Who might be moving to Glens Falls?

[Tommy Hawk]

The Devils have yet to care about attendance for their minor league teams. Don't see why that sentiment will change now.

You forgot that they could care less about on ice performance as well........

 

[Nightsquad]

Dont forget Adirondack's attendance is often bolstered by fans from nearby Albany, and the fact each season the Phantoms have had to play a game or two down in Philly. My Nephew is in Philly and the fans come out in droves to see the Phantoms play, usually around 17,000 to 18,000 plus so that helps out Adirondack's average. Albany River River Rats on the other hand get stuck playing games down in Atlantic City where they have yet to draw well down there. If the Devils are more concerned about development over attendance I dont see them getting a better deal then in Albany. Leaving the arena in Albany for the Adirondack Civic Center is like going from a modest colonial in the suburbs to a single wide in Appalachia lol. I read Albany is going to renovate their arena in the coming year with a 12 to 15 million in upgrades to that lousy open air atrium, retail area, and box offices. Adirondack is a fun place to see a game no doubt but with Albany on verge of a multi million renovation I cant see Albany letting a team get away. The college basketball team their is in the low rung MAAC, and how many big time concerts actually play Albany??? I heard often times when Albany plays up in Adirondack about 30% of the crowd are Albany fans. Personally I dont see how a region that size supports two AHL clubs and two DI teams in Schenectady and Troy. Thats alot of hockey for an area with less people then say Hartford, Bridgeport, Providence, Rochester, or Syracuse.

 

[Major4Boarding]

GF Mayor John "Jack" Diamond told Post Star reporter that OKC is not the team he's currently negotiating with. She tweeted it.

Hopefully he wasn't talking to Portland, I personally doubt they're leaving Maine.

My top three at this point would be Springfield, Hartford or Bridgeport in no particular order- [MOD]

Adding more substance to this post

Diana C. Nearhos ‏@dianacnearhos Jan 22
Mayor Diamond said today that the Barons are not the team the city is talking to, confirming what I heard from a few others.

Retweeted by The Post-Star

Corresponding article from the Post-Star

Diamond would not identify the team city officials are negotiating with, but he said it is not the Oklahoma City Barons.

He would not say which time zone the team is currently located in.

Diamond: 50 percent chance of AHL next season

 

[RFA]

http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/2013/12/expansion-set-for-albanys-times-union.html?page=all

This is the only mention I could find or have heard about an Albany project. Not much about hockey, but they may get the opening round of the NCAA hoops.

The Hartford radio announcer Friday started the game by saying "Live from Downtown Glens Falls", when Springfield was visiting Hartford. Maybe he knows something? He may have been the Wings announcer 20 years ago too, his voice sounds familiar.

Times Union Center is "under the bridge" from the large housing projects, it's not a suburban location at all. Many people don't like going there for that reason.

 

[Nightsquad]

http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/2013/12/expansion-set-for-albanys-times-union.html?page=all

This is the only mention I could find or have heard about an Albany project. Not much about hockey, but they may get the opening round of the NCAA hoops.

The Hartford radio announcer Friday started the game by saying "Live from Downtown Glens Falls", when Springfield was visiting Hartford. Maybe he knows something? He may have been the Wings announcer 20 years ago too, his voice sounds familiar.

Times Union Center is "under the bridge" from the large housing projects, it's not a suburban location at all. Many people don't like going there for that reason.

Many people dont like going to alot of places. Albany is hardly an overly dangerous city. An arena shouldnt be in a suburban location, they are supposed to be the life blood or center of a downtown. Concerts in Albany draw quite and NCAA events both basketball and hockey have draw good I see. If the River Rats drew well into the 4000 to 5000 during much of the 1990s I could see it doing so again. If the Rangers ended up in Glens Falls though I couldnt see Albany Devils drawing very well ever. However, if Albany goes through renovations and the Rangers farm team landed in Albany I could see that being a chokehold likewise for Glens Falls and Albany drawing 4000 to 5000 again easily.

 

[wildcat48]

Pirates will not call Glens Falls home next season

CCCC Trustees sent a lease proposal to the Pirates today.....which is the basis for the previous story.

 

[Tackla]

The Hartford radio announcer Friday started the game by saying "Live from Downtown Glens Falls", when Springfield was visiting Hartford. Maybe he knows something? He may have been the Wings announcer 20 years ago too, his voice sounds familiar.

Do you have a source for this? Just curious.

 

[Nightsquad]

Pirates will not call Glens Falls home next season

CCCC Trustees sent a lease proposal to the Pirates today.....which is the basis for the previous story.

