The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going Essay Example For Students

The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going Essay The Hartford Whalers Are Going Going The Hartford Whalers are in a very tough situation at this time. WhenPeter Karmanos bought the team in May of 1994, he inherited the worst leaseagreement at the smallest arena in the NHL. The Hartford CivicCenter lease agreement creates profit for private companies; however, the leasecauses the Whalers to lose money. The mall is owned and operated by Aetna;therefore it has nothing to do with the Whalers. The city of Hartford owns thecoliseum, parking garage, and exhibition hall. The state of Connecticut pays a1.6 million dollar annual leasing fee to take control of the coliseum, parkinggarage, and exhibition hall. The state hired Ogden Entertainment Services torun the coliseum, and Ogden receives all of the revenue from luxury boxes, thecoliseum club, advertisements, rental fees and the exhibition hall. The statealso hired Kinney Systems to run the parking garage and Service AmericaCorporation to run the concessions. Both companies receive all revenue from theservice they run. After all of this, there is no money left for the HartfordWhalers (Swift Arace, 1+). The reason why these three companies keep all of the revenue from theCivic Center can be blamed on Richard Gordon, the former owner of the Whalerswho did not want the city of Hartford to run the Civic Center. In 1993, thestate decided to negotiate a new lease with the Whalers. The state ofConnecticut did not want to run the coliseum so they hired three privatecompanies to take this job. These companies would only run the Civic Center ifthey could keep all of the revenue from the service they controlled. RichardGordon accepted this lease because this agreement would repay him for anadditional ten million dollars in loses and he sold the team a year later (Lang53-69). The Hartford Whalers is the only major league team in Connecticut and atthe Civic Center. They currently have a bad lease which causes them to losemoney. The Hartford Whalers play all exhibition, regular season, playoff games,the training camp, and some practice time rent free at the Civic Center. However, the Whalers get no revenue from concessions, luxury boxes, parking, andthe coliseum club. The Whalers get sixty percent of the revenue fromadvertisements along the boards but no revenue from all other ads around thecoliseum (Swift, 1+). The Whalers can leave Hartford after the 1997-98 seasonif they lose a cumulative thirty million dollars from 1994-95 through 1997-98. They must also pay a five million dollar penalty to leave Hartford. If theWhalers lose more than thirty million dollars and they choose to stay, they cansubtract one-half of only thirty million dollars from the 25 million dollarsthey owe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers. This amount is 10million dollars. If the Whalers do not lose thirty million dollars in this fouryear period, they must subtract one half of their loses from the 25 million theyowe the state to complete the sale of the Whalers, and they are locked inHartford through the year 2013 (Lang, 53-69). This lease makes it impossible forthe Whalers to make money because even if they sell out the season, they willstill lose seven million dollars a year. If the Whalers lose more than thirtymillion dollars in four year then the lease gives the Whalers an option ofpaying five million dollars to leave Hartford or paying ten million dollars tostay in Hartford. Which one do you think Peter Karmanos, the owner of theWhale rs, will choose. Now the Hartford Whalers are at a major crossroad in their twenty-fiveyear history. This may be a bigger disaster than the Hartford Civic Center roofcollapse because the Whalers may not be in Connecticut in two years. PeterKarmanos has only seen finical hardship since he bought the team in 1994 and heinherited a terrible lease agreement from Richard Gordon at the Civic Center. The Hartford Whalers lost twenty million dollars in the 1995-96 season andeleven and a half million dollars in the 1994-95 season for a total of 31.5million dollars in only two years (Jacobs, 1). The Whalers have not made aprofit since the 1990-91 season (Arace 1+). The Whalers current lease is so badthat even if the they sell out every game of the season, they will still loseseven million dollars a year. The Whalers had a season ticket drive last Aprilto double their season ticket base and it only was partially successful. Manyteams in the NHL have recently received new arenas that can generate a lot ofrevenue for their hockey team (Swift Arace 1+). The state of Connecticut mustgo all out to save the Whalers, our only major league franchise, by giving thema very attractive lease at the Hartford Civic Center and the Whalers need a newarena for the 2002-03 season that can produce a lot of revenue. Harlem Renaissance Analysis EssaySaving the Whalers is extremely important for the state of Connecticut. The Whalers provide this state with an identity because they cause the name Hartford to be discussed by sports fans all across North America. How oftenare the cities of Quebec and Winnipeg mentioned on the news or discussed bysports fans now that they lost their NHL teams? Not often. If the Whalers move,Hartford will become a stop between New York and Boston without its own identity. The Whalers help Connecticuts economy directly and indirectly. The Whalersprovide jobs for within their organization. According to their media guide,they have over forty people working in the Whalers offices. In addition, abouthalf of the players live in Connecticut and they make a lot of money that theyspend on houses, cars, and other stuff to help Connecticuts economy. Whenpeople go to Whalers games, they shop and eat in downtown stores and restaurantsand this helps boost the economy of downtown Hartford. The effects of theWhalers leaving Connecticut were shown during the NHL lockout in 1994 and storeowners lost a lot of revenue. In the past few years Hartford has been trying toget an NFL team. If the Whalers leave Connecticut, it will show the NFL thatConnecticut cannot support a major league franchise so they will put not a teamhere. On the other hand, if the state saves the Whalers, it will show the NFLthat this state can support a major league franchise (Arace 1+). Most importantly, the Whalers are active in community service in thisstate. The Hartford Whalers Foundation supports charitable programs inConnecticut that help inner city youths, save childrens lives, and improve thequality of life. The UConn Childrens Cancer fund is the main charity theWhalers support. It helps kids with cancer and last year they raise over 4.5million dollars for this fund. In addition, the players go to the hospital tovisit these kids to try to cheer them up. The Student Athlete LeadershipProgram teaches high school athletes the importance of being good role models. In addition, this program prevents drug and alcohol abuse. At the Tip A Whalerdinner, the players serve food to anyone who comes and the tips they receive goto charity. The Enfield Junior Whalers is junior B hockey team and itdevelops the top hockey players in Southern New England under the age of twentyfor Division I college hockey. Street Whalers Street Hockey Program teachesinner city kids how to play street hockey and provides them with equipment. ForKids Sake teaches inner city kids how to ice skate and it provides equipment. If Connecticut does not go all out to save the Whalers then we will lose all ofthis excellent community service (Hartford Whalers). John Rowland, the governor of Connecticut, cannot continue the take itor leave it attitude toward the Whalers because pretty soon the Whalers just mayleave it. The Whalers currently have the worst lease of any team in the NHL atthe Civic Center plus this arena is the smallest in the NHL. The Whalers needto be treated like a major league franchise so they deserve the same treatmentas any other NHL team, like the Montreal Canadiens. Revenue from the CivicCenter is necessary for the Whalers to make a profit so they wont be gone intwo years even though they get a lot of fan support. New arenas are popping upall over the NHL so the Whalers need one compete with these teams withoutbankrupting the state or themselves. If the Whalers leave the state will belosing a lot because we will no longer have our own major league team and wewill probably never get another one. In addition, all of the community servicethe Whalers provide will be gone. It is now time to end political battlesconservative s, liberals, and the Whalers and they should just team up to do whatis right or else the Whalers will be gone in two years.