The Jacksonville Barracudas have requested a one-year suspension of operations from the Southern Professional Hockey League. Majority owners, Steve and Janet Croskrey addressed their intent Monday to the SPHL.
Steve Croskrey said the lack of a suitable venue was too much of an obstacle for the Barracudas. For three seasons, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena hosted the Barracudas but the increased costs of a lease renewal forced the Barracudas to move to Jacksonville Ice for the 2007-08 season.
http://news.jacksonville.com/justin/2008/04/30/barracudas-suspend-operations/
Anyone shocked?
not me.
I instantly had no interest in watching the Cudas at Jax Ice. I can't believe the city pushed them out with high rents. The games I've watched over the past cpuple seasons at the Arena were all filling most of the lower tier of seats. Maybe that's why the city decided to up the rents?
I enjoyed going to the arena to watch them, but had no interest in going to Jax Ice. Its like when the Jam first started, they were suppose to play at the Arena. As soon as it was changed to UNF, I knew that was going down the tubes and lost all interest in it. Didnt the Cudas have to move their playoff games to Jax Ice a couple seasons ago because of Disney on ICE being in town? I got a feeling the arena didnt want them anyways.
Yup they sure did. They're a pretty good team and I believe they have had a pretty consistent winning record.
my question is...WHO is the city going to get to replace their revenue now?? i mean yeah...if i'm the city, i'm now thinking "WOW... so glad we got the Barracudas out of there. Now we can bring in who we planned to. Wait...who is going to occupy the stadium now on those weeknights?"
Quote from: Jason on April 30, 2008, 03:40:40 PM
I instantly had no interest in watching the Cudas at Jax Ice. I can't believe the city pushed them out with high rents. The games I've watched over the past cpuple seasons at the Arena were all filling most of the lower tier of seats. Maybe that's why the city decided to up the rents?
I don't really think the city pushed them out - the Arena is an expensive building, and the ticket prices were pretty low - they probably just weren't making the $$$ work
Quote from: Driven1 on April 30, 2008, 04:58:31 PM
my question is...WHO is the city going to get to replace their revenue now?? i mean yeah...if i'm the city, i'm now thinking "WOW... so glad we got the Barracudas out of there. Now we can bring in who we planned to. Wait...who is going to occupy the stadium now on those weeknights?"
My guess was more special events, thats what the whole thing was built for in the first place right, but that never really seemed to happen. I dont think it the city ever really planned on or wanted a sports franchise in there.
What ever happened to the Lizard Kings? What about the Tomcats?
Quote from: Steve on April 30, 2008, 05:01:22 PM
Quote from: Jason on April 30, 2008, 03:40:40 PM
I instantly had no interest in watching the Cudas at Jax Ice. I can't believe the city pushed them out with high rents. The games I've watched over the past cpuple seasons at the Arena were all filling most of the lower tier of seats. Maybe that's why the city decided to up the rents?
I don't really think the city pushed them out - the Arena is an expensive building, and the ticket prices were pretty low - they probably just weren't making the $$$ work
I always felt the tickets where kind of high at the arena. Didnt the start at about $20? Let's see a Suns game, which is alot more exciting to me, starts at about $7.
Quote from: blizz01 on April 30, 2008, 05:03:30 PM
What ever happened to the Lizard Kings? What about the Tomcats?
Wikipedia states the Lizard Kings suspended operations when they couldnt get a new arena. That happened in 2000. The Tomcats went under in 2003.
The arena was built to handle semi-pro Basketball, Hockey, and Arena Football.
no. started at $11 this past year...were cheaper than that the previous year.
That is bad news. I went to many games, and my dad is the blimp captain. Yup, dad is a blimp captain. lol. The kids loved catching the prizes he'd drop during the period breaks.
It's not much, but it was his job. It looks like this in case you've never been to a game.
http://www.youtube.com/v/hJiSYYNKMcw
Quote from: Driven1 on April 30, 2008, 07:20:14 PM
no. started at $11 this past year...were cheaper than that the previous year.
so the tickets started at $11 while it was in the arena, not just jax ice?
