Dear Tri-State Hockey fans and Evansville IceMen Supporters:
I love hockey, and the Evansville community has showed it does too. Your passion, support, and loyalty for the IceMen continue to amaze me.
Yesterday, it was announced the IceMen and the City of Evansville are at an impasse, or deadlock, on lease negotiations. As I have told you before, the team operates at a financial deficit because of our current lease. In 2011, we were told at the last minute the deal changed and those lease terms were the only terms we would receive. I had already moved 22 families to Evansville and did not want to cause them hardship so we signed it.
The reality is the City’s final position on the financial negotiations of a new lease for the IceMen creates a scenario worse than the current lease. Yes, the City lowered rent. But the flip side is the City wants us to provide it the entire premium seats for free, and wants to take away valuable rights we have in the current lease. The net effect is the City’s proposal will cost the IceMen more than the current lease. We have told everyone since early last year we need a better lease – not worse. Our budgetary needs have changed drastically in the past few years, as like any business our expenses have increased. We are trying to find a way to balance those needs without overtaxing the City, but in the end we are just looking for revenue that we feel is rightly ours, which is ticket revenue and the marketing we sell.
I understand the City has to do what is necessary to inject money into its budget and do what it believes is right for the voters. However, I have to do what is right for the IceMen. If I agreed to the City’s terms it would jeopardize the entire IceMen organization. I do not want to do that to our employees, players, coaches, and fans.
We generate millions in revenue for the City, local businesses, and vendors that support the team. Our team and our games create hundreds of jobs for the community. We support good causes and nonprofits. We are a proud business citizen of Evansville. For those reasons and others, we have the support of our affiliates, the NHL Ottawa Senators and AHL Binghamton Senators. We also have the ECHL’s support.
The IceMen staff and management team are hard at work looking at options for the 2016-2017 season. We will keep you updated with developments as much as possible. In the meantime – get to a game and enjoy the positive family friendly experience of the IceMen games. The bottom line is we need your support. We have garnered a great relationship with the Ottawa Senators and would like to expand upon that relationship in years to come.
I remain proud of our staff, I am elated with our fans and I look forward to the playoffs later this season. Go IceMen!
Sincerely,
Ron Geary, IceMen Owner
See ya, hypocrite. I just wish we didn’t have a damn ice rink that looks weird set up for basketball.
I call BS. Geary wants a subsidy, plain and simple. This team has averaged in the top 1/3 of league attendance every year. We don’t hear this crap from the bottom 2/3. I have also not heard one person confirm what Geary was saying about having the highest rent in the league. When he first went public, he conveniently left out the rebates he was getting….
If Geary wanted a fair resolution, he would be asking for a league official, or some 3rd party to mediate this. Instead, he is refusing to continue negotiations, and is trying to convince the public it’s not his fault.
Quit telling us and show us Ron.
The Icemen should not be asked to subsidise the poor decisions of our government, and the taxpayers should not be asked to subsidize the Icemen’s profitability problems.
That is the rational answer. The City of Evansville bought a pig in a poke without consent of the governed when it built the Ford Center. The chickens have come home to roost. For the next 20 years all other services will suffer because of this narcissist’s dream. The total cost is higher than the $200M plus that is being spent. Sewers don’t work, roads look like a wrecking ball bounced through town, the sidewalks are terrible, but we have an empty hockey rink that devours $8M per year plus operational losses. This ranks right up there with Trump’s casino.
Look at the food/beverage prices at the Ford Center, they just raised prices on some items a couple of weeks ago. It would be interesting to see how all revenue from the Ford Center is divvied up. Just how much does VenueWorks take in? VenueWorks needs to realize that the Evansville market is NOT the same as Indy, Nashville, St. Louis or Louisville. There is only so much that Evansville residents are willing to spend for entertainment.
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