There will be another HISCO meeting, set for August 20 at noon at the Cabell County Library in downtown Huntington. For all intents and purposes we're going to pretend the first one didn't exist, since only two people showed up (one of them being the press) due to a number of scheduling screwups. Most notably the venue was changed at the last minute, which caught pretty much everyone off-guard; great care will be taken to ensure that this does NOT happen again. Also, the last time we tried this it was right AFTER everyone left Marshall for the winter, and on a Monday afternoon no less; this time it will be on a Saturday, and the weekend students return, so we should have more people in the house.
We'll try and divulge actual information about what all's going on, and are mainly putting this together to get input on what the collective fan base of the Tri-State wants from their hockey team--all topics are on the table. Food will be there too, so consider this your lunch date...
EDIT: July 28, 5:09pm: the Facebook link could be helpful.
Showing posts with label Huntington's future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Huntington's future. Show all posts
27 July 2011
16 January 2011
Resting
Things are dormant at the moment. Nothing's going on with the arena for now--they have to solicit bids first--and work will not begin until June. I am only able to sporadically look at NewspaperArchive, so the historical end of things has really taken a back seat to the here-and-now, I'm afraid.
Two biggest pieces of news here:
--A challenger appears: the Northern Professional Hockey League, which is looking to do a SIGNIFICANTLY better job than the AAHL and its ilk. The league will be instituting strict standards on the arenas they play in (no rec rinks, 1500+ seats, to start with) and background checks on ownership groups (if you ain't got no money, take yo' broke @#$ home), and will not be starting play with fewer than 6 teams. Shooting for a 2011-12 launch, but again, unless they have six solid teams, they're willing to push it back a year. Good to see decisions being made for the sake of collective stability.
--Marshall thinks enough of hockey that they've licensed pucks! I've been told they're available at the Barboursville Target, but there's a link up there in case you don't feel like leaving the house (weather being as it is, can't say I blame ya).
--Oh, and tomorrow's the Backyard Brawl on Ice, WVU vs. Pitt @ South Charleston. Both teams are pretty much even--Mounties are 11-11-1, Panthers are 9-9-1, and WVU won their earlier meeting on the road 5-4.
18 November 2010
Stew on this for a little bit, I'll type up something later today
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/briefs/x104558994/Hockey-proposal-needs-more-study-says-mayor
I have to hit the road for work today. Bloody figures, the one day this week something happens that warrents a long stretch of typing, and I have to be busy. Damn obligations!
12 November 2010
Our dates, and this time I'm bloody serious
Bloody serious because it comes from the email desk of Finance Director Deron Runyon:
November 15, 4pm: Municipal Development Authority meeting, first reading there
November 17, 6:45pm: Finance Committee meeting, discussion
November 18, 4pm: City Council work session, discussion for...
November 22, 7:30pm: City Council meeting, first reading there
November 29, 4pm: Municipal Development Authority meeting, special session for second reading
December 9, 4pm: City Council work session
December 13, 4pm: Municipal Development Authority meeting, third reading and vote
December 13, 7:30pm: City Council meeting, second reading and vote
So we will in fact know for sure before Christmas! Now things get fun...
21 October 2010
And we're officially back on the clock!
The West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved $5.1 million in bonds today for several upgrades to the Big Sandy Superstore Arena. Bill Sawyers, proprietor of the "Bring Hockey Back" Facebook group and general man-about-things, tells me there will be a special session of city council prior to Monday's meeting to discuss this development. As it stands the dragging on of this matter--for whatever reason--means the chances of any team taking to the ice in 2011 is slim; that being said, the ball is once again rolling, and I will be consulting my various moles as regularly as I can.
I should add that the RiverPlace ballpark development got another $11mil today as well--this could be the biggest day of good news for sports in Huntington in a while!
UPDATE: 10/22/10: Herald-Dispatch reports that they're shooting for the first meeting in November to start the process--which would put a final approval sometime in December. The city is walking a tightrope...
21 September 2010
THIS time, I'm pretty damn sure this is the right date
Copypasted from Huntington finance director Deron Runyon:
"It is our intention to file our state application next week requesting approval at the EDA meeting in October."
That would be October 21, kids. If that goes down as hoped for, upgrades for Big Sandy will come just in time for Thanksgiving...
"It is our intention to file our state application next week requesting approval at the EDA meeting in October."
That would be October 21, kids. If that goes down as hoped for, upgrades for Big Sandy will come just in time for Thanksgiving...
19 August 2010
I think I'm dyslexic when it comes to reading tea leaves
It dawned upon me that just because city council APPROVES the city applying for something, does not necessarily mean that the city actually applied that very moment. I then gave the WVEDA a call and was informed that there was nothing relating to the BSSA on their agenda for today's (tonight?) meeting, though there is something up for money for the River Place project. Unless someone was sneaky and worked it into that bundle, the money would not be coming up until the September 16 meeting. Deron Runyon said "end of September" earlier, so I figure if it doesn't come up then, it's probably not coming up.
In the meantime, say hello your new arena manager!
In the meantime, say hello your new arena manager!
10 August 2010
Okay, here's where we stand
A RESOLUTION OF COUNCIL RETURNING THE ALLOCATION OF THE RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND LIMITATION ALLOCATED TO THE CITY BY THE COUNTY COMMISSION OF CABELL COUNTY UNDER SECTION 1400U-1(a)(3)(A) OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE CODE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BONDS THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO A PROJECT AT THE BIG SANDY SUPERSTORE ARENA FOR THE CITYJim Insco confirms that the bonds that Cabell County had approved earlier in the year were returned, since the city had until July 30 to use them anyhow.
