Why can't the new ice rink have a feeder team for the Elite league team?

If they did and called that team the Altrincham Aces I'm sure they would get a good size crowd in to watch them!

Maybe even a crowd big enough to rival the MP crowd's??

MMMmmmmm?? could that be why it probably won't happen????

What do ya reckon???

Well they would definetley have a good following

The local players are still there available to form the nucleus of the team.

Yes it could even rival MP crowds marketed correctley with family friendly prices for adults and kids 4 a quid with skateing thrown in afterwards like the good old days.

Shame no one out there is willing to finance it.

Mark

I believe the "Fan" has come into a lot of money but with there being no rink in alty, with local talent he is looking to buy into Altrincham Football Club instead.
Shame that!!!

Its worth noting that Neil Morris has said that if someone comes along and offers to finance and run the aces he would willing help in how he can. Like I said, its a shame nobody has come up with the money for it.

Surely with all the business regeneration in the area somebody would be interested in funding a local team with local talent.

I've heard that the MP are going to be charging £15 to get in to watch them is that correct?

That would mean if somebody wanted to travel from north Manchester it would cost them about £5 for the Metrolink then £15 to get in the rink and that's before food and beverages!

Surely it would make more sense to charge less and include general skating in the price like they used to at Altrincham that was succesfull for years and I am sure it would put a lot more bums on seats and create more interest to families and the general public.

Lets face it MP fans alone are not going to be able to keep the team running on gates alone and the rink needs to make money as well!

If the carrot is dangled correctly then all the teams could have large crowds and the general sessions could be busy as well.

Yes but that is normal for so calle Elite Ice Hockey and the 400 odd faithful are willing to pay it.

Which is where the problem lies.

You are not going to make friends and win people over with non family friendly prices.

The repackage Telford Tigers double there gates last season to over 600 paying fans beause a family of four could get in for under 20 pounds a game.

Season ticket reduced this to fifteen pounds a game.

A English Premier League team with full junior back up if some one was able to finance it would give the Phoenix a run for its money in the crowds stake.

What about the 250 odd who turned up just to meet the coach the other night? Crowds will be a lot more than 400 so Phoenix have got a good chance of being viable next season so you can't prejudge. The difference between the new rink and the MEN will be atmosphere so I'd quite expect it to draw good crowds, cost notwithstanding.

As far as the Aces are concerned, no-one (as far as I know) has said there won't be an ENL team there - (of course, NM will be happy if someone wanted to fund it for him) but you should expect (if it happens) a Nottingham Lions type team called Manchester Phoenix ENL which will struggle for attention alongside the EIHL team and have the minimum number of games.

The Aces of the past are gone - we have to face up to facts and thats why the Phoenix will be the main focus of attention at the new rink hockey wise. Keep your fingers crossed that there will be an ENL team in 07-08.

The point I was trying to make was Altrincham Aces is a familiar name to a lot of people in the Trafford area and I personaly think would attract a lot of the old Aces faithful back to ice hockey in Altrincham as well as new support.

It seems to me that the people involved with the Pheonix do not want the Altrincham Aces name asscociated with the new rink!

Why not??

They are cutting off their nose to spite their face if you ask me as they should do whatever it takes to get bums on seats and revenue up in the infancy of the new rink and hockey setup in Altrincham.

What is going to be the structure for hockey at the new rink as at the moment there only seems to be talk of the Pheonix and not too much on a long term structure for hockey which is quite worrying as it will be difficult to entice kids of any age to move from a club with an established setup.

How much would running a team of the old Aces level actually cost and is it a question of one person or company bearing the burden?

Fair comments, Hobbo.

If you were the owner of the Phoenix though, would you want to risk your investment by having another team at the rink playing on a serious basis and with a different name? No way - you'd want to protect your brand (Phoenix). I do hope to see an ENL team there but I'm sure it will be called Phoenix.

What would the Aces cost to run? Would we really want it run outside the Phoenix umbrella because it would then be charged top whack for ice time etc and always come after Phoenix and Phoenix juniors ? It might not be viable standing on its own in the shadow of the Phoenix publicity etc

I did say a team of that level Rick not necessarily called that!

