I have been hearing about this for a few years, but since nothing was canceled until now, I really didn’t know how to blog about it, not to mention, I really don’t like sports, yawn, so I really don’t care. It takes a ton of needling from my friends to just watch a quarter of an NFL game.
Before we get to the Storm, let’s talk about the Stampede. I had not been to the Denty since the Foo Fighters played there until this past Sunday. I attended an afternoon Stampede game with some friends who had box seats. The one thing I noticed is that the Denty hasn’t aged well, and while it is only 10 years old, it looks extremely outdated and the random wall wrap ads on the walls look tacky, surprised there wasn’t Dale Earnhardt flags on the wall to. So we know not only the inside of the Denty needs a good remodel, the outside needs a ton of maintenance and the siding will have to be repaired. Normally those expenditures would come from the entertainment tax, but since the Pavilion eats it up like candy and Mayor Poops plans to use the tax to buy the Riverline District land, it seems the Denty will be hobbling along like it’s big sister, the Arena and middle sister the Convention Center. It almost seems intentional to drive interest away from that area to promote a shiny new Convention Center. RATS!!! Oh, the Stampede, I have heard rumors that they are facing the same result. I hand counted the crowd at Sunday’s game in 5 minutes. I have heard they are in negotiations with Augie’s ice slab, and that would be great, better setup. I’m guessing we will hear that announcement after a deal is possibly inked.
As for the Storm, they have always struggled with attendance, so this wasn’t surprising. The argument the Denty has had over the past year is that they wanted to free up those sporting event dates for concerts, which makes business sense. But this wasn’t the makings of the management of the Denty, several moles inside of city hall have told me the Mayor has had a personal pressure campaign on management for almost two years to eliminate the leases. While my moles have only gotten a few minor details switched around I find it believable since the mayor has monthly meetings with Denty management.
While I feel bad for Storm fans (I really don’t 🙁 don’t blame management for this one, the Jumping Jacks coach was likely behind this.