By: Diane Benjamin
VenuWorks finally posted 2 hockey reports for the new league playing at the Coliseum. (Grossinger Motors Arena is too long folks)
The memo states these are the top two teams in the League, a new one from here will be playing next year. I do not know why these two games were played here unless it was to create interest.
The first one took place on January 3rd:
I’m happy to see they only charged the teams $2,500. In the past it’s been much higher which meant the teams could not afford to play there when attendance isn’t great.
The same two teams played again the next day:
Attendance wasn’t quite as good, but the event still showed a profit. These profits will never pay the bills, but at least they aren’t losses.
Thanks for sharing, Diane! Agreed. Hope this will shut up those that say you only post losses at events. Not likely, but whatever. (The events that make a profit are hard to find because there are so few of them.) The attendance numbers continue to prove there’s no market for an arena of this size in Bloomington-Normal. Can’t unring the bell, but it would seem the arena management is at least finding the market by lowering the rent price.
arent losses YET!
If the teams are competitive and the games are fun, the arena could draw positive revenue and help offset the major losses this building provides. Bloomington-Normal is not a hockey community, at least not at this point in time, but that does not mean this team cannot get a following and last a while.
One problem our sports teams run into is the quality of play with the Cornbelters; the fill-in-the blank minor league hockey team; etc. versus what is around in Peoria. The Chiefs being a MiLB team gives them so much more of a draw.