Bleachers in Minot

[heavesrock]

Minot fans, I have read numerous complaints about having coporate tables instead of bleachers down near the court. Apparently people in Minot are not going to games because the seats are too expensive and the tables are where the bleachers would be. What do think or hear? Maybe you ought to contact the Skyrockets about putting them down.

[FrozenUpHere]

Yea, that’s a complaint I have heard from many ppl since the Skyrockets started in Minot last season. In the IBA/Snowbears days, courtside bleacher seats were general admission... I think I remember the prices to be $3-5... We were also getting 2000 to 2500 fans per game. The only reason I can think of them going away from the bleachers is to cater more to the corporations which IMO the Skyrockets excel at. While I don't quite understand the strategy and I of course don't know any financial numbers, the owners/managers must have made the assumption that charging twice the price for tickets, getting 1000 less fans, and taking the hit on concessions/merchandise is more profitable.
Personally I miss the atmosphere... but I would imagine the management of the team is well aware of the "problem" if you could call it that. I would like to see possibly one side of the court have the bleachers back, I don't know, maybe it’s a compromise?

[psbf]

I don't know anything about what goes on up there. But from what I'm reading here, I'm wondering if it's part of an agreement that the Skyrockets made for playing there?

[Pounder]

Idaho has had "tables" that were almost courtside, plus tables on risers at one end of the floor, since its inception. "Corporate" may be pushing it (not too expensive to sit there), but pretty handy. The problem, in both the Idaho Center and in Qwest Arena, is that the sideline tables tend to block the "lower view" of the first few rows of grandstand seats (which, in both venues, is relatively far away from the floor). However, I suspect those tables pay for the team, for the most part... though in Qwest, the Stampede also sell a few of the luxury suites available.

Being a parent (a divorced one at that) means, say, missing last weekend. I'll know more Tuesday.

[Cazzzmo]

Skyrockets do not get any part of the concessions at the Aud (or Lauchpad or Cave). This is a problem. Similiar arrangements have hurt junior hockey teams out at the All Seasons Arena in Minot. Seems to be a Minot thing . . . . I think management at the Auditorium would be receptive to allowing 'Rockets to get a cut of the food/bev but it would take the right people to approach them . . . . and I don't know that current 'Rockets owners/mgmt/staff are the ''right'' people.

[panchess]

..I read once last year.

For that price for an arena, you have to give a little too, and concessions is probably where they had to give. After all, you would be lucky to get a high school gym for that price for a game.

The idea that a team should be selling courtside seats for $5 is silly. Being "fan-friendly" is one thing, being economically dumb is another.

[Cazzzmo]

panchess, I'm not saying anyone involved is ''dumb.'' i'm just trying to point-out why there is a little bit of a lack of motivation for Minot to put more butts in seats. yes, their rent is cheap but such an arrangement (no share of concessions) greatly inhibits their ability to do family package deals where a family of four might get a soda and popcorn w/ their tickets at a certain price. even so, they may find a way to do that still i'm told (could be done w/ couponing for instance).

i haven't been on this board since last april . . . . . but i'm not going to participate anymore at all if some members insist on hacking-up everybody without reason.

[Pounder]

Was that "hacking up"? I consider it "questioning," and in the general atmosphere (see other threads, see ABA threads if you dare), there's a lot of that going around.

Re-read what you wrote. Not having a cut of concessions yet "little bit of a lack of motivation for Minot to put more butts in seats" is VERY counterintuitive. I know the coupon idea is the offset, but it does make us wonder why a team would site in a place that stiff.

[Cazzzmo]

. . . . . . i'm just bringing a few facts to light.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

panchess, I'm not saying anyone involved is ''dumb.'' i'm just trying to point-out why there is a little bit of a lack of motivation for Minot to put more butts in seats. yes, their rent is cheap but such an arrangement (no share of concessions) greatly inhibits their ability to do family package deals where a family of four might get a soda and popcorn w/ their tickets at a certain price. even so, they may find a way to do that still i'm told (could be done w/ couponing for instance).

i haven't been on this board since last april . . . . . but i'm not going to participate anymore at all if some members insist on hacking-up everybody without reason.

Hmmmmm, panchess wasn't saying anyone was dumb. Panchess' quote was, The idea that a team should be selling courtside seats for $5 is silly. Being "fan-friendly" is one thing, being economically dumb is another. The idea is economically dumb. :roll:

I said it on another thread. Forget low priced courtside bleachers. When Minot was in the IBA and drawing larger crowds, they still went out of business. More expensive courtside tables is a step in the right direction toward profitability, but the die has already been cast. The Apex Group diluted their resources long ago instead of maximizing their efforts in their flagship franchise (Minot).

[Letzplayball]

your information is off a little.

When Minot was in the IBA and drawing larger crowds, they still went out of business. (Minot).

