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Providence Bruins The Bruins are sniffing at Manchester, NH

Fenway

Fenway

HF Bookie and Bruins Historian
Sep 26, 2007
68,543
106,486
Cambridge, MA
I was at the NCAA Regional at SNHU Arena on Sunday, and in talking to veterans of Manchester hockey the Bruins are taking a hard look at moving the AHL team there.

The Bruins do not own the Providence Bruins but control the affiliation. The Bruins have a long-standing agreement with the AHL to rejoin the league with an expansion club.

The City of Manchester owns the arena and appears willing to give the keys to Delaware North and pay for upgrades.

Providence would keep their AHL team but would be forced to find a new affiliate.



:popcorn:
 
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chizzler said:
Owner doesn’t put money into it. Screw him.
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Fenway said:
The Jacobs Family once again is playing chess

They want the MBTA Commuter Rail to be restored to Manchester, as the tracks are still there, and that would bring more passengers into North Station, which they control.

From a hockey viewpoint, Manchester and Providence are a wash for player movement.
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If this would propel some action regarding a rail system from Manch to Boston then I'm all for it. It's ridiculous that I've been hearing about it since i was a kid and it still hasn't happened.
 
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While the price of everything has skyrocketed in the last 40 years, wages haven't even come close to keeping up. When you are paying $150-$250 for nosebleed seats at TD Bank Garden and the failure of the Monarchs to achieve profitability in ManchVegas, the proposal is more of a pipe dream. Pipe dreams can happen, but I think this might be more of a negotiating tactic to get a better lease in R.I.
 
Crash Bandicoot said:
While the price of everything has skyrocketed in the last 40 years, wages haven't even come close to keeping up. When you are paying $150-$250 for nosebleed seats at TD Bank Garden and the failure of the Monarchs to achieve profitability in ManchVegas, the proposal is more of a pipe dream. Pipe dreams can happen, but I think this might be more of a negotiating tactic to get a better lease in R.I.
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They were loved when it was an AHL team, LA moved them due to difficulty moving players between NHL/AHL because MHT is a joke of an airport itinerary wise.

the ECHL team never had a chance, having a bruins affiliated team would be a huge draw.
 
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Crash Bandicoot said:
While the price of everything has skyrocketed in the last 40 years, wages haven't even come close to keeping up. When you are paying $150-$250 for nosebleed seats at TD Bank Garden and the failure of the Monarchs to achieve profitability in ManchVegas, the proposal is more of a pipe dream. Pipe dreams can happen, but I think this might be more of a negotiating tactic to get a better lease in R.I.
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The Kings pulling their AHL team out killed the Monarchs. When the Monarchs became an ECHL team attendance plummeted, they couldn't find a new owner and here we are today. I lived in ManchVegas when the King had their team there and the community was invested.

If you put an AHL team there, the community to eat it up. If you put a AHL team there that associated with the Bruins (NH is full of Bruins fans) they'll thrive.
 
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ON3M4N said:
The Kings pulling their AHL team out killed the Monarchs. When the Monarchs became an ECHL team attendance plummeted, they couldn't find a new owner and here we are today. I lived in ManchVegas when the King had their team there and the community was invested.

If you put an AHL team there, the community to eat it up. If you put a AHL team there that associated with the Bruins (NH is full of Bruins fans) they'll thrive.
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The SNHU center sent the city a 7 million dollar bill last year. Ouch! So where did all the revenue go over the previous 25 years?

SNHU Arena wants more than $7 million from city for capital improvements
 
Crash Bandicoot said:
The SNHU center sent the city a 7 million dollar bill last year. Ouch! So where did all the revenue go over the previous 25 years?

SNHU Arena wants more than $7 million from city for capital improvements
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First and foremost, they didn't send a bill, they asked for $7 million in capital funding to to upgrade the facilities. The building is ~25yrs old and to my understanding, the city of Manchester owns the arena and its managed my ASM. ASM is basically asking the city to invest $7 million into a building they own. This investment is also a 2 stage approach from the article you posted:

Phase 1 work also would include $1.27 million for upgrades to the center-hung video board system, $240,000 for the lighting system and $270,000 for food and beverage-area improvements.

Phase 2 work would be spread out over five years at a cost of about $3.4 million.

On your second question where the revenue went.....well things cost money. Employees don't work for free, nor are utilities free. That's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to operating expenses of an arena. Do you think ASM is managing the arena for free? No, they likely have their hand in the cookie jar and taking x% of the profits. What's left goes back to the city of Manchester to use towards their general budget.
 
Ratty said:
Question: does SNHU own the arena or just rent its name to the facility?
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Just the naming rights. The city of Manchester owns the Arena. From what I recall it was a 10yr deal worth ~$11 million. If true, that deal runs out next year. They could be looking to upgrade the facility to make it more attractive to potential buyers for the naming rights and generate more revenue in a deal for those rights
 
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gross. Do not like. for a lot of reasons

I've always viewed Providence as a sister city to Boston, culturally and geographically

waste of money, and I can't imagine seeing the Providence Bruins become some other affiliate. Just disgusting all round.
 
Ratty said:
Guess it depends on which side of Boston you live. North, it would be a big plus, I-93 N. South it’s convenient by car or train.
I miss the Lowell Loch Monsters too.

Most of all I would hope we don’t lose Saxon Eric’s outstanding coverage.
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Less attention given to Divver though its a trade off.
 
Mixed feelings. I grew up in NH and went to a bunch of Monarchs games, definitely would be happy if the Bruins had an affiliate there. But I like tradition and Providence has had the P-Bruins for 30 years, so wouldn't want that to change. The AHL is already unrecognizable from my youth.

Manchester is a great hockey market and deserves an AHL team though. They got screwed by western expansion just because they happened to be aligned with the Kings at that point. They were performing no worse than the other New England based teams that got to stay. The ECHL team failed largely out of spite - the fanbase was insulted to have third tier hockey offered to them after unceremoniously having their AHL squad ripped away. And they definitely didn't want to support the Kings organization who did that to them either. If they waited a few years and it was another NHL organization affiliated with the ECHL team, maybe it'd have lasted longer. But it was a brazen affront to Manchester to ice the ECHL Monarchs.
 
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