AND APPROVING THE APPLICATION FOR RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND VOLUME CAP WITH THE WEST VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITYHowever, the city simultaneously applied at the state level for the same bond. Finance Director Deron Runyon says the city will know the bond status by the end of September, and will have the rest of the year to finalize things.
So things are a little more complicated--the city has to get RE-approved for bonds now--but at least this shows that city council still wants to get this done, despite all the municipal shenanigans going on in Huntington.
UPDATE: 11 Aug, 9:25am: per the website of the WV Economic Development Authority, applications made by the 1st of August would be heard in their meeting on the 19th--next Thursday...
08 August 2010
Somebody help me translate Muncipalfinancese!
Catching up--been quite hectic round these parts lately--and found this in the July 26 Huntington City Council agenda:
Resolution re: A RESOLUTION OF COUNCIL RETURNING THE ALLOCATION OF THE RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND LIMITATION ALLOCATED TO THE CITY BY THE COUNTY COMMISSION OF CABELL COUNTY UNDER SECTION 1400U-1(a)(3)(A) OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE CODE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BONDS THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO A PROJECT AT THE BIG SANDY SUPERSTORE ARENA FOR THE CITY AND APPROVING THE APPLICATION FOR RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND VOLUME CAP WITH THE WEST VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
I THINK this means that the city is re-applying for the bonds. Fired off an email to Steve Williams, will keep yas posted. And I will be getting back to those transcriptions once things get less hectic here.
Resolution re: A RESOLUTION OF COUNCIL RETURNING THE ALLOCATION OF THE RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND LIMITATION ALLOCATED TO THE CITY BY THE COUNTY COMMISSION OF CABELL COUNTY UNDER SECTION 1400U-1(a)(3)(A) OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNAL REVENUE CODE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BONDS THAT WAS PREVIOUSLY ALLOCATED TO A PROJECT AT THE BIG SANDY SUPERSTORE ARENA FOR THE CITY AND APPROVING THE APPLICATION FOR RECOVERY ZONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BOND VOLUME CAP WITH THE WEST VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
I THINK this means that the city is re-applying for the bonds. Fired off an email to Steve Williams, will keep yas posted. And I will be getting back to those transcriptions once things get less hectic here.
03 July 2010
Interview footage: Dr. Clark Haptonstall, Part 2
LENNY: ...a good bit better now. So we'll begin because--this actually kinda ties in quite nicely--half the reason I'm calling back is because I ended up--long story short I managed to not record the first half of the last interview.
DR. CLARK: Oh gosh.
L: Yeah. We were--I had one interview going into the next interview, and I just kept going--I just kept the thing running, so i didn't end up actually looking to check if it was even recording. So I missed the entire first interview I was doing, and then...
C: Oh boy.
L: ...yeah, I managed to make that up, and then i nudged the mouse later, and was like "wait a sec, that didn't record and of that! GYAHHH!" So the first half of that, the Hornets chunk, I ended up losing, but there were a couple of bits that--now that I've talked with some of the other people as well, Ernie Salvatore and Don Hatfield in particular, I was wanting to plug some of them into there, because one thing I had remembered from when we were talking the other day was you had mentioned how--the Fieldhouse basically being a gift from the local and state politicians, and Ernie had mentioned it basically being patterned after all the big sports "gardens" of the time, like Madison Square Garden, like Chicago Stadium, and stuff like that--were they really--was that basically their intent, they were going to give them the most state of the art arena they could find?
C: At the time, it definitely was, and they wanted--they were hoping that the arena would be a complete oval that would seat about 8,000 people. What they ended up having was a steel strike during the building of the arena, and what it did is it made prices really almost cost-prohibitive for steel, so they went from an 8,000 seat oval to about a 6500 seat horseshoe, and they made the seats a little bit smaller than they had wanted to in order to be able to reach that attendance number.
L: And then when the hockey team actually came in there, something that Hatfield had mentioned was they had essentially done a learn-the-game scrimmage, and I was just kinda--this kinda plugs in more to the Blizzard, but did they do anything like that when the Blizzard came into town? Anything to kinda get people acquainted to the sport?
C: Um, I don't remember so much a scrimmage that was designed for that purpose, but I do know that first year especially that they would go out of their way to explain hockey rules, whether it be in handouts or the game program or the PA announcer trying to explain what icing was or hooking.
L: There was something else--ah yes, I just remembered the other thing that came up when I was talking with Hatfield was attendance, which was--attendance wasn't that great, but I know they were basically--they spent the whole time they were there trying to compete with Marshall's basketball team, which at the time was fan-freakin-tastic. But Hatfield was mentioning that as the season progressed, they started to get more and more fans, and I was just--I guess a little something to tack onto that, if you could possibly...
C: When they first started the season, there was certainly a lot of confusion about hockey because it was just not a location that there was any hockey news, that hockey just hadn't made an impression in Huntington. So I think once people found that it was exciting, and that the team was pretty good, that it carried on, and attendance grew toward the latter half of the season.
