SCL (PEANUTS) Shuts Down for 2008 : Sports : WFXL Fox 31

Just two days after Peanuts' GM Deanna Davis assured fans "we're not going anywhere," the South Coast League announced on Friday that the league will suspend business operations and the 2008 season indefinitely. The move, effective April 1st, is due to financial problems, including an inability to "close on a sufficient amount of debt and equity financing to ensure a successful 2008 season," according to the SCL press release. Chief Development Officer J.D.D Hardin told Fox 31 that the league could not go ahead with the 2008 campaign "in good faith." see full text at WFXL...

[WHERE ARE MY NUTS]

Why oh why didn't they bring in an expert in the same way Storen brought in an expert to set up the Wildcats?

I don't recall the guy's name. I think he's local. He was a business teacher at Darton who went door to door to homes churches and businesses for months building up support for the Wildcats before they ever sold the first ticket or sponsorship.

[nutless and frustrated]

Why oh why didn't they bring in an expert in the same way Storen brought in an expert to set up the Wildcats? I don't recall the man's name. I think he was a business teacher at Darton.

[AskTheWiseOldMan]

Although Storen has claimed the credit, the 'Cats would never have happened but for a local CPA and Darton teacher named T.A. Holloway. He created the Wildcats business plan (including creating a new signage and concession program), cultivated the sponsor partnerships and went door-to-door during the summer and winter of 2004 promoting the Wildcats and preselling season ticket packages.

The Peanuts did none of these things.

[Come on now]

Why do people keep creating sports teams and making up leagues and divisions that nobody cares about? Seriously, who gives a sh1t about the peanuts or the wildcats? If people would put this much effort into community projects that actually matter, maybe we could quit spending money on useless things in Albany like...oh....a 2.4 million dollar park named for someone who never lived in Albany and had ZERO ties to the community. How about we devote this time and effort into getting rid of the ineffective and useless city and county officials?
Seriously, the wildcats and the peanuts are worthless.

[Joe Bynum]

You gotta give Storen, Holloway and John Hunt credit for doing what no one else has been able to do in this town, but at what cost to the city? If the Wildcats are making a million a year, why did the city just hand over the civic center to them? The City could be making money from concessions, ticket sales and advertising instead of giving it all away to the Wildcats.

[AskTheWiseOldMan]

(overheard in the hallway outside the City Manager's office)

Hogenkamp (Assistant to the City Manager): "A group wants to bring a baseball team to Albany. Think it will work?"

Holloway: "It would be foolish to bring a baseball team to Albany. Even if they open for a season, they won't be back for a second one. There just isn't any economic model that makes it work."

[just a correction]

Joe Bynum wrote:

You gotta give Storen, Holloway and John Hunt credit for doing what no one else has been able to do in this town, but at what cost to the city? If the Wildcats are making a million a year, why did the city just hand over the civic center to them? The City could be making money from concessions, ticket sales and advertising instead of giving it all away to the Wildcats.

Actually, the deal with the city is not at all as sweet as is suggested nor was the orignal businessplan quite so realistic, it seems. The Wildcats are not making a million a year and have never earned a profit at all. In fact, we're told they have been losing a few hundred thousand dollars a year or more including in the very first year! The owners who bought into the team with real money have continually and graciously stepped up to cover these losses with cash subsidies. You can figure close to $2M has gone into that team. Real dollars.

As to the concessions, the city is guaranteed $50,000 per year, an amount that the city MIGHT have otherwise earned one time before in better days by running the concessions itself since the Civic Center opened - and these days with all the event cancellations, low attendance and remodeling of banquet facilities, it's a loser deal for the team. Some say the city actually lost money when it ran the concesssions before the Wildcats came along. The team now generates most of the buildings concessions revenues. At the very best, this $50,000 guarantee is about the amount that is earned on the concessions by the Wildcats so it is just about a break-even for the team with lots of hassles - maybe even a loss, but it assures some quality control at the games and maybe someday will turn a dollar.

The Wildcats have generated new revenues from signage that were never even there for the city before, but that alone does not cover the shortfall or provide any return on investment to the ownership.

Frankly, if you want to talk about unsung heroes in our community, you might want to include these out-of-town folks who bought into a dream, and who have quietly followed through for 4 seasons under challlenging circumstances that would have chased away most other groups. Class acts indeed!

Albany benefits from quality like this!

[Joe Bynum]

If the Wildcats aren't making money now, its because they haven't got a good management team in place.

To correct your "correction"...The concession deal isn't $50,000. It's 10% with a $50,000 minimum floor. Assuming for argument sake that concessions and catering are merely at a lazy "breakeven" its because whoever is running the show doesn't know how.

As for the signs, the Wildcats get to keep 90% of all the revenues although expenses including the electricity to light all those signs is paid for by the Civic Center - not the Wildcats.

Also, the contract calls for the Wildcats to get not only the revenues from the games, but they also get 50 cents on every ticket sold for every event.

If they aren't making significant profits, its because they're not maximizing the opportunity.

As for the "unsung heroes" crap, in this case its a lot cheaper to keep throwing good money after bad than to get sued for breach of contract. The "out-of-town" owners have done nothing to warrent any accolades of any kind. NOTHING.

[just a correction]

warrant

[AskTheWiseOldMan]

This is Topix. Missed spelling opportunities are fine and welcomed here on Topix ... we only frown on deliberate libel.

While true that any overpaid idiot can write a check, those out of towners ARE providing something to the community... and in the spirit of receiving a gift they deserve a thank you.

[just a correction]

re "warrant"

The humor and message were intended to be in the brevity of the reply and the trivial focus away from Mr. Bynum's diatribe. The short and simple sometimes says the most.

As to the Civic Center, without heads in the house, no once can make any money from tickets or concessions. There are not enough heads in the CC house - and the count seems to be declining. Concessions sales are driven first and foremost by traffic (of course, not only) and the food operator has zero control over that. It takes what comes thru the door. From then on, it can't be too hard to deliver hot dogs and beer.

Can't say about the rest of Wildcats management: Good, Bad or Ugly.

I do hope the team returns next year. I humbly think that the city needs to make sure that they do.

The best approach to Albany would be to turn the whole thing over to a group of successful businesspeople and let them figure it out (of course, few would take it on). I don't think that there is a business person on the city commission. To me, that speaks volumes.

[formerly justAcorrection]

AskTheWiseOldMan wrote:

This is Topix. Missed spelling opportunities are fine and welcomed here on Topix ... we only frown on deliberate libel.

Hello Mr. Wise Old Man,
You are right to frown on deliberate libel. Sometimes this kind of forum gets out of hand and the comments can be libelous - or at least, mean spirited, resulting in unfair and almost irretrievable character assassination. As a topix.com editor, you have the challenging task of monitoring comments, even your own, and judging between free speech and libelous or unfair commentary.

As an editor, at least you have the opportunity to go back and edit out or "kill" a story and its comments when they get out of hand or if, even you, realize that you may have gone too far. These anonymous internet opinions cloaked in some false authority can cause lasting damage.

Just think about a child reading about a parent who cannot respond or explain another perspective - and who shouldn't have to. How would you and your child feel? How confusing and painful for a kid who is not old enough to understand and sort the opinion from fact or separate out the motivations. Or the impact on business? Even on friends and family.

Lately we've seen young people take their own lives when they became victims of such abuse. What unfair anonymous power in the keyboard of one nasty human being. It's gossip and back-biting of the worst order. i would think that a professional journalist would never do it.

Our community deserves better, right?

Thank you.