Manchester Storm
- Thread starter Celticdruid
- Start date
I understand people saying we don’t need to go into the arena but I fear that would be massively complacent. The league is gathering traction and if you’re not on that bandwagon you’ll get left behind. In two/three seasons will fans be objective and listen to reason why success is becoming hard to come by or will they moan and bitch.
You’ve got Belfast with their hook up with O2. Manchester with the AO have scope for huge growth not purely in seats but sponsor revenues. Their potential ceiling just leap frogged to top of the elite be in no doubt. Sheffield will join the arms race and throw the cash. Which puts Devils scrapping with Panthers, Clan, Flames and Blaze along with Dundee and Fife struggling.
As mentioned there are new arenas to come online. Bristol, Dublin could host EIHL teams in facilities that will dwarf the Vindico revenue wise and replace Dundee and Fife as they become financially unviable.
Recruitment wise it turns ugly as how many players come here because they want to compete for trophies. As soon as you stop competing that dynamic changes.
The landscape has already taken a seismic shift the last few weeks that puts Devils achievements to history already. Next season maybe ok as Storm will have to work to a new initial budget but once revenue comes in and sponsorship booms watch them take off. Manchester itself is a different city from when Storm was last in that Arena. I see there sponsorship revenue being an absolute game changer.
So Devils find themselves in a catch 22. Plead the case to the arena that allowing the team in would align with an emerging sporting product across the whole UK and would be good for their revenue and business model. Where sponsorship revenues could be maximised, where your target sponsors become organisations with deeper pockets, where a tv deal becomes much more likely or league wide subscription service helps further sell sponsorship. You have to relentlessly knock on that door until they let you in.
You can sit in your nuclear bunker at the Vindico and hope bad things don’t happen and reminiscing about the good times but in a few seasons time when you emerge the world will have changed and you’ll have been left behind. The agenda has been forced whether you like it or not. Doing nothing is going backwards for Devils now.
You’ve got Belfast with their hook up with O2. Manchester with the AO have scope for huge growth not purely in seats but sponsor revenues. Their potential ceiling just leap frogged to top of the elite be in no doubt. Sheffield will join the arms race and throw the cash. Which puts Devils scrapping with Panthers, Clan, Flames and Blaze along with Dundee and Fife struggling.
As mentioned there are new arenas to come online. Bristol, Dublin could host EIHL teams in facilities that will dwarf the Vindico revenue wise and replace Dundee and Fife as they become financially unviable.
Recruitment wise it turns ugly as how many players come here because they want to compete for trophies. As soon as you stop competing that dynamic changes.
The landscape has already taken a seismic shift the last few weeks that puts Devils achievements to history already. Next season maybe ok as Storm will have to work to a new initial budget but once revenue comes in and sponsorship booms watch them take off. Manchester itself is a different city from when Storm was last in that Arena. I see there sponsorship revenue being an absolute game changer.
So Devils find themselves in a catch 22. Plead the case to the arena that allowing the team in would align with an emerging sporting product across the whole UK and would be good for their revenue and business model. Where sponsorship revenues could be maximised, where your target sponsors become organisations with deeper pockets, where a tv deal becomes much more likely or league wide subscription service helps further sell sponsorship. You have to relentlessly knock on that door until they let you in.
You can sit in your nuclear bunker at the Vindico and hope bad things don’t happen and reminiscing about the good times but in a few seasons time when you emerge the world will have changed and you’ll have been left behind. The agenda has been forced whether you like it or not. Doing nothing is going backwards for Devils now.
The fact is, any extra seating is not going to cut it now; the writing is on the wall, get better facilities or just make up the numbers , you will need to be 5000 seater to compete, mooney#16 is right, getting good quality players to come will be a lot harder. Adding 500 seats is just a sticky plaster
But the Devils management tried on multiple occasions I believe to get an ice pad installed in the new arena but were rebuffed at every attempt. And from the artistic impressions of the arena it's not going to be suitable for ice hockey games either.
Ultimately if the people in charge of the new arena don't want it to be suitable for ice hockey there is nothing the Devils can do.
Ultimately if the people in charge of the new arena don't want it to be suitable for ice hockey there is nothing the Devils can do.
And yet 2 out of 3 Arena teams finished behind us, 2 out of 3 Arena teams didn’t make the playoffs offs. And the other Arena team lost to us in the final. It may take a long time before storm get the crowds and be a real force, in the meantime we can hopefully give anyone a game. Storm ain’t at the moment worrying me, as the others don’t.
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Don’t give up. Keep trying. All you can do. I’m not for one second doubting Todd has been trying his hardest. Just got to keep knocking on that door. If the powers that be are short sighted you have to keep trying to open their eyes. Use Belfast as your shining example. You can’t stress what bringing O2 to the table does for that arena so if you can be part of the new arena securing a similar deal you pull any levers you can. And desperately try to understand why the reluctance to join in given you can demonstrate other like for like facilities in the UK can support having resident teams.