If I had to guess which team might relocate I would have to guess the Devils. They already have an established fan base in the region as Albany is basically in the same market. I heard that when Albany plays up Adirondack is often most likely the only time the civic center is at capacity or near capacity. If Albany gets the NCAA east region basketball and hockey tournaments and builds upon the ECAC hockey games between Union University and RPI combined with major concert stops Albany County might not care if the Devils relocate just north up the highway...

 

[SpeedDemon]

What's up with Abbotsford these days?

No clue but based upon geography of the rest of the league I say this team is the only that should be relocted. They are the only team west of the Rockies

 

[GF hockey fan]

Dont forget Adirondack's attendance is often bolstered by fans from nearby Albany, and the fact each season the Phantoms have had to play a game or two down in Philly.

True, but during games in Albany, the same happens.

I heard often times when Albany plays up in Adirondack about 30% of the crowd are Albany fans.
FALSE. The opposite is true, when ADK plays in Albany, 30% are ADK fans

Personally I dont see how a region that size supports two AHL clubs and two DI teams in Schenectady and Troy. Thats alot of hockey for an area with less people then say Hartford, Bridgeport, Providence, Rochester, or Syracuse.

ADK actually has better attendance than Albany, despite having a lackluster team.


I'm hoping for Abbotsford to move.

 

[Tommy Hawk]

ADK actually has better attendance than Albany, despite having a lackluster team.


I'm hoping for Abbotsford to move.

Calgary will,not leave Abbotsford unless someone is willing to give them more money than they are currently getting. Right now I think the city guarantees the Flames will not lose any money. I think the current amount is somewhere in the area of 1.5 mil per year.

 

[RFA]

The Hartford announcer can be heard saying "live from Glens Falls" on AHLLive.com, it's right at the beginning of the broadcast.

St. John's moving shows how meaningless the announced attendance figure is.

The mid-year folding of ECHL San Francisco Bulls should raise serious doubts of an AHL-West experiment. IHL folded, nothing has really lasted west in the E. Not to say nothing irrational has happened in the AHL before.....

The proposed Albany arena improvements would have minimal effect on AHL hockey. They're putting in a media room so NCAA would consider it as a host again. Plus a couple other concession stands. If anything, it will probably end up alienating fans who already are paying customers.

I'd estimate when each team plays in the others arena, there's about 30% fans of the other team. That would be a good thing in the eyes of a team looking to relocate. That many extra tickets sold is not a problem. They're among the more popular games, but ADK has a big pre-sale tonight from a promo and then Albany does well on GE night and a couple of other promos.

Springfield may be the frontrunner to move to ADK at this point.

 

[pelts35.com]

Springfield may be the frontrunner to move to ADK at this point.

For the first time in a long time I haven't seen any of Bruce Landon's threats about the team being sold if attendance doesn't improve, so not sure why Springfield would be the frontrunner (especially since the team is locally owned so it's not as if CBJ can just pick up and move the franchise).

 

[Nightsquad]

ADK actually has better attendance than Albany, despite having a lackluster team.


I'm hoping for Abbotsford to move.

I actually beg to differ. My friend is from the Adirondacks north of Glens Falls area. He said Albany fans often come to games in Glens Falls where by fans from the Adirondack region dont travel down to Albany. He said its well know the die hard Adirondack fans do go down to Albany for the simple reason they are trying to bolster support. He said also to that games in Philly drive the Phantoms numbers higher then Albany and that Albany suffers attendance wise even more because the Atlantic City games have not been a huge draw. A night recently when Glens Falls was a sell out against Albany I looked on AHL live and the place was nowhere close to having every seats sold, it looked as though it was half empty. I give the Adirondack Civic Center points for trying though lol. I think Adirondack's advantage is that Albany does not seem to care either way and is trying to establish itself as a college basketball town.

 

[Nightsquad]

The Hartford announcer can be heard saying "live from Glens Falls" on AHLLive.com, it's right at the beginning of the broadcast.

St. John's moving shows how meaningless the announced attendance figure is.

The mid-year folding of ECHL San Francisco Bulls should raise serious doubts of an AHL-West experiment. IHL folded, nothing has really lasted west in the E. Not to say nothing irrational has happened in the AHL before.....

The proposed Albany arena improvements would have minimal effect on AHL hockey. They're putting in a media room so NCAA would consider it as a host again. Plus a couple other concession stands. If anything, it will probably end up alienating fans who already are paying customers.

