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Why Albany? Location, location, location

The New York capital city is centrally located in the AHL's Eastern Conference, which lowers travel costs.

By Paul Betit pbetit@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Why would any American Hockey League franchise move to Albany, N.Y., where attendance has ranked near the bottom of the 29-team league over the past five years?

The answer: Location, location, location.

Not to mention an apparent sweetheart lease agreement with the managers of the Times Union Center.

SMG, the huge management firm that runs the facility for Albany County, has been trying for the past month to find a new anchor tenant for the 14,000-seat arena, since the new owners of the Albany River Rats announced that they will move the team to Charlotte, N.C., to be closer to their NHL parent, the Carolina Hurricanes.

Brian Petrovek, CEO and managing owner of the Portland Pirates, continues to work on a lease agreement with the Cumberland County Civic Center, but he told the Portland Press Herald on Thursday that he is one of the two AHL team owners who have been talking with SMG about moving to Albany.

Apparently, the Lowell Devils, the only other AHL team with a lease agreement that runs out this season, is the other club.

But why?

"Albany's location, without question, is one of the most attractive in the league," Petrovek said.

Albany is just 280 miles from the Buffalo Sabres, the Portland franchise's NHL parent, and he said that being in upstate New York would make it easier to move players between the two teams.

Albany also is centrally located in the AHL's Eastern Conference, which keeps travel costs down.

"Compared to the other teams in the league, we have one of the least amounts of travel expense," said Albany River Rats President/CEO Galen Szablewski. "Out of 40 road games, we typically make 20 to 24 day trips and, depending on how the team is routed, we'll do somewhere in the range of 12 to 15 overnights."

By comparison, the Pirates will spend more than 20 nights on the road by the end of this regular season.

By moving to Albany, Petrovek calculates that his team's travel budget of about $190,000 per season could be reduced by as much as 30 percent.

Less travel also means less wear-and-tear on the hockey players.

"The real value (of Albany) is the rest and recovery for our players," Petrovek said. "We've got some (teams) in our league who wear out their players."

A 30 percent cut in travel expenses doesn't seem to be much of a reason for moving to Albany, especially since the former owner of the River Rats reportedly lost money in 16 of his 17 seasons there.

SMG agrees.

Apparently, it is offering a very attractive lease to the next AHL club that calls the Times Union Center its home.

"The lease we are operating under is substantially different than what is being proposed right now," Szablewski said. "If we could have got them to offer that five years ago, we probably would be in a different position today."

Szablewski, who will not move with the team to North Carolina, won't divulge the details of what is being offered by the Times Union Center.

"It's a completely restructured arrangement in terms of revenue streams and base rent, and everything involved," he said. "They certainly have gotten more aggressive in the lease offering than what was offered to us."

New York's capital district appears to be a hockey hotbed.

"On any given night, we could play at home and get 4,000 fans," said Kevin Beattie, sports information director for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, across the Hudson River from Albany in Troy, N.Y. "The River Rats could play at home and get 5,000 on that night. Union College, which is 20 minutes from here, could get 2,000, and the Phantoms in Glens Falls, which is 45 minutes north, could get another 5,000. There are hockey fans out there, no question."

The problem has been getting enough of those fans into the Times Union Center to cover the expenses of the River Rats.

Over the past five years, the River Rats have averaged 3,803 fans per game. During the same time, the Pirates have averaged 4,813.

"It was a matter of resources," said Beattie, referring to the recent downward trend of the River Rats' attendance.

Beattie said the AHL franchise wasn't able to invest enough money to properly market the team.

"You need to be able to get the groups in there," he said. "You need to be able to service the population, and that stopped happening."

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com