Mike Griffith: Could Fresno Falcons become extinct?
| Friday, Dec 12 2008 02:08 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:56 PM
Are the Fresno Falcons an endangered species? Not much news is coming out of our neighbor 100 miles north of here but it appears that much of the population is apathetic.
And that could be the death blow for a proud franchise, whose present ownership group has publicly stated it lost $1 million each of the last two seasons when the team played at Save Mart Center, and that it wants out of the hockey business.
The franchise moved back to Selland Arena this year in hopes of reviving interest and saving money. But, despite being in first place of the Pacific Division since the season opened, the interest part of the equation hasn't happened.
The Falcons are averaging 3,453 fans per game. That's ninth in a 22-team league (it was 23 teams until Augusta, Ga., recently folded).
On the surface, being ninth overall in attendance might not seem bad. But when it's 22 percent below this point last season, which was a million-dollar loser according to the owners, it's a huge warning sign. So too is a reduction in the size of the Falcons' front-office staff (a sting felt nearly everywhere in this economy).
According to reports in the Fresno Bee, the rent at Selland saves the team $1,500 per game over the Save Mart Center but simple math will tell you that the reduction in fans (nearly 1,000 per game) eats away far more than $1,500 in savings.
The city put $13million into renovating Selland Arena to bring the Falcons back downtown and under terms of the lease, if the Falcons owners pull the plug, the city would own the team.
Somehow, I can't image the Fresno City Council members being overjoyed at spending a million buck a year to run a hockey team.
Here's hoping Fresno fans soon discover that a pretty good brand of hockey is being played up there and turn out in support.
WRANGLERS 'HONOR' ILLINOIS GOVERNOR
The Las Vegas Wranglers are "honoring" Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich by giving a prime game seat to the highest bidder.
Along with the seat, the minor league hockey club will dress its players in black-and-white prison striped uniforms. The team says the uniforms will have mock prison-issued numbers, starting with "ILLGOV" and ending with each player's actual jersey number.
Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges Tuesday. He's accused of trying to sell the U.S. Senate vacated by Barack Obama.
The seat and uniforms will be auctioned off at the Jan. 30 game against the Condors.
SLAP SHOTS
Eleven former ECHL players, including former Condor Alexandre Bolduc, have made their National Hockey League debut in the past two weeks. Bolduc, now back with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL, played in two games of the Vancouver Canucks, getting around 15 minutes of total ice time as a fourth-line winger.
Craig Kowalski of the Phoenix RoadRunners was named goaltender of the week after going 2-0. Bakersfield's Ryan Nie was a runner-up. Brad Schell of the Gwinnett Gladiators (seven points in four games) is player of the week.