I'd estimate when each team plays in the others arena, there's about 30% fans of the other team. That would be a good thing in the eyes of a team looking to relocate. That many extra tickets sold is not a problem. They're among the more popular games, but ADK has a big pre-sale tonight from a promo and then Albany does well on GE night and a couple of other promos.

Springfield may be the frontrunner to move to ADK at this point.

Albany is rebuilding the open air atrium and renovating the office, retail space, box office, and yes building a broadcast and media center. That comes on the heels of a new downtown Mariott hotel being built connected to the arena and I guess some new convention center..

 

[Nightsquad]

The Hartford announcer can be heard saying "live from Glens Falls" on AHLLive.com, it's right at the beginning of the broadcast.

St. John's moving shows how meaningless the announced attendance figure is.

The mid-year folding of ECHL San Francisco Bulls should raise serious doubts of an AHL-West experiment. IHL folded, nothing has really lasted west in the E. Not to say nothing irrational has happened in the AHL before.....

The proposed Albany arena improvements would have minimal effect on AHL hockey. They're putting in a media room so NCAA would consider it as a host again. Plus a couple other concession stands. If anything, it will probably end up alienating fans who already are paying customers.

I'd estimate when each team plays in the others arena, there's about 30% fans of the other team. That would be a good thing in the eyes of a team looking to relocate. That many extra tickets sold is not a problem. They're among the more popular games, but ADK has a big pre-sale tonight from a promo and then Albany does well on GE night and a couple of other promos.

Springfield may be the frontrunner to move to ADK at this point.

Interesting to point out about the ECHL. I know many in the northeast are AHL or nothing but one has to consider the ECHL product doing well in Orlando, and very soon next year in the big city of Indianapolis in a beautiful renovated fairgrounds arena. If I was in the northeast and on the verge of losing our AHL team I would hope that someone not overlook a strong ECHL franchise.

 

[axecrew]

Calgary will,not leave Abbotsford unless someone is willing to give them more money than they are currently getting. Right now I think the city guarantees the Flames will not lose any money. I think the current amount is somewhere in the area of 1.5 mil per year.

Not too mention that Vancouver is absolutely dying to put their AHL team in Abbotsford.
So as soon as Calgary and local ownership says they are done, so will be Utica as the Canucks farm club. And if Calgary moves into Utica as has been suggested, I can't imagine a move into the Eastern conference would do a whole lot for them. Especially since the majority of their conference rivals are in the West.

 

[Nightsquad]

Not too mention that Vancouver is absolutely dying to put their AHL team in Abbotsford.
So as soon as Calgary and local ownership says they are done, so will be Utica as the Canucks farm club. And if Calgary moves into Utica as has been suggested, I can't imagine a move into the Eastern conference would do a whole lot for them. Especially since the majority of their conference rivals are in the West.

That would be unfortunate for Utica who has all but silenced the critics and naysayers who claimed Utica was a wasteland economically and as a viable area for pro hockey. Utica has surpassed even my expecations. For the population of Utica-Rome to draw well over Glens Falls and Albany in addition to their awesome 3000+ average attendance for the D3 team that shares the arena with the AHL club that is overly impressive and puts both Adirondack and Albany to shame. If Tommy Hawk thinks Adirondack is doing well despite Glens Fall's Phantoms record he completely overlooked Utica. If I am a franchise owner looking for relocation I would have to strongly look at Utica before Glens Falls or even Albany. Glens Falls was not too kind to Barry Melrose and Steve Levy when they tried to negotiate a favorable lease deal for their United League Club back in the day.

 

[Tommy Hawk]

That would be unfortunate for Utica who has all but silenced the critics and naysayers who claimed Utica was a wasteland economically and as a viable area for pro hockey. Utica has surpassed even my expecations. For the population of Utica-Rome to draw well over Glens Falls and Albany in addition to their awesome 3000+ average attendance for the D3 team that shares the arena with the AHL club that is overly impressive and puts both Adirondack and Albany to shame. If Tommy Hawk thinks Adirondack is doing well despite Glens Fall's Phantoms record he completely overlooked Utica. If I am a franchise owner looking for relocation I would have to strongly look at Utica before Glens Falls or even Albany. Glens Falls was not too kind to Barry Melrose and Steve Levy when they tried to negotiate a favorable lease deal for their United League Club back in the day.

I am not sure where you get the idea that I think Adirondak is doing well.

Bottom line is the AHL teams go to where the money is, or they will lose the least.