L: From there I wanted to move on to slightly more present-type matters, and I was--one thing I had forgotten I was going to ask from last time was something I'd noticed from looking through things is there was kinda like this nice little curve--I'm not sure if nice is really the right word--but basically--I mean, the beginning of the decade you had the Huntington Cubs come up...
C: Mmhmm...
L: ...then you have the Blizzard come in, you have the Hawks, I think it was, the football team...
C: Right.
L: ...and that kinda like peaked at about mid-decade, then just--pretty much the same fashion, it just all kinda comes--everything just leaves all, not really at once, but in that kind of same downward slope. I mean, is there anything--I'm just kinda wondering, like, what factors were in there, I mean was it just Huntington's decline, or was it just the natural cycle of minor league existence...
C: That's something that is, even to this day, is frustrating to me, just because I've been involved with some of those projects, you know--I had worked at Marshall for a number of years, but I was also in on the ground floor at getting the Huntington Cubs, I worked there for the first three years of that organization. I saw the Huntington Blizzard. I was good friends with Bud Bickel, who ran the Huntington Hawks, and it seemed--it seems as if Huntington would support a minor league team for a few years, and then it's almost like flipping a switch. So it's--it was frustrating from my experiences with the Cubs to see a team do well and average over 2,000 people per game for the lowest level of minor league baseball, and then after a few years the--there's just not the committment there from Huntington, and I don't--I haven't been able to put my finger on why that would necessarily be the case.
L: It was something that confused me a little bit, because I'm thinking like on the one hand, Huntington--particularly on the jobs front--kinda declined around that time, but at the same time, there's--minor league teams, I don't have this as like a mathematical figure, but it seems like they only, on average, they'll stick around for about five years anyhow.
C: But it's--part of the frustration I experienced was why can't Huntington support a minor league baseball team when Bluefield, WV's had one for 70 years? You know, or Bristol, or Johnson City, TN--how come these towns that are much smaller than Huntington have had minor league baseball successfully for 70 years, and Huntington can't seem to keep a minor league team for more than five?
L: And the Johnstown Chiefs are still playing...
C: Right...
L: Another thing, something--as I kinda alluded to earlier, I was somewhat discombobulated in our previous interview, but I had asked what it would take to get another team successfully back here. You had mentioned that the first thing would be local ownership. I don't think I actually followed up on what it might take!
C: I think that it would take--it would definitely take local ownership and local investors. Each one of the minor league organizations, or most of the minor league organizations that we've talked about have included people who have come in from out of state. And I don't know if there's a lack of trust from Huntington consumers towards that ownership, or they feel that money that they're spending is perhaps leaving the area, but I think with local ownership there's a much better chance of succeeding. In sports, one of the things that makes teams successful is the personalities of the people who compete. And people often want to feel as if they know who the athletes are, and they feel that they can relate to them somehow. I think the same thing is true with ownership. I think if some of the most successful people in the Huntington market were able to combine their efforts, combine their investment, and bring in a minor league baseball team that had a successful stadium--for instance, if they had a shared stadium, shared baseball stadium that they shared with Marshall somewhere in the 3rd Avenue area, I think it could be, I won't say a goldmine, but it would be successful. I think they would have a very good chance to succeed. Marshall's been talking about building a baseball stadium for at least 20 years, so I don't know when that's going to happen, but for minor league baseball to succeed in Huntington there needs to be a new stadium and there needs to be local ownership. I mean, I try and think back to 1990 when I started working with the Huntington Cubs, and now that I think about how much fun that was, and how much Huntington rallied around that for a time, that it's very intriguing to think what a new stadium and what local ownership could do for a minor league baseball team in Huntington.
L: As far as the puck game--baseball, obviously, is a bit more natural to the area, baseball being baseball in general--how much more difficulty is there in that? Granted, there is that small base from when the Blizzard were still here, but...
C: I think with baseball, one of the things that made it nice in Huntington was the low cost of attending, where the cheapest ticket was $3.25. And also, it was during late June, July, and August, which were a time when no other Marshall sports were going on. So in that instance, short-season minor league baseball was a good fit. As for hockey, the thing that you would hope that you wouldn't compete--you would be competing with Marshall football and Marshall basketball with a hockey season. The thing that I have found in seeing minor league hockey--and I see this even here in Houston--is that people who are big fans of the hockey team don't necessarily cross over to other teams. There will be--if we're talking about the biggest fans, people that are fans of the Huntington Blizzard aren't necessarily the same people that are going to a Marshall basketball game or a Marshall football game. It almost seems to be a whole different section of the population.
L: That was actually something that came up in some of the earlier interviews is that they ended up getting a lot of the fanbase from outside Huntington--a lot of Ohio people, a lot of Kentucky people. One of my best friends is from Logan County, and her family would come out for Blizzard games.
C: Wow. Yeah, that's quite a committment, and what's interesting about that is Huntington--er, I mean Marshall hardly draws anything out of Ohio and Kentucky, so for people to come to see a minor league hockey game, that's a big committment in time, if nothing else.
L: Well, I've expended my mental reserve--anything else you'd like to tack on about hockey, attendance, minor league sports, anything in between?
C: Um--achoo!--sorry, I'm finishing up with the flu, I'm trying not to cough during my quotes.
L: It's quite all right, I actually had a call come in and the corresponding beeps were while you were talking, but it was in between words...
C: (laughter)
L: ...so it's quite all right.
