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Can Erie support four pro teams? By Richard W. Kozak, Jr.  |
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For the past two weeks, the professional sports landscape in Erie has been uncharacteristically quiet. With only the Erie SeaWolves swinging the bats down at the downtown ballpark, the choices for professional sports entertainment after the playoff exit of the Erie RiverRats is decidedly slim.
The choice for you, as a sports consumer, may be to lament or actually enjoy the lack of choices for the family entertainment dollar. As summer turns into fall and then the usual winter blues, there will be no less than four professional teams vying for local supporters and dollars over the next year.
Baseball’s Erie SeaWolves and the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters have the longest tenure with the fans hearts and purse strings, but late season surges by the transplanted Erie RiverRats of the American Indoor Football Association brought the team back to the forefront of the sports section.
Later this year, the Tullio Arena will house another tenant, and Erie sports fans will have another choice of entertainment to support or ignore as they choose. The Erie BayHawks (enough with the imaginary animal names; you lost me at IronPigs) of the National Basketball’s D-League join the already crowded mix.
Perhaps with the moniker of the NBA attached, the BayHawks might be able to pique some early curiosity, but loyalty and credibility have long been the deciding factor when the economy is connected with allegiance. Even when a product is entertaining and “winning”, the Erie faithful have proven they can stay away in droves when it’s not the “thing to do” or “place to be seen” regardless of the team’s record.
What’s to be done and the answer to the question can all for teams be successful on the field, court, or ice in these trying economic times remains to be seen. What are some of the problems to arise and what, if any, are possible solutions where there will be enough of the dwindling pie to go around?
Problem 1:
Erie is just too darned small. The glory days of Erie’s growth as a stopover on the shores of Lake Erie have long since past. Not only Erie’s dilemma, but one of concern for many a Northeastern rust belt city.
Take a look around, for as many trendy new downtown haunts or suburban palaces, take a ride down most inner city streets and you’ll see a scene that’s reminiscent of Baghdad in the department of Urban blight. Pockets of the City are better than others, but how many nights out can a family afford when many truly can’t afford a night in?
Problem 2:
Erie has a huge identity crisis. Nearly equidistant among Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland, the Erie area really hasn’t known where to fit in for decades. Just check the front page of the sports section. If four teams locally isn’t enough, there’s the Indians, Pirates, Bills, Steelers, Browns, Penguins, and Sabres.
Stacked up against those competitors, no matter what the product it’s always considered “minor league” no matter how major the hearts of the athletes.
Problem 3:
This one might only be a problem vying for attention and patrons at the box office. The Erie area has a seemingly unlimited availability of collegiate, scholastic, and Prep sports to take away its share of attention from the local pros. Where a city double the size can still fill an arena the size of the Tullio, a Friday night round of football in the fall can kill a night at the hockey rink.
Problem 4:
There are only so many corporate dollars to go around in the area. Just how many dasher board ads can one business afford? Until the total overhaul of the Arena, there is no such thing as a luxury box indoors in Erie.
Problem 4:
The economy. This one is may be the greatest of all. A recent news survey reported that even Americans with appreciable incomes are cutting back on discretionary spending with the sharp increase in gas costs and basic supplies. When the choice of a gallon of gas or a bleacher seat is weighed one to one, transportation comes out a winner more often than not.
Solutions:
Are there any? Creative and loyal owners that are in it for the long run and cultivate a relationship with the fans in the area might be the only chance for survival. Until then, our cravings for sports might leave us with hunger pains in the long run.
Oh, no.
I just thought of the local race tracks. Now that’s a whole other problem.
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