Springfield Spirit staying put despite league troubles

The reorganization of the North American Hockey League does not threaten the existence of USA Junior Hockey in Springfield, according to Springfield Spirit officials.

As of May 14, four of the 11 teams in the NAHL the league governed by USA Junior Hockey and in which the Spirit plays will sit out the upcoming season, according to Dennis Wansor, the league's vice president of operations.

The Spirit is not among those.

"Springfield Spirit is absolutely staying put," said Kelly Chase, a member of the Spirit ownership group and director of hockey operations.

In a telephone interview last week, Chase said the Spirit will play in the upcoming NAHL season, insisting that hockey has a place in Springfield.

"The one thing we know (is) we've invested in Springfield, and they've invested in us," Chase said. "We're not about to go away. It's cost us money to be set up the last two years."

According to Wansor, NAHL teams spend between $300,000 and $500,000 per season, including about $40,000 in league dues.

The teams bailing out are the Danville (Ill.) Wings, Chicago Freeze, Capital Centre Pride in Lansing, Mich., and Compuware Ambassadors in Plymouth, Mich.

Chicago and Capital Centre are sitting out the 2003-2004 season, Wansor said from the league's home office in Farmington Hills, Mich., but may return in 2004-2005.

Danville has applied for membership in the United States Hockey League, a Tier I junior hockey league. NAHL is Junior A, or Tier II. Compuware is undecided if it will sit out or play in another league, most likely the USHL, Wansor said.

Change of Spirit

The Spirit organization has a few changes of its own on the horizon, Chase said. Among them is hiring a staff marketing person and an assistant coach.

Other positions may be named, Chase said, but until ongoing interviews are complete, the number of jobs is unknown.

"When we've been interviewing here, there are people that could fill more than one role," he said. "We're in a situation where we're going to evaluate that over the next couple of weeks."

Chase said fellow Spirit owners St. Louis developer Tony Sansone Jr., St. Louis Rams' Grant Wistrom, former St. Louis Blues executive Susie Mathieu and Springfield businessman Larry Lipscomb have considered going to the Tier I status, but that's a move for down the road.

Tier I owners must have a net worth in excess of $5 million and operate a nearly $1 million annual budget, Chase said, compared to a minimum net worth of $500,000 in Junior A. Tier I eligibility also requires a facility that seats 1,500 and can expand to 2,700 seats by 2007.

Jordan Valley Ice Park seats 1,100 at capacity; the Spirit averaged 698 fans per game. Ticket prices range from $10 to $16. According to Jeff Cumley, ice park manager, the Spirit sold 20,933 tickets in 30 home games in the 2002-2003 season ended May 2. The Spirit finished last in the Western Division.

Cold cash

Keeping the Spirit in Springfield is a big boost for the ice park, Cumley said.

"Obviously, we're very happy to have the Spirit. ... The building sure benefits from having them in here," Cumley said.

The Spirit pays between $30,000 and $40,000 a season for ice time, including practice and game use, according to Bill Hobbs, assistant director of Parks and Recreation.

"We're very happy to have that revenue," Cumley said, considering the facility's early financial struggles in which it lost $258,122 in its first full year.

Game concessions also generate a sizable chunk of money for the ice park. According to an executive summary issued by Group 7, the ice park's management group, to the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, concessions produced a total of $134,125 in the park's first full year of operations.

Survival of the fittest

The NAHL will survive, Chase said. The league's board of governors and its executive committee, which includes Sansone, the Spirit's principal owner, will review expansion team applications at the league meetings later this month.

"We've got a new executive committee ... to maybe make some decisions from the business side of it," Chase said. "I think the North American Hockey League has been sometimes run by a couple of good old boys. We intend on upgrading the staff from a league standpoint. We plan on expanding ... with solid ownership groups. We've got 10 great applications right now that we want to evaluate and look at who the strong suits are and who we want to be partners with."

He said league officials met with five teams in Texas May 6 about joining the NAHL.

"Hockey is growing," Chase said. "I think in any situation there are going to be weaker teams and poorer situations we see that in the NHL and we see it in every level."

Contract renewals

According to Dan Kinney, director of the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, the board renewed May 9 the $50,000 Springfield Spirit marketing contract with ACR Nally Communications.

"We hope by buying that license agreement from the Spirit for the use of their logo, that we would sell more than ($50,000) in return," Kinney said.

As for the annual ice park management contract held by Group 7, Kinney said it is up for renewal in late summer. He expects the board to renew it for a third year.

"We've always felt like it takes three years to really get a program like this sold ... in the community," he said. "We're going to see where it is at the end of the third year."