C: No, I think you've done--I'm telling you, you've researched this well, and you've got--you talked to Hatfield and Salvatore, I'm sure that they did a nice job. When I wrote my article, I talked to Salvatore for a long time. He's pretty passionate about it, too, I bet he was an entertaining interview.
L: Oh, he was a great interview. Ernie was a great interview, I actually talked to him twice...
C: Yeah...
L: ...he was quite fun to talk to, I talked to some of the old Blizzard players, didn't actually talk to as many people as I was kinda hoping I was going to end up talking to, but at the same time I'm kinda wanting to turn this into--I'm basically wrapping up the graded project, I've spent half the time thinking about, like, how to go further from here...
C: Right, right...
L: ...do I want to do more about Huntington, do I want to do more about hockey, and, like, the general region--I had one idea to try and start writing a book about hockey in the South. It's always kinda intrigued me--being from Michigan it's always been an intriguing concept.
DR. CLARK: Oh gosh.
L: Yeah. We were--I had one interview going into the next interview, and I just kept going--I just kept the thing running, so i didn't end up actually looking to check if it was even recording. So I missed the entire first interview I was doing, and then...
C: Oh boy.
L: ...yeah, I managed to make that up, and then i nudged the mouse later, and was like "wait a sec, that didn't record and of that! GYAHHH!" So the first half of that, the Hornets chunk, I ended up losing, but there were a couple of bits that--now that I've talked with some of the other people as well, Ernie Salvatore and Don Hatfield in particular, I was wanting to plug some of them into there, because one thing I had remembered from when we were talking the other day was you had mentioned how--the Fieldhouse basically being a gift from the local and state politicians, and Ernie had mentioned it basically being patterned after all the big sports "gardens" of the time, like Madison Square Garden, like Chicago Stadium, and stuff like that--were they really--was that basically their intent, they were going to give them the most state of the art arena they could find?
C: At the time, it definitely was, and they wanted--they were hoping that the arena would be a complete oval that would seat about 8,000 people. What they ended up having was a steel strike during the building of the arena, and what it did is it made prices really almost cost-prohibitive for steel, so they went from an 8,000 seat oval to about a 6500 seat horseshoe, and they made the seats a little bit smaller than they had wanted to in order to be able to reach that attendance number.
L: And then when the hockey team actually came in there, something that Hatfield had mentioned was they had essentially done a learn-the-game scrimmage, and I was just kinda--this kinda plugs in more to the Blizzard, but did they do anything like that when the Blizzard came into town? Anything to kinda get people acquainted to the sport?
C: Um, I don't remember so much a scrimmage that was designed for that purpose, but I do know that first year especially that they would go out of their way to explain hockey rules, whether it be in handouts or the game program or the PA announcer trying to explain what icing was or hooking.
L: There was something else--ah yes, I just remembered the other thing that came up when I was talking with Hatfield was attendance, which was--attendance wasn't that great, but I know they were basically--they spent the whole time they were there trying to compete with Marshall's basketball team, which at the time was fan-freakin-tastic. But Hatfield was mentioning that as the season progressed, they started to get more and more fans, and I was just--I guess a little something to tack onto that, if you could possibly...
C: When they first started the season, there was certainly a lot of confusion about hockey because it was just not a location that there was any hockey news, that hockey just hadn't made an impression in Huntington. So I think once people found that it was exciting, and that the team was pretty good, that it carried on, and attendance grew toward the latter half of the season.
L: From there I wanted to move on to slightly more present-type matters, and I was--one thing I had forgotten I was going to ask from last time was something I'd noticed from looking through things is there was kinda like this nice little curve--I'm not sure if nice is really the right word--but basically--I mean, the beginning of the decade you had the Huntington Cubs come up...
C: Mmhmm...
L: ...then you have the Blizzard come in, you have the Hawks, I think it was, the football team...
C: Right.
L: ...and that kinda like peaked at about mid-decade, then just--pretty much the same fashion, it just all kinda comes--everything just leaves all, not really at once, but in that kind of same downward slope. I mean, is there anything--I'm just kinda wondering, like, what factors were in there, I mean was it just Huntington's decline, or was it just the natural cycle of minor league existence...
C: That's something that is, even to this day, is frustrating to me, just because I've been involved with some of those projects, you know--I had worked at Marshall for a number of years, but I was also in on the ground floor at getting the Huntington Cubs, I worked there for the first three years of that organization. I saw the Huntington Blizzard. I was good friends with Bud Bickel, who ran the Huntington Hawks, and it seemed--it seems as if Huntington would support a minor league team for a few years, and then it's almost like flipping a switch. So it's--it was frustrating from my experiences with the Cubs to see a team do well and average over 2,000 people per game for the lowest level of minor league baseball, and then after a few years the--there's just not the committment there from Huntington, and I don't--I haven't been able to put my finger on why that would necessarily be the case.
L: It was something that confused me a little bit, because I'm thinking like on the one hand, Huntington--particularly on the jobs front--kinda declined around that time, but at the same time, there's--minor league teams, I don't have this as like a mathematical figure, but it seems like they only, on average, they'll stick around for about five years anyhow.
C: But it's--part of the frustration I experienced was why can't Huntington support a minor league baseball team when Bluefield, WV's had one for 70 years? You know, or Bristol, or Johnson City, TN--how come these towns that are much smaller than Huntington have had minor league baseball successfully for 70 years, and Huntington can't seem to keep a minor league team for more than five?
L: And the Johnstown Chiefs are still playing...
