Not Goin’ Nowhere
Bad grammar aside, I’m not sure if that headline refers more to rumours of a Roughnecks’ move to Dallas, or just this season in general. Oh well…..
First things first, this team is and shall be the CALGARY Roughnecks, reports of Brad Bannister’s tour of the facilities in Dallas notwithstanding. As Kristen Odland and Ian Busy have reported (Both doing a great job on the Riggers by the way) Bannister did have a look around Dallas, but more in his role on the NLL’s expansion committee than as a potential tenant. I didn’t ask him if he toured Dealey Plaza to test out the Single Bullet Theory and walk the grassy knoll.
Here’s the facts. The Roughneck’s lease on the ‘Dome is up at the end of the season. Fact number one is Bannister has talked to both the Flames about a renewal and to the Stampede board about the Corral. Fact number two is barring a sweetheart deal from the Stampede that would give the away the farm (unikely) the ‘Dome is the preferred destination.
Sources tell me that while the Riggers’ deal on the Saddledome has gotten better over the years, it’s still stacked in favour of the landlord. Ticket revenue goes to the team, everything else is gravy for the Flames in terms of the cash coming in from rent, concessions and parking. You’d think given the payroll of the NLL, crowds of ten thousand or more would let you make money, but not when the balance sheet makes it look more like you run a travel agency than a professional sports team.
The Roughnecks have done their part to cut expense number one by encouraging players to relocate to Calgary. Fourteen roster players call our fair city home, but others like Steve Dietrich and Bruce Codd need to be flown in for every game. There’s the added expense of having to run an off-site office, no small feat in thecrazed world of Calgary commercial real estate.
But at the end of the day, if the lease works the Roughnecks have to be in th e’Dome. Some call the Corral quaint, I call it a dump. Yes, it’s a part of history, first home of the Flames, blah blah blah, it’s a dump that doesn’t lend itself to a product you’re trying to market as first-rate, ina city that shows no appetite for any sporting choice it deems beneath its notice.
Despite the challenge Bannister keeps rolling that big rock called lacrosse up the hill. This week he was partnering up with the Calgary Raiders to continue to build the lacrosse culture that didn’t exist before the Roughencks set up shop. Not the actions of a man preparing to defect.