The move of the Manchester Monarchs from the AHL to the ECHL didn’t work out too well, but the new owners of the money-losing team say they’re ready to turn things around for the 2016-2017 season.
The Monarchs were sold by AEG to PPI Sports, a Boston-based entity led by Chairman Marc Casper, Vice Chairman John Nies and CEO Brian Cheek.
When the AHL shifted several teams to be the West Coast to be closer to their NHL parents, several cities in the Eastern United States were shifted to the ECHL. While the AHL westward move was a success, the same can’t be said for the former AHL markets. The Monarchs ended up averaging 4,622 fans per game in the 2014-2015 season — the team’s first in the ECHL — after averaging 5,621 fans per game in their final AHL season. From the New Hampshire Union Leader:
“We definitely had to earn their trust,” Cheek said last week at the Verizon Wireless Arena, where the team plays. “They wanted to make sure we were a viable ownership group, that it would be somebody that would buy the team and keep it here was definitely a part of their concern. They wanted to make sure it wasn’t somebody buying it to move somewhere else.”…
Matt Welch, the Monarchs president, said various groups over the years had approached the Monarchs and the Kings about buying the team.
“It was finding an ownership group that they felt were going to be stable here for a long time and are still going to run it first class,” Welch said.
Turning things around won’t be a short-term proposition, especially with a downsizing of the front office under new ownership. On the docket immediately: food and ticket promotions to reintroduce the Monarchs to the greater Manchester community.
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