Quote from: Jason on April 30, 2008, 05:32:45 PM
The arena was built to handle semi-pro Basketball, Hockey, and Arena Football.
is was built that handle that, i also think it was built to be able to expand the attendance count also, but i just dont think the city really had a sports team in mind when they built it. I think they just wanted the big name acts here. Of course, that just my opinion.
Turtles................................. :-[
Quote from: stephenc on April 30, 2008, 08:38:53 PM
Quote from: Jason on April 30, 2008, 05:32:45 PM
The arena was built to handle semi-pro Basketball, Hockey, and Arena Football.
is was built that handle that, i also think it was built to be able to expand the attendance count also, but i just dont think the city really had a sports team in mind when they built it. I think they just wanted the big name acts here. Of course, that just my opinion.
I agree. The arena clearly wasn't built with the notion to pull in a pro team because it would have to be bigger. At least they had the current semi-pro teams in mind and left a littel room to expand a bit.
Quote from: gatorback on April 30, 2008, 07:36:22 PM
It's not much, but it was his job. It looks like this in case you've never been to a game.
My son would pay more attention to the blimp than he did the game. It was a great addition to the whole package.
I can honestly say my husband and I have never been to a game since it's been at Ice. I loved the arena and being able to easily get a beer and snacks. Ice just doesn't have that. It's a cramped spot when we go for open skates, I can't even imagine what it must be like during an actual game.
Quote from: second_pancake on May 01, 2008, 08:55:27 AM
I can honestly say my husband and I have never been to a game since it's been at Ice. I loved the arena and being able to easily get a beer and snacks. Ice just doesn't have that. It's a cramped spot when we go for open skates, I can't even imagine what it must be like during an actual game.
i heartily agree. My kids have been going to open skate the last few weeks. I can just imagine what a disaster the concessions must be like at a Cudas game.
Jason: Perhaps your son is the next free-style RC pilot national champ. I can give you links to the RC clubs in jacksonville. Dad has been flying for over 5 decades, I've flown too, it's just, well, I'm more into the sauce then flying. All kidding aside, my nephew loves flying and he's 12 or 13 now. Cheers!
^ That's a hobby I've tried to get into in the past but decided that RC cars were the safer and less expensive route. :) Plus I would be absolutely devestated the first time I fly my $1,200 RC plane into the ground!
$1,200. Ha. Dad drops > $2,400 on those things and whenver he gets them spends hours triming them down, etc., et. al.
I was very disappointed to hear about this. I don't think the city ever gave them a chance. The city could have worked with the team to give them at least a little chance of survival. A team like that belongs in the Arena. It's ridiculous to put a minor league team of any sport in a place like Jax Ice.
I too was skeptical of Jax Ice at first but let me tell you, they did a great job with what they had to work with. Was it a right venue for a minor league hockey team? No. But it was fun to go to the games, especially during the playoffs. The people at Jax Ice are great and ran that place pretty well all things considered. The place was absolutely packed during the playoffs this year and I had high hopes for next season, especially considering that the team went to the championship two years in a row. You cannot beat ticket prices like that for the entertainment you get.
Alas, Jacksonville just isn't a hockey town, which sucks for people from other cities that are. If cities like Knoxville can support a minor club why can't we? The city and the media allowed this team to wither away without even blinking an eye. They received almost no support or publicity from most of the news outlets and that is just sad. How are people supposed to know a team even exists here without local support? Not one radio station broadcast the games. Hell, I was willing to do it for free but the interest just is not there.
The team was elite in their league, they were fun to watch and they were a great family event. There were always tons of kids there at Jax Ice. I can only hope that they get a new venue here but I know that's just wishful thinking. It's depressing. I love football and can't wait for the new season to start but watching the Cudas was a blast and now that's gone and it's like they never existed to begin with for all the news it made of their suspension. :(
I completely agree with you thebrokenforum(bf). I went to many games and enjoyed each one. There where NHL players recovering from injuries right along side the ones that were trying to get into the NHL. There were a few that would never make it, but they were fun to watch and all them would kick my botty on the ice.