Minot did not go out of business due to the drawing of larger crowds. After a year of poor attendance and losing money in other cities, the IBA closed shop. Minot was still financially strong, due to a hard working ownership. They soon joined a new league called the XBA. If I remember right, the XBA was bought out by the MBA. Both of these leagues never did get off their feet, and they too folded, with Minot and Jamestown the last two teams to survive.

So Minot never did go "out of business" despite drawing larger crowds. The leagues folded around them. Just trying to keep you on your toes Ken!

[Pounder]

After a year of poor attendance and losing money in other cities, the IBA closed shop. Minot was still financially strong, due to a hard working ownership. They soon joined a new league called the XBA. If I remember right, the XBA was bought out by the MBA.

Holy alphabet soup, Batman!

If the CBA of the 90s had set up second-level regional leagues, I wonder what kind of stability they'd have now. I'm thinking of United Soccer Leagues, whose nationally-based first division might be questionable at the moment, but their regionally-oriented Premier Development League just kind of chugs along, and provides the basis for USL to re-grow a first division if this one collapses.

[panchess]

..if you are spending more on getting those fans then the revenue they bring in. I remember in the 1990's, the US Chess Federation doubled its membership from 50,000 to just under 100,000 members. Almost all of the new members, though, were low-priced scholastic memberships and not the higher-priced adult ones. As the servicing costs for a $13 scholastic membership were almost the same as for a $45 adult membership, the bottom line tanked, and the organization narrowly avoided bankruptcy.

Now membership is 80,000, and after a series of painful adjustments (including selling their office building and moving from NY to TN to take advantage of an offer of free land and reduced building costs to reliquefy the balance sheet), the organization is now basically break-even. Staff is 1/3 of the previous total, with most services contracted out.

In a business this marginal, getting as many dollars in is critical, however you get them.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

your information is off a little.



Minot did not go out of business due to the drawing of larger crowds. After a year of poor attendance and losing money in other cities, the IBA closed shop. Minot was still financially strong, due to a hard working ownership. They soon joined a new league called the XBA. If I remember right, the XBA was bought out by the MBA. Both of these leagues never did get off their feet, and they too folded, with Minot and Jamestown the last two teams to survive.

So Minot never did go "out of business" despite drawing larger crowds. The leagues folded around them. Just trying to keep you on your toes Ken!

Is this a lesson in Revisonist History or something? It's simple. The Minot Snowbears went out of business. I don't see them anywhere on today's landscape. If the Snowbears were still a viable franchise, then they would have joined the CBA with their natural rivals (the Dakota Wizards). Instead, they joined a glorified rec league like the XBA/MBA (yes, I remember those leagues).

Maybe I was born yesterday, but I stayed up all night. 8)

[TheStandard]

The BSN through the teams & the federation have created different categories of developmental teams.

There is a second division which is called the Sub-25 , Sub-21, Sub-18 League (players under the age of 25 players under 21, Players under 18)

A Third Division which is a local/regional league according to the teams territory

And finally the youth division which is a year round league.

The league and teams fund these teams and at all levels they use the BSN/FIBA Ball and play under the league/fiba rules.

Even the high school's in Puerto Rico play 10 minute quarters which is the FIBA standard

[Letzplayball]

Yes they did have the funds to continue.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Yes they did have the funds to continue.

The evidence suggests otherwise. Why didn't the Minot Snowbears continue in another league?

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

Yes they did have the funds to continue.

It's not that I'm trying to pile-on, but there was new news about the Gary Steelheads today:

http://www.post-trib.com/sports/696902,steelheads.article

The Steelheads have been around continuously since the year 2000 in three different leagues. They apparently have the funds to continue operating. Now, can you understand why I am baffled by your quote?

[rice_web]

I'm here to set the record straight:

The Snowbears DID NOT GO OUT OF BUSINESS.

The Snowbears folded along with the IBA, choosing not to join the CBA. This decision was made because the costs associated with the CBA were substantially higher than those of the IBA; the Snowbears were barely profitable in the IBA and would have had no chance in the CBA.

The XBA/MBA debacle was another franchise entirely, with a different ownership group. Only the name was the same.

[panchess]

..you're either playing or you're not.

Whatever the source of funds or qualifications of Apex, they have put a CBA team on the court in Minot, ND for a season and a quarter now. The Snowbears couldn't do that.

[rice_web]

The new CBA's cost structure allows for ownership groups without a ton of green, so I think it's unfair to compare Apex to the Zimbelman ownership group.

[one way]

what do you mean? What does little money with ownership equate running a francise? Thanks

[rice_web]

My point, simply, is that the old Snowbears (the Zimbleman 'Bears) could not have joined the CBA after the IBA folded, because the CBA at that time was a very expensive league to join. The 'Bears folded because they didn't have a league, not because they weren't profitable in the IBA.