There are a lot of parallels you can draw from the 1961-2007 Blackhawks and the 1991-2010 Bengals. Both owned by men who inherited the teams from their fathers. Both famously tightfisted with money, refusing to invest in the team and look into additional revenue streams (televising home games/stadium naming rights). Teams who are known around the league as underachievers who have not made it to their league's respective title game over this span.
The Blackhawks were able to turn it around when Bill Wirtz died in September 2007 and his son, Rocky Wirtz, took control. Rocky hired business executives who had high level sports management experience (from out side the family) to revamp the business. They brought in the NFL Winter Classic, enhanced the fan's in-game experience and spent on young free agents like Patrick Kane. The Blackhawks now have sold out 101 straight games, have the highest average regular season attendence in the NFL, are now up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup, AND are making more money than ever before.
The Bengals could learn a lot by looking at what Rocky Wirtz has done with a team that was considered the laughing stock of the NHL just 4 years ago.
I'm confused...does this site advocate a change of name for PBS? Call me "old school" if you want, but I'm glad that they're one of the few teams that have not sold the naming rights to a corporate sponsor. I shudder at the idea of having "Tampax Stadium of Cincinnati" or "Pabst Blue Ribbon Coliseum".
Posted by: TheCarlPickensClause | June 02, 2010 at 06:38 PM
great post. if you spend, you will get repaid. a loyal fanbase is begging for a consistent winner. FU, MB
Posted by: artist formerly known as Section 101 | June 02, 2010 at 08:46 PM
The blackhawks have the highest attendance in the NFL? That's pretty good for an NHL team!
Posted by: Airjawa | June 02, 2010 at 08:56 PM
Wait - all you took away from that post was that we should sell the naming rights to the stadium?
Posted by: Sleeping With Bieniemy | June 03, 2010 at 09:32 AM
SWB --
If that comment was directed to me, then no, that's not all that I got from the article. It was an insightful little post. I was just confused on the naming rights thing because I didn't know that that was one of WDR's qualms with MB and how the Bengals are run.
Posted by: TheCarlPickensClause | June 03, 2010 at 11:03 AM
Gotcha - it would be a significant source of revenue that could theoretically be unlocked and used to reinvest in the team. But the Bengals already put all the money into the team that they ever will under Mike Brown with their current revenues so selling the naming rights isn't a huge beef for us.
In fact, I personally would prefer for Mike to forgo that revenue and keep the stadium free of an ugly name.
But if I had a guarantee that the money from selling the naming rights would be used to make the team better, I'd sacrifice the name of the stadium. Paul Brown mostly did right by the Bengals but he's no idol to me or anything so I don't really care if that gets changed. Also, given the fiscal position of the county, selling the rights might add to the taxable revenues as a bonus.
Posted by: Sleeping With Bieniemy | June 03, 2010 at 11:45 AM
I don't know, I like Tampax Stadium, if it will help stop the flow of loses, I'm all for it.
Posted by: HappyNat | June 03, 2010 at 01:41 PM
You had me at the owner dies.
Posted by: cew | June 03, 2010 at 03:22 PM
This would be awsome twitter for Mike Brown.
I just figured how Mike Brown is going to improve his scouting department.
http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/videogames/blog/_/name/thegamer/id/5240298/madden-11-introduces-online-scouting
'Madden 11' introduces online scouting
Posted by: Michael | June 03, 2010 at 07:11 PM
$70 dollars for a scouting department. Sounds like something Mike Brown would do.
Posted by: Michael | June 03, 2010 at 07:14 PM
I couldn't agree more. I live in Central Illinois and I'm an avid Bengals & Blackhawks fan. Old man Wirtz dying was the best thing to happen to the Blackhawks in the last 40 years! Since Rocky has taken over, the games are televised, they have invested in talent on and off the ice, they are involving old players, and they are creating a new fan base with their marketing. Rocky doesn't hide up in some box, he sits with the fans. When at a game in December, I shook his hand and thanked him for the product on the ice and putting them on TV. He was most gracious and appreciative. I can only hope the Bengals organization will take notice and follow suit.
Posted by: Beth Houlihan | June 04, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Yeah, the Hawks didn't shell out a ont of money for Kane, they drafted him. They did shell out money but not for Kane or Towes.
Posted by: Mike | June 04, 2010 at 02:49 PM
Let's get proactive, who's with me?
Four of us, four of them "Brown Family" a Cincinnati rivalry.
There is only one way to beat them.
Flip cup and poison.
It's elimination time bitches...
Posted by: kotw65 | June 04, 2010 at 08:05 PM
Don Banks' latest column on SI.com references MikeyBoy, featuring a quote from Ernie Accorsi that Mike Brown and Accorsi's predecessor as the Giants' GM (Accorsi was the Browns' GM at the time) were the two most anti-Instant Replay guys in the NFL and one would assume he was part of the faction that led to its demise in 1991.
Something tells me that even though $70 scouting is right up El Cheapo's alley, he's too technophobic to actually use it. Maybe once Katie's in charge...
Posted by: Wyatt | June 06, 2010 at 11:12 PM
You're all assuming that Mike would be willing to shell out $70 more for scouting. I'm putting him at about a nickel.
Posted by: WhyMikeyWhy | June 08, 2010 at 10:05 PM