Greensboro Hockey Still On The Radar

“The old place still looks classy. Credit the fact that it’s had more face-lifts than Joan Rivers.” that the opening line about the Greensboro Coliseum in a News & Record article than ran March 22, 2009.

It’s 50 Years old this Fall and still lacks a permanent tenant. Greensboro voters threw out the several city Council members last election, including the one who fed us Coliseum information on her blog; but the new council members are getting serious about the way things have been run around Greensboro.

Matt Brown, who is the City’s highest paid employee and manager of the coliseum, is seeing the change. His good buddy the City Manager was just fired and the city is looking to cut expenses. The coliseum runs a $2 Million deficit, plus nearly $12 Million annual bond service – running a NET LOSS of $14 Million.

Brown is talking Hockey again. Hockey was good for Greensboro and more importantly, the Greensboro Coliseum. The ECHL Generals generated a Half Million Dollars in advertising revenue for the coliseum. Without hockey, the coliseum is having trouble attracting advertising contracts – no one wants to advertise when the facility is empty or filled with non-residents.

Next year, the Coliseum will play home to UNC-G basketball. They drew 11,000 for a game against Davidson this year; but they probably spent close to $10 per person to advertise the event; thus losing money. UNC-G basketball rarely fills the campus basketball facility and will really look back in the 23,000 seat Greensboro Coliseum. They have hired Big Guns to improve UNC-G opponents (Duke, Carolina); hoping to fill the seats with opposing fans.

Quietly, they realize that Ice Hockey is the ONE tenant that is going to put the coliseum back in the black. Look for Matt Brown to work a deal soon. He’s a few years from retirement and I’m sure he’d rather retire RICH in Greensboro instead of looking for a job in today’s market.