Would Portland be a Better Sports City Without the Pirates?
A recent article in the Portland Press Herald noted that the AHL team's lease expires this summer, with the expected haggling over a new agreement. And I am wondering if the city would be better off simply letting the team go.
The reason I say this is the lack of leadership in the Pirates front office in terms of providing a quality fan experience. And when you talk about the team lacking direction and energy, you have to point the finger squarely at the man in charge, team CEO Brian Petrovek.
Under his guidance, games at the Civic Center are boring affairs in which horribly outdated music is played repeatedly and ridiculous promotions are run by half hearted employees who seem to be as lacking in energy as the fans. For example, I was at a game earlier this season watching the between period promotion where plastic pucks are thrown by fans on to a mat laid at center ice. If the fans hit certain spots they win prizes. And incredibly, the announcer had the nerve to kick one puck off the mat, since it was apparently only halfway "on" the prize spot. He seemed to get a chuckle out of depriving some paying customer of a free pizza or whatever it was. I was shocked at the callousness of this. How much does a pizza cost? It actually costs the Pirates nothing, since it is a sponsor's responsibility. How hard would it have been for the announcer to say, "The puck is only halfway on, whatdya guys say we give it to them anyway?" to the crowd? That would have been a nice thing to do, and would have been the smart thing to do as well, since it would have made the fan experience a better one, leading to more tickets sales.
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The Pirates are threatening to move out of town? Let 'em go!
The city can either move the awesomeness that is the Maine Red Claws from the 3,000 seat Expo to the 7,000 seat Civic Center and see what Jon Jennings and his staff do with the increased revenue and media attention, or get another AHL team to move in, which shouldn't be very difficult considering the success of minor league sports in this town.
The city of Portland would be better off without Brian Petrovek and the passionless Portland Pirates.
The reason I say this is the lack of leadership in the Pirates front office in terms of providing a quality fan experience. And when you talk about the team lacking direction and energy, you have to point the finger squarely at the man in charge, team CEO Brian Petrovek.
Under his guidance, games at the Civic Center are boring affairs in which horribly outdated music is played repeatedly and ridiculous promotions are run by half hearted employees who seem to be as lacking in energy as the fans. For example, I was at a game earlier this season watching the between period promotion where plastic pucks are thrown by fans on to a mat laid at center ice. If the fans hit certain spots they win prizes. And incredibly, the announcer had the nerve to kick one puck off the mat, since it was apparently only halfway "on" the prize spot. He seemed to get a chuckle out of depriving some paying customer of a free pizza or whatever it was. I was shocked at the callousness of this. How much does a pizza cost? It actually costs the Pirates nothing, since it is a sponsor's responsibility. How hard would it have been for the announcer to say, "The puck is only halfway on, whatdya guys say we give it to them anyway?" to the crowd? That would have been a nice thing to do, and would have been the smart thing to do as well, since it would have made the fan experience a better one, leading to more tickets sales.
------
The Pirates are threatening to move out of town? Let 'em go!
The city can either move the awesomeness that is the Maine Red Claws from the 3,000 seat Expo to the 7,000 seat Civic Center and see what Jon Jennings and his staff do with the increased revenue and media attention, or get another AHL team to move in, which shouldn't be very difficult considering the success of minor league sports in this town.
The city of Portland would be better off without Brian Petrovek and the passionless Portland Pirates.
posted by joe sweeney at 8:37 PM
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