Critical Issues of the Future of Roller Hockey

[dcdonkey]

How do we make local communities (if not the nation) conscious that: a.) semi-professional or professional roller hockey even exists in their locality, and b.) how do we "sell" the sport so fans have a motive to show up and pay their money. When I say show up, I mean have a respectable number of fans when compared to an ECHL game. We shouldn?t be a league competing with local men?s house leagues for attendance. Any fan can probably get better consumer satisfaction from a house league game (which also includes fighting) for their money?s worth. What can we offer that would provide for a unique patron experience? This experience must keep people coming back.

Progression needs to be more drastic, as such goals are obviously achievable. For example, let?s consider how the WHA was able to create an identity with the hockey-going public in literally a small number of years. The key point is that the WHA waited for the right time and made its move. They weren't successful because of problems like poor leadership and management. I'm sure less than one percent of hockey fans realize MLRH or XIHL exist. Perhaps we should also look to how arena football developed from its origin.

[born2runPROgm]

I think an RHI type league would work well in UHL/echl type venues. small arenas (3-5000 seat) and in towns where they wouldn't have to compete against other Pro hockey teams. UHL type leagues work because they're in small cities that support there teams, for example: the WBS Penguins or the Wheeling Nailors.

The Gambler

[WMBG_GM]

Sorry, this is long. Something I have wanted to say for a while, dcdonkey kinda brought it out. It isn't meant as a lecture. Just my observations & thoughts. bl


This is just my (not so) humble opinion, but to get fans is pretty simple. It is the pain part of the "simple" approach that few can tolerate.

A) Advertise, Advertise, ADVERTISE! Just like JC Ripme! Furniture gets customers into its store to buy overpriced junk, you have to let your customer (aka fans) know you are there. This is the pain part. Advertising cost $$. It is actually easier for the furniture store as their customer already knows what furniture is and that they need it. The store just has to convince them that they need it now and that the store is the place to get it. The potential roller fan doesn't know about the game yet. (And by fan, I mean just that, a honest to god, $$ paying, program buying, jersey wearing fan. Not a mom, pop, brother, buddy, girl, etc etc) So this advertising also has to educate the fan that roller is good and worth $$. With the NHL debacle, today's target is the ice fan. Give them their fix. Mostly educated about hockey and likely to give you a shot. Press Releases to the local newspapers are a must as well. If they give you a story, that is free advertising.

which leads to (even more pain) B:

The fan experience. You can spend all the $$ in the world to get the fan in the door, but if they don't have a good time, they won't likely come back. Even if the home team loses, they (the fan) better have fun. The presentation is (IMNSHO) far more important than the actual quality of the play at this point in time. Many of you here will likely disagree with that statement, but think on this: What is your game to the fan? It is their date, their fun nite out with the kids, it is the _ENTERTAINMENT_ for the evening. If the great game is a drag because the presentation of that game was horrible or, worse yet, started 35 minutes late because the visiting team was late, or a ref showed up without skates or all of the above, you will never see those "fans" again. And all the money you spent on your advertising, just got flushed away. This also goes into how the team looks and behaves. Frankly, a fan should never see (most certainly never smell) a hockey bag. Take a close at how college ice teams look and operate. Arrive early, look good and take the fan's experience serious. They might actually take you serious too.

Last but not the least, C:

The leagues have to get it together. I don't mean one big happy league. I mean a league of equals that actually works as opposed to just whomever says "Let's go" today. I think XIHL has a good start at this. My only hand on experience was with MLRH AAA and it was steadily improving prior to imploding. Slowly, but improving none the less. The league has to set some standards and stick by them. It has to provide the teams with the tools to operate and give them the assurances that rest of the league will operate so you can safely burn the $$ needed to build your "brand" The league has also got to protect the players. Make sure they know their sacrifices are getting the league somewhere which in turn, helps the player.


In retrospect, with the Warriors, I did ok with A. First year I did TV spots on cable (ESPN) and newspaper. Way to much $$. Second year I did radio & newspaper. Definately better bang for the buck. It was the B) part that I did poorly at. We tried, but the wrapping still looked pretty lame. C) was out of my control. Perfect case in point, best overall presentation we had, Warriors vs Jokers on weekend before Xmas. We had 220 pay at the gate. I had gotten my hands on 100 cowbells and put stickers on the bells that were pics of players I printed out. The players responded and gave us a very exciting game with a last minute come from behind to tie the game and an OT win for the home team. The roof just about came off that building from the noise of the bells and the fans. Absolute great time. Next home game? Feb 7th, more than 40 days later. I think I saw maybe 5 bells at that next game. Real bummer.