C: Right...
L: Another thing, something--as I kinda alluded to earlier, I was somewhat discombobulated in our previous interview, but I had asked what it would take to get another team successfully back here. You had mentioned that the first thing would be local ownership. I don't think I actually followed up on what it might take!
C: I think that it would take--it would definitely take local ownership and local investors. Each one of the minor league organizations, or most of the minor league organizations that we've talked about have included people who have come in from out of state. And I don't know if there's a lack of trust from Huntington consumers towards that ownership, or they feel that money that they're spending is perhaps leaving the area, but I think with local ownership there's a much better chance of succeeding. In sports, one of the things that makes teams successful is the personalities of the people who compete. And people often want to feel as if they know who the athletes are, and they feel that they can relate to them somehow. I think the same thing is true with ownership. I think if some of the most successful people in the Huntington market were able to combine their efforts, combine their investment, and bring in a minor league baseball team that had a successful stadium--for instance, if they had a shared stadium, shared baseball stadium that they shared with Marshall somewhere in the 3rd Avenue area, I think it could be, I won't say a goldmine, but it would be successful. I think they would have a very good chance to succeed. Marshall's been talking about building a baseball stadium for at least 20 years, so I don't know when that's going to happen, but for minor league baseball to succeed in Huntington there needs to be a new stadium and there needs to be local ownership. I mean, I try and think back to 1990 when I started working with the Huntington Cubs, and now that I think about how much fun that was, and how much Huntington rallied around that for a time, that it's very intriguing to think what a new stadium and what local ownership could do for a minor league baseball team in Huntington.
L: As far as the puck game--baseball, obviously, is a bit more natural to the area, baseball being baseball in general--how much more difficulty is there in that? Granted, there is that small base from when the Blizzard were still here, but...
C: I think with baseball, one of the things that made it nice in Huntington was the low cost of attending, where the cheapest ticket was $3.25. And also, it was during late June, July, and August, which were a time when no other Marshall sports were going on. So in that instance, short-season minor league baseball was a good fit. As for hockey, the thing that you would hope that you wouldn't compete--you would be competing with Marshall football and Marshall basketball with a hockey season. The thing that I have found in seeing minor league hockey--and I see this even here in Houston--is that people who are big fans of the hockey team don't necessarily cross over to other teams. There will be--if we're talking about the biggest fans, people that are fans of the Huntington Blizzard aren't necessarily the same people that are going to a Marshall basketball game or a Marshall football game. It almost seems to be a whole different section of the population.
L: That was actually something that came up in some of the earlier interviews is that they ended up getting a lot of the fanbase from outside Huntington--a lot of Ohio people, a lot of Kentucky people. One of my best friends is from Logan County, and her family would come out for Blizzard games.
C: Wow. Yeah, that's quite a committment, and what's interesting about that is Huntington--er, I mean Marshall hardly draws anything out of Ohio and Kentucky, so for people to come to see a minor league hockey game, that's a big committment in time, if nothing else.
L: Well, I've expended my mental reserve--anything else you'd like to tack on about hockey, attendance, minor league sports, anything in between?
C: Um--achoo!--sorry, I'm finishing up with the flu, I'm trying not to cough during my quotes.
L: It's quite all right, I actually had a call come in and the corresponding beeps were while you were talking, but it was in between words...
C: (laughter)
L: ...so it's quite all right.
C: No, I think you've done--I'm telling you, you've researched this well, and you've got--you talked to Hatfield and Salvatore, I'm sure that they did a nice job. When I wrote my article, I talked to Salvatore for a long time. He's pretty passionate about it, too, I bet he was an entertaining interview.
L: Oh, he was a great interview. Ernie was a great interview, I actually talked to him twice...
C: Yeah...
L: ...he was quite fun to talk to, I talked to some of the old Blizzard players, didn't actually talk to as many people as I was kinda hoping I was going to end up talking to, but at the same time I'm kinda wanting to turn this into--I'm basically wrapping up the graded project, I've spent half the time thinking about, like, how to go further from here...
C: Right, right...
L: ...do I want to do more about Huntington, do I want to do more about hockey, and, like, the general region--I had one idea to try and start writing a book about hockey in the South. It's always kinda intrigued me--being from Michigan it's always been an intriguing concept.
22 June 2010
Our map
One of the towns that I figured would potentially play a role in where a prospective Huntington franchise--Evansville--will end up in the I/CHL now. Surprisingly, this is effective this season, as opposed to upon the completion of their new arena in 2011, which means for the 2010-11 season the Icemen will still play in the miniscule Swonder Ice Arena.
Evansville I always figured was a key point because it's just a 5 hour drive west on I-64 from Huntington. If you could line up Evansville, Huntington, Lexington, and Louisville, that would be a fantastic road swing--perhaps a southeast division in the USHL, a northern leg of the SPHL, or some extra meat on the CHL's new northern division (aka the old IHL).
Other cities that I think would make great travel partners with a hypothetical Huntington franchise:
Evansville I always figured was a key point because it's just a 5 hour drive west on I-64 from Huntington. If you could line up Evansville, Huntington, Lexington, and Louisville, that would be a fantastic road swing--perhaps a southeast division in the USHL, a northern leg of the SPHL, or some extra meat on the CHL's new northern division (aka the old IHL).
