THIS IS SUCH A SAD SITUATION, but probably one that's been in the making since the day they started playing here!!!Over 20 years in Johnstown (and the only charter member left in the ECHL) and the team officially announced yesterday that they will be leaving at the end of this season (READ MORE HERE) and heading to South Carolina.
I just really wish something more could be done or other possibilites / options could be explored and that the ownership would be more open to such possibilites. I believe Johnstown is in need of something and the Chiefs were a big part of that something for as long as they've played here ... Johnstown IS Chiefstown. We're just as big of a hockey town as Pittsburgh in relationship to the size of the area ... why can't we make this work? JOHNSTOWN WILL MISS THE CHIEFS in more ways than one!!!
CLICK HERE to read an article which echos the sentiments of most of the fans (and the city of Johnstown).
If South Carolina is doing so well as far as being a prime place for hockey, why don't they have an NHL team of their own and why hasn't the Carolina Hurricanes (closest NHL team to Greenville, SC - where the Chiefs will be relocating) done better in terms of attendance? The attendance is down 4 percent this season (25th in a league of 30 teams) which has been slowly declining since the 2006-2007 season. Something else to consider!
You may not think there's much left to do, and there may not be, but our voices still need to be heard!! SO PLEASE help by joining the "Keep the Chiefs in Johnstown" group on Facebook (which makes the suggestion on the basis of fan-ownership) then make sure to add the Chiefs as a Facebook friend so you can post a comment about your thoughts on keeping the team here in Johnstown on their wall!!!
This city is in bad shape and the Chiefs were one thing that helped. Losing this team means that another big domino in a long line of a quick-moving dominos trail has fallen and leading us closer to "the end." This has to be one of the final straws that will make Johnstown a ghost town before too long.
Let's all try to do what we can to get our voices heard and have them consider just ONE MORE OPTION so they can see how much this team really means to the city of Johnstown - it's truly worth a try!!
The Tribune-Democrat
Sports Editor, Eric Knopsnyder, 814-532-5080 (eknopsnyder@tribdem.com)
Sports/Johnstown Chiefs, Mike Mastovich, 814-532-5083 (mmastovich@tribdem.com)
COME BACK, CHIEFS - Johnstown needs YOU in it to be Chiefstown!!!
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3 comments:
someone needs to get in touch w/ chief's ownership & even toss out a rough proposal re: the fan ownership idea. sometimes, the simplest & best ideas are overlooked.
and how much is thew team selling for? does anyone actually know?
Stephanie,
Great article on such a sad thing :( I hope some other compromise can be made!!
As a person who lives in Johnstown, this is really sad. The town that's the home of Slapshot and one of the first ECHL organizations losing their team is terrible. No sports team can ever seem to fare in the area though. We used to have a baseball team, the Johnnies, and that never went over either. It's really thanks to the economy in the town. The local businesses never did much to support the team and most of the people living in Johnstown don't have the money to consistently buy tickets. This has been in making for a while now. The attendence has been rapidly decreasing for a few years now and the team's losses this year haven't helped.
To the person that suggested fan ownership, I really don't think that would go over either. Like I said, the economy of the town can't support the team. As much as I hate to see the team go and I'll miss going to games, the Chiefs deserve a better town to play in that will be able to support them. The things that's really sad though is that it will up the rink fees for the high school teams. Hopefully this is won't spell too much trouble for all of the hockey programs in Johnstown.
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