Been reading and to some degree following the various threads on this league. All in all it settles out to sounding a little harsh.
Let me be clear, I am not trying to explain or justify any of the act being criticized. Maybe just providing some context.
RE: Dayton. When the original team that played there last year was moved out by it's ownership, the owner(s) of the Berkshire Battalion team saw an opportunity to address a problem. To wit: an inability to schedule home games on a Friday night in Berkshire. Not throwing shade on either the rink management, the town of Berkshire or ownership. Moving to Danville was done (in part) to address that scheduling issue as well as improving facilities. However, the rink situation that they ended up with created a different and more critical problem. The rink ownership took the entire gate receipts and deducted their costs of ice and rink facility game day management and gave the remainder to the team. Often this was a hundred dollars or less. So instead of improving the financial situation, it made it worse. I have NO information as to the previous arrangements with last years team, nor info on attendance.
Look, I understand that the Dayton ownership agreed to the lease terms, though I can see where moving from a virginal market like Berkshire to a (more) established market like Dayton, could have led to conclusions that ended up being unsupportable by the resultant actual events.
But no matter what the case is, one can see that without game day revenues it becomes difficult for a team to pay it's bills. I suspect the move to the new facility is/was an attempt to address that situation.
Source for this info: League players
As for other teams, each situation is different, but the model established by last years league Champs, Watertown Wolves, would be a good place to start. It was widely reported that the ownership team consisted of local businessmen who formed a partnership to own the team. According to those reports, interested ownership prospects were advised not to expect to be profitable or even break even for at least several years. They were setting up a tax loss opportunity until the team could be established in the community. But according to different sources, even that ownership model was tested and there were some periods in which players were not paid on time. But it would seem to me that their 'model' made more sense for the long term.
Several new teams have new ownership groups this year. And several of the marketplaces have yet to embrace their local team. And yes, they may never. But when you look at the attendance numbers for these franchise locations there are several that have had a history of supporting local minor hockey. So those situations may well improve. What most likely necessary, is for the team management to make a concerted effort to cultivate relationships with local fan bases etc. to 'market' their product (the team) more effectively. This takes more than a few months. Maybe years.
As for criticism of players in the league, I would hope that those who make some of the comments I've read, would take a step back and take a deep breath. After all it's a GAME. Most of these players are there principally because they love the game. Some have higher ambitions, moving up to play in the higher minor pro ranks. Perhaps as a way of establishing a resume to move into coaching and teaching in the future. Witness the comments made by the new Brewster franchise coach, David Lun, made when he was hired.
So maybe the level of play is not the level of the old Danbury Trashers, but neither is the payroll on or off the books lol.
Look as someone mentioned, a lot of these kids are chasing a dream. One they are not ready to give up on just yet. As I heard one young player say, " there will be no better time in my life to do this. I have no real responsibilities right now. I don't want to look back and have the regret of not trying".
I'm sure every player has their own reasons for what they are doing. One would hope that everyone could gain some perspective on this and be less judgmental.
Remember it's easy to be critical, it's much more difficult to be correct.
F1
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