Elite, ED1, 5 Junior teams - can we fit all those fixtures in to a weekend plus the obligatory Joe Public skating sessions. The only other Clubs in the country to do that are Nottingham and Sheffield and they use 2 ice pads at the former and 2 different rinks for the latter! Will take some juggling of ice time to achieve 7 teams - probably impossible, looks like the Freeze would be the ED1/Farm team !!!!!

Elite, ED1, 5 Junior teams - can we fit all those fixtures in to a weekend plus the obligatory Joe Public skating sessions

Take a page from the WNIR book then?

Don't forget Basingstoke either

The figure of 400 was probably the hard core support for ice hockey left at this level.

Yes teh crowds will be bigger with away support and casual supporters but feel that with the priceing for Elite League in a rink as opposed to the arena they got used to will be less than the 1700 they got reguarly at the Arena

I dunno.....The last price increase for MAnchester Phoenix/Storm fans was, what 4 seasons ago. If the adult ticket remains at £12 (and with the rumored upping of the wage cap to match inflation and cost of living), then that is an effective price reduction.

As you say Learned Rob prices haven’t gone up for 4 seasons of them 4 seasons haven’t the Phoenix hibernated 2 and the storm sat out part of the other so not really much scope to increase what are already none family friendly prices even if no increase from 4 seasons ago.

How much was junior admissions in the region of 7 or 8 pounds if I remember correctly or to put another way in excess of the average EPDL admission price 4 a adult.

One of the reason quoted for why the Phoenix was not supported in the first instance was high admission prices but talking of having equal if not higher prices for what could be seen as a lowering in standards again this season with out the facilities the arena offered

Looks like I should have done my homework Anonymous!

Suppose with Planet Ice managing the rink you never know the impossible might happen after all - just that based upon the previous running of Alty we had a job an arf finding ice time for 6 teams!

Checking out Basingstoke (Planet Ice), they work with 10s through to 19s then 2 senior teams plus they get in the public skating - could this happen in Alty ?

Would be interesting to know what other ice sports groups use icetime at Basingstoke and how much compared to what is on the table at Alty - did someone mention we had to fit in curling too?

and figure skating and speed skating.

If I remember correctly the junior games where played at dinner time leaving time for general sessions and then the senior game at night.
This could be achieved by having the senior team face off at 5.00 to 5.30pm this would allow for a general session after the game. As before people attending the game got the session included in the price of the game and the general public payed for the session after the start of the last period. This may help to generate new fans.
I'm sure the pro's who will run the new rink will be looking at the best possible way to generate the most income for the venue and not just the ice hockey.
I,like a lot of fans, have always been a advocate of reasonabley priced family tickets. Reasoning being that the kids of today are the fans of tomorrow. Not, it seems, always realised in todays money grabbing society.
I may go to the odd Phoenix game but will hope to support local players at junior and hopefully ED1 level.

Don't forget also that Phoenix are in a league that needs midweek games.

Hull used to have an ED1 team, BNL team, under 19's, under 16's, under 14's and pretty sure also under 12's and 10's, aswell as rec teams and a women's team. The training for12's 14's, 16's 19's and ED1 used to run on Monday and Wednesday evenings from tea time onwards. It may of included 10's aswell. 16's training was about 8, 19's about 915 and ED1 about 1030, giving an hour or just more for training and cutting the ice in between some of those. The phoenix will likely be training in the day time, probably about 9 or 10 am so it is feasible certainly to fit the practice times in. As for the games, not every game is at home, remember that 50% of games are away! Junior games usually being around lunchtime on saturdays and sundays. However, it may be that the ELITE league needs more games than the old BNL teams. Only time will tell, but the ED1 team were in two leagues one year and stiff managed to pull it off at Hull.

BNL, Elite and EPL all have around the same number. They still have Kingston and the EPL team there now.

Can these Anonymouses click on the 'Your Name' box and put a name in instead of being Anonymouses?

I was the first one talking about hull. I played there for three years