If you didn’t know, proposals are afoot got a new, International Manchester Arena. The arena will be in Eastlands, near the Etihad (Manchester City’s home ground). As a result, the current Manchester Arena has put forward significant redevelop plans and (as you can probably imagine opposes the proposals for the new arena).
The Eastlands arena’s proposals say that given the fact that the current arena has been booked solidly for years now with international acts, Manchester has enough interest amongst international music acts, sporting events and conferences that it can operate two arenas.
Manchester Storm and the arena
For those that don’t know, the Manchester Storm used to play in the Manchester Arena. The teams was even partially owned by the arena’s owners). Most say that these were the Storm’s best days in the league. Attendance was highest, the team had its best results and interest was at an all time high.
Sadly though, as Manchester took off in the mid-to late 90s, everyone wanted to play the Manchester arena. This meant that the arena began to lose money because it was obliged to play hockey matches instead of infinitely more profitable music acts! The team was effectively shut down as a result and plunged the team into a dark period.
Could the Storm be moving (back)?
Now, think of this. The Eastlands arena gets built. Most of the biggest international events now get caught by the new arena and play there. The current Manchester arena keeps the majority of its acts and events but sees a small downturn in the number of acts etc coming play there. The current arena needs a reliable act, that plays frequently across the year and particularly keeps income coming in during the week when events are hardest to book.
Enter the Storm.
A match made in heaven? The Manchester Storm would benefit in the same way it used to. Much larger capacity, meaning higher ticket sales and much higher income. Infinitely better transport links to the arena mean a wider ‘net’ for potential fans to attend games (home and away fans). More prestige for the club (linked with a more substantial venue). More chance of hosting big league events, such as the playoffs and European Champions Hockey League (CHL) matches.
The downside
Well, so why wouldn’t this happen you ask?
There are two potential barriers.
Firstly, what will the arena want from the Storm for this to happen? They know the move will benefit the Storm and might put their asking price too high (massive percentage of the ticket sales profit for example or too high a game day cost, meaning that the Storm would have to sell out every match to make a profit).
Secondly, the way the Storm were dumped by the arena previously will mean a lingering bad taste will still hand around the Storm and doing business with the arena. A deal would need to include some guarantee for the Storm that they are not going to get thrown out again, in a similar way to last time. Would the arena be prepared to go far enough to make this happen?
Only time will tell.
Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Should the Storm move back to the arena given the choice?
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Having been a massive fan of the original team back in the glory days I too was gutted when it left the arena. It was a proper arena with everything needed to make the experience so good that you wanted to return for more & with all the public transport into the city centre it’s no issue for home & away fans to get to it. Obviously a big decision for all involved & who knows a big push in UK hockey development too!.
It would be so good wouldn’t it! Let’s keep our finger’s crossed!
Yes, yes, yes. Having watched the original Storm at the Nynex arena this would be a fantastic move back to Manchester, current facilities are very poor and attendances aren’t great. The arena would have to guarantee they wouldn’t kick them out like last time, and they would also need to invest in an ice pad and a new jumbotron. Let’s get it done, and get ice hockey back in the arena.
Finger’s crossed! The more we support the team where they are, the more attractive a proposition they become for a new arena/move back to the current arena!
Firstly when Storm were originally set up by Ogden leisure they wanted an ice hockey team because this is what they had in the US namely Ottowa Senetors. They owned the club and gave away tickets because they made that up from the food stands. When Ogdens decided to sell the arena in the contract the buying company had to run the Storm for 1 year. SIG did not want to run an ice hockey team but wanted the arena. SIG ran the Storm for 1 season and the sold the club for £1 to Gary Cowan. Season one went well but season 2 Gary had a gentlemens handshake with the son in law of Dave Whelan for JJB SPORTS to be the shirt sponsor. Unfortunately the son in law committed suicide and as nothing was in writing Dave Whelan refused to pay the sponsorship fee. This left a big hole in the expenses hence the lock out by the arena. Players hadn’t been paid (one player left his car in Manchester Airports carpark to acrue the fees because he hadn’t been paid. Storm went into liquidation. Phoenixtook over shortly after but it wasn’t cost effective. It cost at the time £10.0000 per game £1000 for the cube to be lowered and £1000 for the merchandise stand…. So for Storm to move into any arena it would need to be owned by them or significantly subsidised because God knows how much it would cost now!!! This is my understand of events.
Wow great comment thanks and some great details.
Expensive yes and perhaps unlikely, but… If this new arena takes some of the current arena’s business – the Storm are a viable option to ensure turnover during quieter periods. Maybe, just maybe, worth the investment?
NOT going to happen ! Wheres the money coming from to invest in a 1 : ice pad 2 : jumbotron or 3 : scoreboards similar to Belfast , 4 : we don’t have the support.
It only needs an arena to believe that the turnover from regular games will be better than a potentially empty arena to justify the arena itself to make those investments. Maybe unlikely yes, but… a second arena in Manchester perhaps opens that door just a little more….
Keep supporting, invite your friends and grow the game!
There are a few reasons why it won’t happen.
One big reason is who says a new venue will happen, and plus if it did get built, I don’t see why a sports team would be playing out of it at all. If you remember the Arena operators SMG wanted no sports teams playing out of the venue, and literally forced both the Giants and the Storm out, as they would get far bigger crowds for concerts and other events than they would for sports.
It’s also a case of low crowds, as Storm towards the end got poor ones and despite the Phoenix getting 4,000 first game at the MEN, they much like the Storm struggled. When the side then moved to Altrincham it saw them struggle to sell out for games with roughly 6-7 sell outs in total, but the new Storm are the same and hardly sellout besides New Year Games and that is also if the visitors fill their allocation too. A large majority of the Storm fanbase nowadays is from neighbouring areas closer to Altrincham than the wide reaching Manchester community in truth, and if both Phoenix and Storm failed to swell the crowds and generate 2,500 every game then there’s no point bothering.
Another factor is Manchester lost a chunk of hockey fans when Phoenix went bust had too, and had many Storm fans revelling in it. Plus a few Storm fans in the day didn’t go to watch the other team as it wasn’t the same as before, so effectively you lost one fanbase and replaced it and saw the old one refusing to watch and go elsewhere for their fix now. Long story, the only way you would fill that possible new venue for hockey is solely if a Global Game was to ever take place there and nothing else.
Concerts and other events do make more money. The new arena would almost definitely fill its bookings with these more profitable events and not need a sports team. If the original arena loses out on a lot of the concerts/other events to the new arena, then taking the Storm back would be better than no events! Especially in mid-week when bookings are even harder to get!
Perhaps unlikely but you never know! There’s definitely potential if things go the right way.