Its Official: No Storm for 2 years

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From the Blade today:

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 0770416001

Article published Monday, April 16, 2007
TOLEDO SPORTS BLOCKBUSTER
Mud Hens confirm Toledo Storm purchase


By JOHN WAGNER
BLADE SPORTS WRITER


Mud Hens officials this morning confirmed that they have formed a not-for-profit organization to assume controlling interest for the Toledo Storm hockey team.
They also confirmed at a press conference at 11 a.m. that there will be no hockey in the city until 2009, when a new sports arena is expected to open.

Toledo Mud Hens General Manager Joe Napoli said the decision to suspend hockey in Toledo for two years was based on research that showed the Storm was losing money for the last few seasons.

He also said a second reason for idling the team stems from the feeling that keeping the current arena open for hockey games would have delayed development of the planned Marina District.

Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken said this morning, "A lot of people may be worried that we’re losing hockey, but we’re saving hockey."

Toledo Arena Sports, Inc., will sign an agreement that allows them to acquire the assets for Professional Hockey LLC, the corporation that runs the Storm, after the team completes its playoff run this year. Among the assets it will acquire is the team’s nickname as well as its membership in the ECHL.

Mr. Napoli said the Mud Hens will give the county the money to purchase the hockey franchise.

Franchises in the ECHL typically cost between $750,000 to $1.5 million.

“Once the hockey team is up and running, it will reimburse the Mud Hens for the purchase price,” Mr. Napoli said.

The net proceeds of the hockey team will be used to run the franchise, with any profit used to whittle down the mortgage on the new arena.

The arena, which will be owned by Lucas County, is expected to cost up to $85 million. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year on a site bounded by Superior and Huron streets and Madison and Jefferson avenues.


Toledo Arena Sports, Inc., is a private not-for-profit corporation that will run the new hockey franchise in a style similar to that of the Mud Hens.

Patrick Zohn of The Gateway Group, a sports facility consulting firm in Cleveland, said the Mud Hens’ purchase of the Storm’s assets sends a strong message to the community about the arena project as well as the future of hockey in Toledo.

“[It’s good] when an organization like the Mud Hens, which has been recognized nationally as one of the best-run franchises in baseball, says it will use its experience to run an anchor tenant in the new arena,” Mr. Zohn said. “It means minor-league hockey will be sustained in Toledo at a high level.”

Mr. Zohn said he expects Mr. Napoli and the Mud Hen franchise will “re-envision” the minor-league hockey experience in Toledo.

“What Joe Napoli and his staff have shown is the capacity to make the baseball experience something a nonbaseball fan wants to experience,” Mr. Zohn said. “I feel he and his staff will bring the same creativity and broaden the fan base of hockey here in Toledo.”

Mr. Zohn said he didn’t expect that the two-year hiatus would prove fatal to hockey in Toledo.

“The circumstances here are a little different between, say, when the Browns left Cleveland,” he said. “In that situation, once fans knew football was coming back, it fueled enthusiasm for football. In this instance you have a local organization that is known and loved by the community. I think Toledo and Lucas County can rest assured that they will hold this hockey franchise in the same trust.”

Mr. Napoli is expected to oversee the hockey and an arena football franchise as well as the Mud Hens, with an executive team for each franchise handling the ticket sales, sponsorships, marketing, and food-and- beverage services.

“The theory behind it is to preserve hockey in Toledo forever — or for as long as it’s financially viable,” Mr. Napoli said. “And it’s to keep a private owner from just taking the franchise and moving it out of town.

“The positive is that we’ll be able to take our knowledge and expertise and apply it to all three [franchises]. Sports attracts really bright people, and we get to hire all these bright, energetic people. That gets us excited.”

The biggest difference between the Mud Hens’ operation and that of an arena football or hockey team is that, in football and hockey, the local team is responsible for player procurement and salaries. The Mud Hens receive their players from a parent franchise, the Detroit Tigers, that selects all the players and pays their salaries.

“We know we’ll need to hire outstanding coaches that are principled, have character, and know how to recruit good players and manage the team,” Mr. Napoli said. “We’re very confident that we can accomplish that.”

ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna is expected to be at today’s meeting to announce that the league will suspend operations in Toledo for one year. The team will not play for two seasons while the arena is being built, but the league cannot grant a voluntary suspension for more than one year at a time.

Mr. Napoli said his group considered bringing an American Hockey League franchise to Toledo, but the ECHL was chosen because the costs of an ECHL franchise were lower than those of an AHL franchise.

“When you boil it down to brass tacks, it comes down to a couple of things: the cost of the franchise, and the cost of ongoing operations,” Mr. Napoli said. “Some people also would say the marketability of the franchise — will fans be more attracted to Double-A or Triple-A hockey?

“When we looked at our audience, they told us that they are looking for affordability, they’re looking for family activities, and they’re looking for fun. The market tells us it doesn’t matter what level of play is involved.”

Mr. Napoli said he expects that the “Storm” nickname will be changed when the team returns to the ice in the fall of 2009.

“As much as the community enjoys the name ‘Storm,’ the nickname is a fairly common name,” Mr. Napoli said. “We have a pretty long list of [nickname] options that are indigenous to Toledo that we think the community will enthusiastically embrace.”

While the purchase of the Storm franchise does not include the purchase of front office contracts, Mr. Napoli said he hopes to meet with the team’s current front office personnel.

“We look forward to having the opportunity to meet with them and find out if their career goals are congruent with our standards,” he said. “We look forward to getting acquainted with them and learning about them.”

Contact John Wagner at:[email protected],or 419-724-6481.