See, simple. For the record, I spent just over $50k in two seasons with the Warriors in trying to make it work. That is where that pain part comes in. Income against that $50k was just under $10k. That math only works at Eron.

Pain sucks

Ben Loyall

[5_hole_master]

agree 100% about the arenas, the buildings that all of these teams MLRH PIHA and XIHL are not fan friendly at all.. most of them are converted warehouses, no one wants to come sit in a cold warehouse and watch roller hockey...

look at some of the arenas that are played in....
Marple, hardly any seating... could barely hold the crowd it has last year for the MLRH finals, and on top of that its one of the smallest rinks in the league.... and from a players point of view... too small and no showers

next rink: feasterville, another small surface, playing games you can hear whistles and noise from the other rink that is 25 feet away from the one you are playing on, not very fan freindly.. like a sweat box in the spring and summer

extremes, probably nicest size floor that is played on but again not very good seating for the fans, a few sets of bleachers and thats it

Z rink = the nicest rink (playing surface) in the 3 leagues but what spectator area is there? not much, you have to stand up top or stand next to the glass, unless you are really luck and you get one of the 10 folding chairs in the place


this post is not to bash the arenas, but to make everyone realize that fans especially ones that do not have any affiliation with that home rink, do not want to go and sit in a warehouse and watch our sport... venue changes are the first of many steps to getting our sport recognized

take it for what its worth

[MDE3]

Sorry to be picky, but your use of WBS Penguins is a little off on the analogy.

They are an AHL franchise, playing out of a contemporary 8100 seat arena, the Wachovia Center. They do draw 5000 to 8000 fans per game , so it is definitely a hockey center, and typical of towns that have local rivalries, with Binghampton just an hour away, Syracuse 2 hours, Albany 3 hours, Rochester 3.5 hours, Bridgeport 3 hours, Hartford 3 hours etc. etc. So although not ECHL, or UHL, the point is made. I think the true Pro Inline Leagues might have to start in rinks of 1500 - 3000 capacities ..if they can even be found, just for cost control.

The ironic thing, and a reflection on how little inline is marketed, is that Scranton an obvious hockey center, has one of the nicest one rink inline facilities in the North East(there is also an ice rink in the same complex).

Ice Box Two, with easy access just off the Scranton Expressway has a full Olympic size sport court rink (105' x 200' I believe) just completed in January of 04, room to put at least 10 rows of metal stands, to where between standing room, and seating, the place could host maybe 500 fans. There is room for a nice upstairs restaurant if the business justified it, etc etc.

This facility cannot get 10 players for men's inline open hockey.

Maybe the sport needs to do a whole series of demonstration games ...with the appropriate advertising in many of these smaller towns where going to a hockey game is still considered a major night out.

Really target market the sport by selecting towns that have the right sized arenas to start with. Show people the sport, create the fan base. A barnstorming roadshow tour would be fun.

It takes money but first it takes some serious thought and research ......

[maddogs36]

Facilities has definately been a tradional problem for inline hockey in our area anyway. And that is the frustrating part, to actually get over 300 people at a game, and have a facility that doesnt support even giving the players a private place to call a locker room.

We did get some great press and the washington post is supposed to be running the article in thrusdays paper, for those folks in our area who want to see hockey but have no nhl or minor teams (ice) to watch that are within any kind of reasonable driving distance.

With all the youth players and the increase in college particaption, you would think that facilities would be interested in fans attending the games. But after all, most facilities just want their court time covered and dont care if its paid for by a birthday party rental or a hockey game.

I agree the "leagues" need to work together, We need a roller hockey "summit". Rich G... didnt we do this like 10 years ago ?

[NLane]

Have you been to some of the ECHL buildings? Let's talk about dumps! Even the ice isn't done right! I don't think the arena has to be pretty, just functional for the purpose you need. Product and entertainment is the key.

[5_hole_master]

what fan wants to pay money to sit in a converted warehouse?? a professional arena should have more then 2 sets of metal bleachers to sit on

[ScrappersSponser]

But yet a lot of fans pay that money for minor league baseball to set on bleachers???? HMMM I guess the bleachers can't be the problems....It is that the facilities are not designed for the masses when it comes to fans....But the problem is that nobody has the money to rent the larger arenas for 1500-3000 in seating....Since we continue to always talk about why the sport isnt working in small facilities take this thought....I have 1 million dollars to donate once somebody gets a clue and gets this off the ground.....LOL just kidding about the money but what we need to do is get that kind of money to do what your talking about.... Lets appeal to the Large Companies.....See if we can get Tour or Rink Rat to fully sponsor a league together....They pick up the tab for the rink bill and you get to keep the money on the tickets...Just remember a tree doesnt grow in a day...A tree grows over many decades!!!

