Friday, October 01, 1999
Hockey is back, and we're still a 2-puck town
Neither Ducks, Cyclones close to leaving
BY MIKE DeCOURCY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
That is what we have in this town: ice hockey in stereo.
The Cyclones of the International Hockey League begin their 10th season Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the Michigan K-Wings at the Firstar Center. The Mighty Ducks of the American Hockey League open their third season Saturday at 7:35 p.m. against the Kentucky Thoroughblades at the Cincinnati Gardens.
The Cyclones have aggressively advertised the opening of their 10th anniversary season and will give away souvenir T-shirts to children. The Mighty Ducks are having Pete Rose drop the ceremonial first puck.
So begins the third year of a situation few believed could last two. Cincinnati has served as home to two professional hockey franchises since Cyclones management purchased and renovated the former Riverfront Coliseum and moved their home games downtown.
The Gardens management team of Jerry and Pete Robinson did not want to lose hockey dates that kept their building vital and were presented with the opportunity to bring in the minor-league affiliate of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
“It's an unusual situation,” said Doug Kirchoffer of the Cincinnati Cyclones, “because it's really not about two hockey teams as much as it's about two arena facilities where the hockey team is a key element in the business strategy.”
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Cincinnati on Ice
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The Cyclones and Mighty Ducks played 11 games last season on the same night. Here's a look at their attendance:
1998-99 season average
| Team | G | Total | Avg. |
| Cyclones | 41 | 257,413 | 6,278 |
| Ducks | 40 | 174,202 | 4,355 |
1998-99 head-to-head
| Team | G | Total | Avg. |
| Cyclones | 11 | 82,178 | 7,471 |
| Ducks | 11 | 56,755 | 5,160 |
1997-98 season average
| Team | G | Total | Avg. |
| Cyclones | 41 | 316,233 | 7,713 |
| Ducks | 40 | 182,174 | 4,554 |
1997-98 head-to-head
| Team | G | Total | Avg. |
| Cyclones | 11 | 96,580 | 8,780 |
| Ducks | 11 | 55,796 | 5,072 |
Attendance at hockey games
| Year | Total | Change | Pct. |
| 98-99 | 431,615 | -66,792 | -14% |
| 97-98* | 498,407 | +205,799 | +70% |
*Before 1997-98, there was only one Cincinnati minor-league team (Cyclones).
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The two teams play in separate leagues, so they never meet on the ice, but they do compete for spectators, media coverage and corporate sponsorship. It's difficult to judge whether there was a winner in the first two seasons they battled.
The Mighty Ducks averaged 4,355 fans in their second year, down just 199 per game from their first season. Last year's attendance was slightly impacted by the weather; attendance for one game during a winter storm was only 1,600.
The Cyclones' average dropped from 7,713 their first season downtown to 6,269, but they had two crowds in the 2,000 range because of weather and also had eight fewer weekend home dates because the Firstar Center was occupied with concerts and other events.
“We don't think either team is going anywhere,” Robinson said.
“I can't speak for anyone else,” Kirchoffer said. “I can just confirm that we're not going anywhere.”
Filling seats
Tickets for Cyclones games run between $8 and $17. The Ducks sell their game tickets from $5 to $14. Neither organization will say what sort of attendance is necessary for the teams to be profitable. “There's no business plan that sits on our desk that says, "We have to have this level of attendance to make it work,” Robinson said. “It's not a straight-line equation.”
“In other situations around the country where there've been two teams in a market, it hasn't lasted longer than a year,” Kirchoffer said. “But you're not going to find another situation like this, where the arenas are involved in the ownership of the teams.”
Kirchoffer had hoped playing in a newly renovated building would help the Cyclones sell more tickets and increase marketing opportunities.
“That's been a little slower happening than we hoped,” he said.
Obviously, the Ducks are a factor in muting that growth, and their existence as competition apparently will not be short-lived.
The Robinsons invested in the construction of a practice rink adjacent to the Gardens that likely will open in November and can be used for youth groups, adult leagues and open skating. The Ducks will use it for workouts when the Gardens is occupied.
Ducks management also is pleased the AHL added a team in Louisville to join Lexington as a regional rival. Toledo is expected to get a team soon.
“We came into this with no expectations,” Robinson said, “and it's been a pleasant surprise.”
Something to quack about
Perhaps the most obvious acknowledgement of competition between the two franchises is the commitment of the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to make their Cincinnati affiliate more competitive on the ice.
The Ducks improved from 23 wins to 35 in their second season and from 17th overall in the AHL to 14th, but that left them short of the Cyclones' on-ice success during the same period.
“What we know we have to do, as much as developing players, is we have to win,” said Ducks general manager David McNabb. “So you sort of walk the fine line of making sure you can develop and win at the same time.”
The Ducks did not want veterans to take ice time from their young prospects, so instead developed a secondary affiliation agreement with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings. Detroit will assign between six and eight players to Cincinnati, including top defense prospect Jesse Wallin.
Anaheim has placed its top two draft choices from last June in Cincinnati, each one a native of Russia: defenseman Vitataly Vishnevski, 19, who was the No. 5 overall pick; and left wing Maxim Balmochnykh, 20, a second-round pick who played junior hockey last winter in Quebec.
“So we're going to be very young,” McNabb said, “but we'll be very good. There's a tremendous amount of talent.”
The Cyclones also tried to improve their roster. Criticized for being overweighted with veterans, they signed a three-year affiliation agreement with the Carolina Hurricanes that will bring 10-12 prospects to town. Included in that group will be defenseman Nick Tselios, 20, a cousin of NHL great Chris Chelios, and center Craig MacDonald, who played 15 games with the Hurricanes last year.
But the Cyclones will not abandon their popular veterans, players such as Gilbert Dionne and Todd Simon, who finished among the IHL's top five scorers last season and helped lead the team to six consecutive seasons of 40 or more victories and 90 or more points. If the Cylones hit 40 wins again this year, they'll set an IHL record.
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