tomorrow. Pandora's Box has been opened...

NPHL definitely wants us

They said so themselves. As well as Charleston AND Pikeville. The map is a little odd right now, although they admit nothing is set in stone. For example, I don't think the area can support three teams; if there were to be an odd man out so to speak it would probably be Charleston, since there is no ice surface at the Civic Center. Greensboro seems like an odd fit simply because, from what I know, the market seems to be an AHL-or-bust place. Would anyone be willing to give Winston-Salem a go though? The Annex would probably be a better fit size-wise, but that market's had a lot of problems before. Flint doesn't look right from a footprint standpoint--five teams in the Virginias, two teams bordering, and then one waaaaaay up in Michigan.

The abridged document on the website has a $8000/week salary cap, but with various cost-savings in place annual budgets would be around $600,000. By comparison, I put together an estimate for an SPHL budget--with a cap of $5600/week--that came to double that; even after trimming some fat, it would probably be around $1,000,000. I don't have the detailed plan--though I should have some more info on that before too long--but I imagine they've found every bit of extraneous cost they could find and eliminated it. The better comparison--or at least the one that makes more sense from a "where are they getting those numbers"--a New York Times article yesterday said that the Federal League, with a salary cap of $5050/week, has annual budgets in the $300-400k range.

Stability

I have begun to revisit, revise, refine--really, renovate--the proposal I had started writing up last summer/fall regarding fixing the ice at the Arena. Work had stopped because of a number of factors:

• the main computer crashed at the house
• I was going through some personal issues at home
• I really wasn't sure what was going on as far as whether the ice was going to be fixed or not, in large part because of those two items up there.

Things have since changed thusly:

• the computer has been up and running
• I've gotten myself sorted out
• after new seats, new boiler, a completely re-done conference room, and a fixed-up exterior, they still have $2.2mil to play with

In the interim, as I had stated earlier, the Northern Professional Hockey League is quite interested in Huntington. I have them alongside the SPHL as our two best bets, despite my wariness of getting involved in an upstart league, let alone one whose only identified collaborator (so far)'s most recent venture into the hockey business ended with not one, but two mid-season collapses in the old All-American Hockey League.

I am willing to consider putting this aside in large part because, from what I've heard from the league both on their websites and in personal discussions, they seem to have a good idea of what needs to be done. Perhaps it's a matter of seeing what went wrong and what needs to be fixed--certainly something that I can sympathize with, as that's kinda how I ended up at this point.

In any case, nothing is set in stone before we know more actual information. They will be unveiling a proper business plan on Monday, as well as whittling their "wish list" of markets down. From there I'd imagine the investor search kicks into high gear for them. As for us, again, it's between them and the SPHL--low costs but uncertain stability vs. slightly higher costs but known stability.