IS IT TRUE that after a single year of playing in the Evansville market that the Thunderbolts hockey team is already having a slight change in ownership?…that Mike Hall, a local businessman with a love for hockey who lent his name to the effort and currently serves as President of the Thunderbolts is selling his minority interest (10%) in the team to VW Sports, L.L.C., that was formed to be the managing and holding company for the Thunderbolts?…Mr. Hall and VW Sports supposedly pooled some funds to acquire the Southern Professional Hockey League affiliation in early 2016 keeping semi-professional hockey in the mix at Ford Center?…as this is a private company this is not a material event that must be disclosed so we will never know whether Mr. Hall made a profit, broke even, or loss his investment in the Thunderbolts?…given the poor attendance and the recent news regarding the cost associated with a hockey team the one thing we strongly suspect is that Mr. Hall would have had less risk and a hefty profit if he had put whatever money he put into the Thunderbolts into Apple stock?..that Venuworks that manages the Ford Center for the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is the majority owner (10%) and thus the total controller of VW Sports LLC?

IS IT TRUE there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the finances associated with the desperate actions of our Mayor to keep a semi-professional hockey team in the hockey rink by the Ohio River known as the Ford Center?…it is not widely known that the franchise fee of $225,000 that was required for the Thunderbolts to join the Southern Professional Hockey League?  …its been alleged that a large sum of this fee were paid or loaned on behalf of VW Sports LLC with taxpayer dollars? …the kind souls who came forward to invest or give away many thousands of taxpayers dollars to keep the dream of hockey alive are none other than the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?  … Evansville Redevelopment Commission are most famous for dropping $603,000 on the parking lot at the McCurdy Hotel just to give it away to a political crony of a former Mayor?  …they also purchased the vacant and dilapidated CVS building and parking lot located in the seedy part of North Main street for around $595,000?  …we should not forget about the failed $200,000 Earthcare project pushed and funded by ERC?  ..one thing for sure is that the ERC loves to give your hard earned tax dollars away on questionable projects?

IS IT TRUE that there are those in this world who are obsessed with financial performance to the point that they do projections on a regular basis about the financial performance of public and private entities?…one such person that we shall refer to as Mole #7 has been looking at the financial performance for the Ford Center as it relates to the Thunderbolts hockey team and said “it may not be a pretty sight”? …in previous years the Evansville Icemen absorbed an average loss of roughly $600,000 per season (5 seasons) which included paying $11,000 per home (36 home games) game in rent to the Ford Center management?  …those rent checks have been reduced to $1,000 per home game for the Thunderbolts which is going to be a major financial blow of many hundred of thousand of dollars to the Ford Center annual budget?  …because of the poor home game attendance it is guesstimated by Mole #7 that the Thunderbolts concession (food and beverage) income at the Ford Center could be reduced around $400,000 to $500,000 over the previous year (Evansville IceMen last year at Ford Center)? …of course poor ticket sales isn’t helping the bottom line? …Mole #7 is also projecting that this year the Ford Center hockey income may be on the verge of losing between $1 million to $1 1/2 million dollars because of the Thunderbolts bad economics performance? …this projection doesn’t include the money that the Ford Center management pays to Vanderburgh-Evansville Building Authority for services rendered for hockey games?

IS IT TRUE only the music acts seem to bring in sufficient crowds to make the cash register ring at Ford Center?…hockey sure as heck isn’t working, the UE girls are leaving because of costs, circuses are reducing overall show date offerings, the local mega Church will not be holding future Easter services at the Ford Center and the UE men’s basketball team is not exactly filling the house either?…Country music stars and classic rock and roll are the only thing that seems to attract enough people to be worth unlocking the doors?…the real tragedy is that the losses of the Thunderbolts, the Aces, and the other things are being hidden by any successes in the music world?…to this day, the biggest crowds for sports, music, or even circuses happened in Roberts Stadium?

IS IT TRUE is this is the same Ford Center that was advertised by the best consultants that money can buy to be self sufficient in the third year? …we wonder just what could have been done better with $127 million borrowed dollars?

FOOTNOTES: Todays “READERS POLL” question is: Do you feel comfortable with the fact that the owners of VenueWorks now has 100% controlling interest of the Thunderbolt Hockey team?

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