Other cities that I think would make great travel partners with a hypothetical Huntington franchise:
- Roanoke, VA: former Southern hockey hotbed, currently host to a number of collegiate club teams since the last minor league effort, the old Roanoke Valley Vipers in the UHL
- Richmond, VA: last hosted the SPHL's Renegades; they're considering a replacement for the old Coliseum
- Dayton/Troy, OH: I include Dayton and Troy because A--both cities at different times were rivals to Huntington, B--both cities are fairly close to each other, and C--I think both cities could be available. Dayton has been shaky in the last few years, with the Bombers bombing and with the Gems struggling; meanwhile Troy seems to be the best-run franchise in Barry Soskin's NJHL
- Cincinnati, OH: while the ECHL's Cyclones play downtown in US Bank Arena, I don't think Huntington is a good fit at present for the ECHL. However, the Cincinnati Gardens are vacant, and Cincinnati was able to sustain two hockey teams (the Cyclones and the AHL's Mighty Ducks) from 1997-2004. I don't see that being too feasible unless the Gardens team is in juniors.
- Indianapolis, IN: if Huntington ends up in the USHL, they would probably--barring other expansion--be in a division with the Ice, as well as...
- Youngstown, OH: the Phantoms.
- Wheeling, WV: currently still hosting the ECHL's Nailers; there has been much mumbling over the last few years about dissatisfaction with the Brooks Brothers, who own the team, and WesBanco Arena. They're playing a few games next season in...
- Johnstown, PA: who just lost the ECHL's last original team, the Chiefs, to Greenville, SC. I see any future movement with Wheeling bringing Johnstown with them, or vice versa.
- Pikeville, KY: this is really just a pipe dream on my end, and probably a bad idea given that it would potentially suck some fans away in Eastern Kentucky and Southern WV that would otherwise go to Huntington. That said, it would be a pretty kick-ass rivalry I think. Kinda like...
- Charleston, WV: if only the Civic Center had an ice plant, or...
- South Charleston, WV: had a few thousand more seats!
Reading between the lines
Wedged in the agenda for last week's City Council meeting was this little item:
Looking at their website, the firm of Ross, Sinclaire, and Associates specialize in municipal finance, including "programs specifically designed to aid in the purchase/lease of equipment". Remember that financial advisor Steve Williams was talking about earlier? This could be it. Second reading--and possible passage--is next meeting, on the 28th. Happy birthday to me?
1st Reading of an Ordinance re: AN ORDINANCE OF COUNCIL AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT WITH ROSS, SINCLAIR & ASSOCIATES, LLC
Looking at their website, the firm of Ross, Sinclaire, and Associates specialize in municipal finance, including "programs specifically designed to aid in the purchase/lease of equipment". Remember that financial advisor Steve Williams was talking about earlier? This could be it. Second reading--and possible passage--is next meeting, on the 28th. Happy birthday to me?
04 June 2010
Maybe I was hasty about the CHL?
The CHL has merged--well more like absorbed--the IHL, creating what they call a "super-league", but in reality is about the same size as the ECHL (now if the CHL and ECHL combine, THAT would be a super-league). Fort Wayne, Bloomington, and Quad City are in, Flint and Dayton are questionable, as is Port Huron--allegedly Port Huron may end up moving into Evansville's new arena, which would make things interesting as far as our fate, since previously the USHL was the top prospect for the new arena just a little ways down I-64.
16 May 2010
It's amazing what a trip to Home Depot will get you
While we wait on hockey, Huntington this past week added ANOTHER indoor football team. This one will be in the brand-new Ultimate Indoor Football League, run by the founders of the AIFA that the old Heroes were in; presently the league ranks include just Huntington and Johnstown, but they still have a ways to the season opener (early next year, to be precise).
This--the West Virginia Wild joke nonwithstanding--would be the third indoor football team in Huntington in a decade. Needless to say the cost factors are significantly lower in this sport than in hockey, but how much so? Former Heroes GM Chip Rossetti went into hockey after leaving the AIFA, taking the GM reins for the Evansville Icemen; he says the annual budget for indoor football and low-level-A hockey is about the same--$300,000 per season. For comparison's sake, the SPHL (high-A) strives to keep its budgets in the $1,000,000/season neighborhood.
Then there's equipment. AJ Boleski, who will be landlord (or super I guess would be more accurate) for this newest endeavor at the BSSA, puts the cost of turf at $50,000 new, boards and pads for the boards (the pads basically go over conventional hockey boards) totalling a shade under $100,000, and the goalposts--well, THIS explains everything--$400 of PVC pipe and yellow paint. Total. For both of them. No, really.
All this is dwarfed by the cost of an ice surface, not counting upkeep. Sucks to say it, but hockey is a rather expensive sport.
This--the West Virginia Wild joke nonwithstanding--would be the third indoor football team in Huntington in a decade. Needless to say the cost factors are significantly lower in this sport than in hockey, but how much so? Former Heroes GM Chip Rossetti went into hockey after leaving the AIFA, taking the GM reins for the Evansville Icemen; he says the annual budget for indoor football and low-level-A hockey is about the same--$300,000 per season. For comparison's sake, the SPHL (high-A) strives to keep its budgets in the $1,000,000/season neighborhood.
Then there's equipment. AJ Boleski, who will be landlord (or super I guess would be more accurate) for this newest endeavor at the BSSA, puts the cost of turf at $50,000 new, boards and pads for the boards (the pads basically go over conventional hockey boards) totalling a shade under $100,000, and the goalposts--well, THIS explains everything--$400 of PVC pipe and yellow paint. Total. For both of them. No, really.