Jeff Haze

[5_hole_master]

hockey and baseball are two different sports with 2 different crowds, i'll sit through a yanks game in the bleachers no problem, but im not going to sit through a rangers or devils game on the bleachers.... what we offer needs to be appealing to the public eye... and face it right now it is not... we need, like you said, the sponsors to come foward and help get this off the ground, otherwise while its "pro" to us it is traveling rec league to the other 99.9% of the population

[RichardGraham]

Hi Maddogs36,


>>I agree the "leagues" need to work together, We need a roller hockey "summit". Rich G... didnt we do this like 10 years ago ?<<

Yes, there have been these kinds of efforts in the past, but they've never really gotten very far because many groups can't see past their own interests. There have been a few "mergers" and meetings of minds in the past, but not enough to ease the fragmentation of our great sport, sadly.

I tried to get people in the industry together at three InLine Hockey News and Inline Hockey Central Athletes of the Year Awards ceremonies, but I lost my shirt on the last one when GameWorks in Las Vegas allowed people to enter through a back door. Those people didn't pay. One big skate company's rep even said, "Why should I pay $25 for dinner when I can eat for free in Las Vegas?" I couldn't defeat that kind of attitude, so I gave up.

If someone else takes up the gauntlet, I'll attend and gladly pay an entry fee, but I'm too burnt out to do it again myself.

Sincerely,

Richard Graham
Editor
Inline Hockey Central

[RichardGraham]

Hi Jeff,

Doesn't Bill Gates have a son or two? Let's get his kids involved in our sport. Ka-ching! [img]/wtimages/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Sincerely,

Richard Graham
Editor
Inline Hockey Central

[SportsAnnouncing]

This idea of having one sponsor would be fine, but you have to realize why baseball works in facilities it does. It's there for the summer and is the primary client, therefore rent is cheap or non-existant. No arena will have an event of 40-games or less as a "primary" client and that's the problem. Rents go up.

I would like to see more facilities opened up like the one MLRH used in England or the stadium arena at the Laurel Ice Gardens. These have actual seats and provide a nice place to view a game. Unfortunately, to make a facility like this feasible, you'd need to fill the rink time all day, every day. You'd also need to offer some sort of extra to attract more people as well.

I've worked in Minor League Baseball, the appeal isn't the bleachers, it's sitting outside on a sunny day or nice evening with all the smells, etc., that have been built up over the last 125 years. It's a tradition.

Something also needs to be done with the pace of the game. I have heard from several people lately that the speed and tempo of high school ice hockey is better and I would be inclined to agree, especially after the game I saw tonight.

Something needs to be done with the game, something major. What's there isn't working and the sport will remain a recreational sport unless something can be done to attract and maintain interest in the fans.

I've enjoyed every game I've seen because it's different from ice. But I'm in the minority in this. Inline and ice are two different sports, but have "hockey" in them. Since inline is the younger brother, people expect it to be like ice. How do we make these changes but also maintain the integrity of the sport?

Jarrod.

Visit SportsAnnouncing.com for info on Game Production, announcing and more

[GROWL]

Well to be terribly honest, we tried to do this last year and I believe the outcome resulted in what is now AIHP. It brought together the 3 major players that are now involved in running PIHA/XIHL.

However that said, I still agree that a larger effort needs to be made to focus on where we are going with all of this. The one thing I can say about this sport is this:
So many people have ideas, complaints, and critism, but are so unwilling to step up to the plate. Now this isn't necessarily a insult, maybe just a reality of time and money. However as an owner of a pro team, who survived by being inventive for two years, I can atleast say I put my best foot forward. I dont have the all the answers and certainly dont have the money or contacts to help grow inline hockey. Im sure I have the same or less resources then everyone else who has ideas. So I say... Step up and do something about it. It's like we are waiting for someone to all of a sudden decide to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at our sport and build this wonderful pro league. Well even if that were the case, which i believe it isnt we have to keep going for now. So step up!!! Contact the leagues with your ideas or offer your help, money, time to a pro team owner. Fan and player effort will only motivate the leagues and owners to make improvements.

[GROWL]

I agree completely, but again this is not a reality. We are better off trying to get into small venue arenas during off hockey season. However there are a few decent facilities that I have been to. For example: The Pepsi Centre in Buffalo, the ESL Centre in Rochester, Ice House is another one.