Devils have done nothing wrong in this scenario. But it’s the cards they are being dealt.
I’ve seen nothing to suggest dimensionally the arena can’t house a pad only the pipe work and plant isn’t included in initial build but that can be overcome so it’s not a hard block.
Devils have done nothing wrong in this scenario. But it’s the cards they are being dealt.
I’ve seen nothing to suggest dimensionally the arena can’t house a pad only the pipe work and plant isn’t included in initial build but that can be overcome so it’s not a hard block.
Correct. But since then one team announced a big sponsorship deal and another team has gained a facility that is a game changer. Present day you’re correct but I believe you’re being complacent. Project forward 5 years you could find yourselves in one. The league is evolving.
Let’s call it how it is. Devils fan base is fickle and entitled. If Devils become a consistent mid table team the only way you’ll retain about 50% fans is to become an absolute mutant gong show every game so people feel entertained.
It’s not the bums on seats that I think is the issue. They can be used to balance the rental costs. But playing in front of 10k fans game in and out with hospitality suites allows your offering to sponsors to be on a different level and attract a different level. It’s that I foresee as the game changer. And Manchester now plays host to significantly more big hitters than it necessarily did previously. In terms of Cardiff they will be left trailing in the sponsorship revenue stakes so it’s a double whammy. Less bums on seats, less secondary revenue. Product weakens. Progressive decline. Fans abandon ship. It signals a real call to arms for Devils.
Manchester and Sheffield will form a co beneficial rivalry also that will benefit both teams as it did in super league days.
It’s not doom and gloom but a big wake up call Devils need get ahead of with pro active action.
Let’s call it how it is. Devils fan base is fickle and entitled. If Devils become a consistent mid table team the only way you’ll retain about 50% fans is to become an absolute mutant gong show every game so people feel entertained.
It’s not the bums on seats that I think is the issue. They can be used to balance the rental costs. But playing in front of 10k fans game in and out with hospitality suites allows your offering to sponsors to be on a different level and attract a different level. It’s that I foresee as the game changer. And Manchester now plays host to significantly more big hitters than it necessarily did previously. In terms of Cardiff they will be left trailing in the sponsorship revenue stakes so it’s a double whammy. Less bums on seats, less secondary revenue. Product weakens. Progressive decline. Fans abandon ship. It signals a real call to arms for Devils.
Manchester and Sheffield will form a co beneficial rivalry also that will benefit both teams as it did in super league days.
It’s not doom and gloom but a big wake up call Devils need get ahead of with pro active action.
We and many other teams in similar/smaller rinks have attracted big name sponsors in the past - they are out there, it’s just a matter of having the right people in situ to attract them.
Off the top of my head:-
BT
Thomson
Cadbury
SAB Miller (Appletise)
Wella
Smirnoff
Heineken (League)
McEwens Lager
Silver Spoon
Sekonda (League)
Benson & Hedges (Cup)
Norwich Union (Cup)
British Aerospace - bonus point if anyone can remember who they used to sponsor!
Off the top of my head:-
BT
Thomson
Cadbury
SAB Miller (Appletise)
Wella
Smirnoff
Heineken (League)
McEwens Lager
Silver Spoon
Sekonda (League)
Benson & Hedges (Cup)
Norwich Union (Cup)
British Aerospace - bonus point if anyone can remember who they used to sponsor!
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Not sure about the ‘Arena Team’ moniker that seems to have become a thing of late. We weee beating these so called ‘Arena Teams’ when we were based in the BBT and have shown this year we can also compete (when consistent).
Having a big budget surely helps, but it isn’t the be all and end all of everything. You can recruit who you like, but if you can get those guys to buy-in and gel as a team then you’re going to get beaten.
Admittedly, the Belfast O2 dynamic and the Storm settling into the AO (Nynex) could make things more difficult going forward but not impossible as we’ve proven in the past (and don’t forget, we won the BISL playing out of the WNIR).
Having a big budget surely helps, but it isn’t the be all and end all of everything. You can recruit who you like, but if you can get those guys to buy-in and gel as a team then you’re going to get beaten.
Admittedly, the Belfast O2 dynamic and the Storm settling into the AO (Nynex) could make things more difficult going forward but not impossible as we’ve proven in the past (and don’t forget, we won the BISL playing out of the WNIR).
And then you get Bristol and an island team, and all of a sudden, its all not so rosy in the garden. sorry to say this but would the owners be looking over their shoulders and saying we can make a go of it at bristol and have a future? As it stands, in cardiff we are stifled. A new arena is needed
also
Utilita Arena Cardiff has 5,000+ seat requirement and has proven capability to install ice
and the fact that there is a new 16,500 capacity multi-purpose arena coming
may mean there is available booking space at the Utilita Arena. And they could get tennancy their.?
also
Utilita Arena Cardiff has 5,000+ seat requirement and has proven capability to install ice
and the fact that there is a new 16,500 capacity multi-purpose arena coming
may mean there is available booking space at the Utilita Arena. And they could get tennancy their.?