All this is dwarfed by the cost of an ice surface, not counting upkeep. Sucks to say it, but hockey is a rather expensive sport.
07 May 2010
"Time is of the essence"
Had a productive email session with Steve Williams, head of Huntington City Council's finance committee--while the tax boondoggle continues, they are in fact working on things with the Big Sandy Superstore Arena:
The city must pick one of these proposals to put forward to the Finance Committee, and things get rolling from there... important thing to note is that the bonds must be taken care of by September 1.
The City has requested proposals for Financial Advisors to assess the Arena
project and make recommendations as to how we should structure the bond issue,
determine the revenue source to pay for the bonds issued, and identify the
appropriate governmental entity to issue the bonds.
The city must pick one of these proposals to put forward to the Finance Committee, and things get rolling from there... important thing to note is that the bonds must be taken care of by September 1.
09 March 2010
All I know is that we will not be the Ice Bats
I'd been meaning to put something like this up for a while, but a commenter inspired me--off the top of my head there is no way a prospective Huntington team ends up in the following leagues:
UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: One of the closest in proximity to Huntington, with a team in Youngstown and rumored expansion in the past to Louisville and Evansville. A big plus--as evidenced by the addition of the Muskegon Lumberjacks to the league's ranks next season--is a much better business model for smaller markets than the existing minor leagues, helped along by a shorter schedule and the fact that it's a strictly amateur league--there are no salaries in the USHL. Despite this, the quality of play in the USHL has grown significantly in the last decade, with the number of NHL draftees with experience in the league now rivaling the established Major Junior leagues.
Cons: Being a junior league may turn off some, particularly those who feel that amateur hockey would provide an inferior product. In addition, while there has been recent eastward expansion, the core of the league is still in the Central Time Zone--presently half the league resides in either Iowa or Nebraska!
SOUTHERN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Until recently, this had a similarly favorable geographic footprint, with teams in Richmond and Winston-Salem, and Roanoke has been on the shortlist of expansion candidates. While a minor-pro league, the costs have been kept down significantly compared to other leagues, and the SPHL is seen as a model for "A" level minor league hockey. An attempt had been made to enter a predecessor league in 2003-04, with former Blizzard captain Jim Bermingham--then head coach for their team in Knoxville--acting as an ambassador of sorts between investors and the league.
Cons: Again, this had a favorable footprint; however, the league simultaneously lost Richmond and Winston-Salem and gained teams in Louisiana and Mississippi, further solidifying the southernness of the league. As it stands the closest travel partner to Huntington would be Knoxville--though this may not be as major of a problem; when the aforementioned Richmond franchise started play, the league stretched all the way down to Jacksonville!
INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Geography helps somewhat in this league, in particular after they picked up Dayton this past offseason. Huntington had a team in the old IHL, of course, and while the current league is slightly farther westward than the 1950s-era IHL, the current footprint is still manageable. As I had mentioned not too long ago, at least one person had expressed interest in a Huntington franchise in the IHL, and thought I was apparently the most knowledgeable person about it--I'm flattered, really...
Cons: By all accounts the league is being propped up by the management of the Fort Wayne Komets; it has been plagued with instability going back to its days as the United Hockey League, and a rebranding and shedding of farther-flung teams (at one point the UHL had teams in suburban St. Louis, Binghamton, NY, and Asheville, NC!) has only served to put lipstick on the pig. The league has lost four markets to other leagues in the last three years (a fifth, the Quad Cities, left, then returned after a fiasco in the AHL), and their efforts in Dayton have been ridiculous at best.
EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE ECHL
Pros: C'mon, you guys remember the ECHL! Much of the North Division remains the same or only moderately shifted, with Wheeling, Toledo, and (for another few weeks anyway) Johnstown bolstered by Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, Trenton, NJ, Reading, PA, and Elmira, NY. While the league has a western division stretching all the way up and down the Pacific Coast from Southern California to Alaska, there is no regular season cross-conference play, so it really doesn't factor in until the playoffs roll around.
Cons: Johnstown is leaving, and Wheeling has been rumored on the chopping block for a few years now. More significantly, though, is the fact that the ECHL has so far shown little, if any, interest in moving back to Huntington.
AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: I'm not stutter-typing, there has to my knowledge been at least one inquiry into putting an AHL franchise in little old Huntington! It would reunite the area with old ECHL rivalsHampton Roads Norfolk and Charlotte, coming into the league next season, as well as some decent road trips to Cleveland and Wilkes-Barre.
Cons: There is no way Huntington could sustain a team in the AHL. Period. If the BSSA sold out every night, the costs of maintaining this caliber of team would simply overwhelm the franchise in a 30-some-year-old 5000-seat arena with no boxes or any such revenue generating amenities.
FEDERAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Closer than the AAHL, and they're looking at Johnstown, which suggests that they might be shooting a tick higher than mere "rec-rink A" minor league hockey.
Cons: I'm VERY wary--this is the fourth different league in pretty much the same footprint in four years, with few actual differences. They're courting Mr. Soskin as well (or is it the other way around), and they've run into trouble regarding a pilfered logo. Not a good start...
