Stewart: Whoopee's Future is Up in the Air January 22, 2002

By Phillip Ramati
Telegraph Staff Writer

After 2002 season, owners face several tough decisions

A story in Sunday's Augusta Chronicle reported that this would be the first and last season for the Macon Whoopee in the East Coast Hockey League.

It was certainly aroused the interest of Brother Stewart, the majority partner of Macon Sports Group (MSG), the entity that runs the team. Stewart said he hasn't made a decision one way or another on the future of the Whoopee after this season.

"I thought it was interesting," Stewart said. "I haven't talked with anyone at The Augusta Chronicle. I've been out of the country for the last week. I'm not commenting on it."

The Chronicle quoted "several ECHL sources" saying the Whoopee won't be back next season as a result of poor attendance and a lack of corporate sponsorship. ECHL president Rick Adams was at the league meetings in Trenton, N.J. during the all-star break and unavailable for comment.

Macon's attendance has dropped since joining the ECHL, a higher level of hockey than the Central Hockey League, which the Whoopee's league was a part of for its first five years.

"It's pretty obvious what's already out in the public," Stewart said. "I really don't have the time to think about it. It just feeds the rumor mill and wastes everybody's time. Everything is totally up in the air. The fact is, number one, the Macon Whoopee will be a part of the ECHL a hundred percent this season and through the playoffs. Number two, we hope to continue to get support from our fans. Number three, we hope the players continue to play as well as they have been playing. And, number four, I'm tickled to death to have Gord Dineen as coach. He's done a great job."

Stewart said that there are several unknowns facing the franchise after the season.

"As to whether we'll be in the ECHL (next season) or me as an owner, I don't know. Nothing has changed. With a view of paying the bills, if we don't have corporate sponsorship or people coming through the turnstiles, you don't have money coming into the team. How do you address that? I don't know. We don't have AOL-Time Warner behind us."

Stewart said that pulling the plug on the Whoopee was one of several scenarios MSG was facing over the next few months. The Whoopee ranks 27th out of 29 ECHL teams in attendance at 2,589 through 22 home games despite being tied for fourth in the Southeast division with a 21-16-8 record, four points out of first place. Last year, Macon averaged about 2,900 as a member of the CHL.

Stewart was not happy that attendance has declined since leaving the CHL, and acknowledged that he has lost money with the team in the five seasons where he has been the majority owner. He pointed out that attendance was down through most of the league and that several teams had questions surrounding them.

The Chronicle story mentioned Mobile, Ala., Little Rock, Ark. and Pee Dee, S.C. as teams that were either looking to move or shut down after the season.

There are questions surrounding the Whoopee based on the unusual arrangement it entered to join the ECHL in the first place. Instead of buying an ECHL franchise, the Whoopee leased the defunct Tallahassee Tiger Sharks from the Elmore-Tuttle Sports Group, meaning there are two separate entities involved with the team's future. Elmore-Tuttle owns the actual ECHL franchise, while MSG owns and operates the team.

MSG has an option to buy the franchise from Elmore-Tuttle, which would require a substantial additional investment, or it could try to acquire or lease another ECHL franchise after the season. While it is difficult to say precisely how much a current franchise would cost to acquire, an expansion franchise costs $1.5 million. Similarly, Elmore-Tuttle could sell or move the franchise to one of several cities rumored to be interested in acquiring a hockey team. Stewart said he hasn't discussed the future yet with anyone from Elmore-Tuttle. Phone messages to Dave Elmore of Elmore-Tuttle were not returned.

Stewart said he has had several calls from people interested in buying part of MSG, as well as other hockey leagues which have expressed an interest in Macon.

"I'm entertaining different people's calls on a weekly basis," Stewart said. "People calling about buying the team, about moving the team. Nothing is set in stone."

MSG still has the lease for hockey at the Coliseum for another two years, with an option for four more years, so any outside group that wanted to start another hockey team in Macon would have to negotiate with them.

Stewart, however, would rather focus on other matters.

"There's no leading candidate right now," he said. "Why speculate? It's a waste of time fueling rumors about nothing."

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