QC Flames cut three from front office (QC Online)

[Hoody]

http://www.qconline.com/archives/qco....php?id=414373

Hoody

[BringTheKnightsBack]

let me guess how the quad cities fans will spin this. they will say that the attendance is so good that they dont need office staff anymore! BWAHAHAHAAHA!

[Moderator]

^We all know how you feel about the move to QC and while one admires your passions please do not de-rail any more threads. Consider this a warning.

[dobbles]

i sincerely hope this is more a sign of employees not living up to job expectations and not a sign of other bad things looming.

[Nitro]

I think this is just a sign of the organization trying to figure out how to, in the best case prosper, or in the worst case survive. We went through much of the same in Omaha, in fact things are really about a carbon copy. Let's be realistic, things aren't great, so any business would try to cut costs or implement a new strategy. You guys are in a way different situation than Omaha, so I wouldn't worry about anything from the Calgary side. This one is solely on your ownership groups' dime and it is their responsibility, and in their best interests, to do something......

However, unless the team performs at home it will be tough to get anyone new to come to a game, nevermind the economy in general....

[SparkyOne]

Weindruch came from our minor league baseball team from a couple of years ago, before new ownership. I'd imagine he was out of there because that organization just didn't put butts in the seats. So I'm somewhat puzzled as to why the Flames even hired him....although we don't know what kind of bill of goods either of those guys sold management to get themselves hired...

“There were some sales situations from last year, some fences that were broken, that I could not mend,” Weindruch said.

I think this guy was brought in because he should have been in the position to mend those fences....three season as VP of the Swing, he should have had the relationships established that allowed him to fix the problems. If he's not doing his job, hit the road!

If they made promises that they hadn't lived up to in 6 months, or if they were given goals that they couldn't achieve, then I don't have a problem with their being gone. We don't know what their actual day-to-day job responsibilities were or whether they were able to meet them. We don't know if they called in sick one day a week since summer, or took afternoons off to play golf. Just about anything is a possibility!

[PIMking]

I dont get why the flames dont work together with the riverbandits. I mean both sports are at different times of the year and they could help eachother out with lists of sth and maybe do riverbandit night and flames night or something like that.

With both teams success will help the quad cities.

[icarus]

That is smart thinking. They should partner up and have some sort of year long season ticket package which allows fans to go to say 20 Flames games and 35 Riverbandits games or something like that. That way once one season comes to an end, fans have another season to look forward to. It would be very beneficial to the Flames because it seems like a lot more people are interested in the baseball games at the moment.

[pioneer98]

A year or two ago, there was talk about the Mallards, Swing and Steamwheelers (the Arena Football 2 team) all sharing some ownership and front office resources. That way they could each lower their overhead costs by using some of the same staff and they could all share corporate customers. It made great sense, but it never happened. I think its a great idea. The closest it ever got was one weekend in April a couple years back they did a 3-pack, where for like $20 you got a Mallards ticket, an opening day Swing ticket and a Steamwheelers ticket, all in 3 consecutive nights.

The Swing became the River Bandits again and have different owners who are technically out of towners. That may have thrown a loop into these plans, but they really did a great job getting people interested again last year. I think the Bandits are on the right track for making a fun minor-league environment. One big advantage the Bandits have is they have way more control over the ballpark and concessions than the Flames have over the iMark arena (which is basically zero). I think the iMark needs to get its act together a bit to help the Flames out. Instead of treating them as a tenant, treat them as a partner.

[BringTheKnightsBack]

man if there was a professional league for excuse making the quad cities would be its dynasty team. ive been watching the comments for a year now and every single one of them is a lame excuse. either you get fans in the seats or you dont. every other team in the ahl is battling the same problems the quad cities flames are. i dont hear their fans whining about how mean the arena owners are to their team. its time to face the facts. quad cities fans just dont care about the sport anymore.

[SparkyOne]

Originally Posted by PIMking

I dont get why the flames dont work together with the riverbandits. I mean both sports are at different times of the year and they could help eachother out with lists of sth and maybe do riverbandit night and flames night or something like that.

With both teams success will help the quad cities.

You ought to suggest it, PIM. The concept that Pioneer is talking about was before TT left, so maybe this whole thing hasn't occurred to them....

Can't hurt to mention it!!

[pioneer98]

Originally Posted by BringTheKnightsBack

man if there was a professional league for excuse making the quad cities would be its dynasty team. ive been watching the comments for a year now and every single one of them is a lame excuse. either you get fans in the seats or you dont. every other team in the ahl is battling the same problems the quad cities flames are. i dont hear their fans whining about how mean the arena owners are to their team. its time to face the facts. quad cities fans just dont care about the sport anymore.

The minor league baseball team was in an equally dire situation. In fact, they were sold and were going to relocate, but a stadium deal fell through in the city they were supposed to move to.

So the baseball team went from nearly leaving town to having their best attendance in 15 years last year. It wasn't that people started "caring" all the sudden, its that the new owners did a much better job of marketing. It can be done in this market. We are just making suggestions that the Flames might be able to use to improve their situation. That's not whining.

[SparkyOne]

He's so used to whining, he probably doesn't know the difference.

Appears to be his whole goal in life, to whine about Omaha losing the Knights....