 

[GF hockey fan]

I actually beg to differ. My friend is from the Adirondacks north of Glens Falls area. He said Albany fans often come to games in Glens Falls where by fans from the Adirondack region dont travel down to Albany. He said its well know the die hard Adirondack fans do go down to Albany for the simple reason they are trying to bolster support. He said also to that games in Philly drive the Phantoms numbers higher then Albany and that Albany suffers attendance wise even more because the Atlantic City games have not been a huge draw. A night recently when Glens Falls was a sell out against Albany I looked on AHL live and the place was nowhere close to having every seats sold, it looked as though it was half empty. I give the Adirondack Civic Center points for trying though lol. I think Adirondack's advantage is that Albany does not seem to care either way and is trying to establish itself as a college basketball town.

That's great you have a friend. I'm a season ticket holder for Adirondack. If they used the Philly numbers, it would be outstanding, yet this year there hasn't been a game until tomorrow. Check ahl.com and you will see we have better attendance than Albany, without the Philly numbers. I've been to Albany games, when Albany scores, it's fairly quiet from the fans... not so when ADK scores in Albany.

 

[HamiltonOHL]

question... back in 2006-2007 AHL had 27 teams... just wondering how would the league look standings wise with 27 teams today..

Right now i have:


West (7):
Chicago
Milwaukee
Abb
Texas
OKC
Iowa
SA

North (6):
Hamilton
Grand Rapids
Toronto
St. jOhn's
Springfield

needs 1

East (7) aka all ny division:
Adirondack
Binghamton
Utica
Syracuse
Albany
Rochester
needs 1

Atlantic (7 teams)
1. Bridgeport
2. Hartford
3. Wbs
4. Hershey
5.
6.
7.

Which leaves us with:

Norfolk, Portland, Manchester, Providence, worchester,

I figured put Springfield in with the North Division... keep Hershey/WBS (Battle of Pens state) and then Bridgeport/Hartford together (Battle of connect)

So Atlantic needs 3, east needs 1 and north needs 1... I know this isnt geographically possible but i thought just for discussion sake..

 

[adsfan]

Interesting to point out about the ECHL. I know many in the northeast are AHL or nothing but one has to consider the ECHL product doing well in Orlando, and very soon next year in the big city of Indianapolis in a beautiful renovated fairgrounds arena. If I was in the northeast and on the verge of losing our AHL team I would hope that someone not overlook a strong ECHL franchise.

I was in that arena around 1976. It was a dump and a fire trap. I believe that about 70 people died there in a fire around 1963. It needed renovating when I was there! The lighting was poor. It is good that the building is being improved.

 

[Nightsquad]

I am not sure where you get the idea that I think Adirondak is doing well.

Bottom line is the AHL teams go to where the money is, or they will lose the least.

Sorry Tommy I made a mistake, I meant GF Hockey Fan. Adirondack did outdraw Albany this evening but it's hard to make any assumption in numbers in a measure of viability. Considering Ice Caps averaging just about a sellout of every game 6000 plus, and The Phantoms willingness to pad their home attendance numbers in Glens Falls from games played in the Philly area it's all comes down to buildings, locations, and favorable leases to ensure teams are even able to break even let alone a rare profit.

 

[Nightsquad]

That's great you have a friend. I'm a season ticket holder for Adirondack. If they used the Philly numbers, it would be outstanding, yet this year there hasn't been a game until tomorrow. Check ahl.com and you will see we have better attendance than Albany, without the Philly numbers. I've been to Albany games, when Albany scores, it's fairly quiet from the fans... not so when ADK scores in Albany.

My friend who lives up in The North Country of NY is a huge Adirondack Fan. He was a Red Wings season ticket holder, and now goes to about twenty or so Philly Phantoms games. He just told me the announced paid attendance often hardly reflects what's in the building anymore unlike the Wings days. He said when they announced 4500 you could see the building was basically full with every seat occupied. Not debating you, just go with what he tells me. He is suggesting that most of the fans in Albany who like hockey come from north of the Albany area anyway near Saratoga County or Albany's northern suburbs. He thinks the Devils will be headed to Glens Falls Civic Center and will likely get the name Albany-Adirondack Devils to make peace with the obviously splintered fan base. Albany fans traveling north will secure the future of hockey in Glens Falls. I think that speculation is pretty sound.

 

[Nightsquad]

I was in that arena around 1976. It was a dump and a fire trap. I believe that about 70 people died there in a fire around 1963. It needed renovating when I was there! The lighting was poor. It is good that the building is being improved.

I looked online at the Indy ECHL website and the renovated arena looks amazing. Gorgeous center jumbotron scoreboard, video boards, and totally awesome renovations..I am jealous, would be an awesome place to catch an ECHL or AHL team.