- NHL (too big)
- both CHLs (Central and Canadian (and yes, the Canadian Major Junior system has several teams in America)), and the NAHL (all too distant)
- the AAHL (too distant, too small, and too unstable anyway)
UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: One of the closest in proximity to Huntington, with a team in Youngstown and rumored expansion in the past to Louisville and Evansville. A big plus--as evidenced by the addition of the Muskegon Lumberjacks to the league's ranks next season--is a much better business model for smaller markets than the existing minor leagues, helped along by a shorter schedule and the fact that it's a strictly amateur league--there are no salaries in the USHL. Despite this, the quality of play in the USHL has grown significantly in the last decade, with the number of NHL draftees with experience in the league now rivaling the established Major Junior leagues.
Cons: Being a junior league may turn off some, particularly those who feel that amateur hockey would provide an inferior product. In addition, while there has been recent eastward expansion, the core of the league is still in the Central Time Zone--presently half the league resides in either Iowa or Nebraska!
SOUTHERN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Until recently, this had a similarly favorable geographic footprint, with teams in Richmond and Winston-Salem, and Roanoke has been on the shortlist of expansion candidates. While a minor-pro league, the costs have been kept down significantly compared to other leagues, and the SPHL is seen as a model for "A" level minor league hockey. An attempt had been made to enter a predecessor league in 2003-04, with former Blizzard captain Jim Bermingham--then head coach for their team in Knoxville--acting as an ambassador of sorts between investors and the league.
Cons: Again, this had a favorable footprint; however, the league simultaneously lost Richmond and Winston-Salem and gained teams in Louisiana and Mississippi, further solidifying the southernness of the league. As it stands the closest travel partner to Huntington would be Knoxville--though this may not be as major of a problem; when the aforementioned Richmond franchise started play, the league stretched all the way down to Jacksonville!
INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Geography helps somewhat in this league, in particular after they picked up Dayton this past offseason. Huntington had a team in the old IHL, of course, and while the current league is slightly farther westward than the 1950s-era IHL, the current footprint is still manageable. As I had mentioned not too long ago, at least one person had expressed interest in a Huntington franchise in the IHL, and thought I was apparently the most knowledgeable person about it--I'm flattered, really...
Cons: By all accounts the league is being propped up by the management of the Fort Wayne Komets; it has been plagued with instability going back to its days as the United Hockey League, and a rebranding and shedding of farther-flung teams (at one point the UHL had teams in suburban St. Louis, Binghamton, NY, and Asheville, NC!) has only served to put lipstick on the pig. The league has lost four markets to other leagues in the last three years (a fifth, the Quad Cities, left, then returned after a fiasco in the AHL), and their efforts in Dayton have been ridiculous at best.
Pros: C'mon, you guys remember the ECHL! Much of the North Division remains the same or only moderately shifted, with Wheeling, Toledo, and (for another few weeks anyway) Johnstown bolstered by Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, Trenton, NJ, Reading, PA, and Elmira, NY. While the league has a western division stretching all the way up and down the Pacific Coast from Southern California to Alaska, there is no regular season cross-conference play, so it really doesn't factor in until the playoffs roll around.
Cons: Johnstown is leaving, and Wheeling has been rumored on the chopping block for a few years now. More significantly, though, is the fact that the ECHL has so far shown little, if any, interest in moving back to Huntington.
AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: I'm not stutter-typing, there has to my knowledge been at least one inquiry into putting an AHL franchise in little old Huntington! It would reunite the area with old ECHL rivals
Cons: There is no way Huntington could sustain a team in the AHL. Period. If the BSSA sold out every night, the costs of maintaining this caliber of team would simply overwhelm the franchise in a 30-some-year-old 5000-seat arena with no boxes or any such revenue generating amenities.
FEDERAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Pros: Closer than the AAHL, and they're looking at Johnstown, which suggests that they might be shooting a tick higher than mere "rec-rink A" minor league hockey.
Cons: I'm VERY wary--this is the fourth different league in pretty much the same footprint in four years, with few actual differences. They're courting Mr. Soskin as well (or is it the other way around), and they've run into trouble regarding a pilfered logo. Not a good start...
23 February 2010
We have our day
Huntington City Council takes up the Big Sandy Superstore Arena's future on March 20. Yes, that's a Saturday, so for those of you that don't live five hours away, you have few excuses to drop by... unless of course we get another two feet of snow (the way this winter has been I wouldn't be surprised if it snows until April).
01 February 2010
More Facebooking!
We now have our own Facebook group, "Bring Hockey Back to Huntington, WV", thanks to the always awesome Bill Sawyers, who also found this bit uploaded by the WOWK Weather Center's YouTube account:
24 January 2010
AJ: "From what I can tell, there's enough interest and buzz from the last time there was a team down here to sustain a team again"
The rest of the story, from the H-D: $5.1 million has already been approved--unanimously--by the Cabell County Commission for new seating, hockey stuff, a boiler and some concrete for the plaza out front. It's now up to City Council to figure out how to work it into the budget. This happens in March--if they can do it, we move a BIG step closer to a new team.
23 January 2010
BULLETIN
I was starting to work on a piece hypothesizing what it would take to get Marshall a D-1 NCAA Hockey program, but that's on the backburner because Big Sandy Superstore Arena OFFICIALLY wants $5 million for upgrades. Unfortunately, this is a "print exclusive", and I'm 5 hours away from the nearest Herald-Dispatch, so if anyone could please fill in the blanks for me, I'd greatly appreciate it...
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