Greensboro’s efforts to hold on to a minor league hockey franchise have ended in failure. The decision by the East Coast Hockey League to disband the Greensboro Generals comes after the city itself ran the team at a loss last season while searching for permanent ownership.
“The board voted to terminate the Greensboro Generals membership in the league,” ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna said July 20. “The current owner was unable to move forward, and a bona fide ownership group could not be found to put together a viable plan to support the team in the 2004-05 season.”
“I’m in a bit of cold shock that there won’t be hockey in the building for the first time since the 1980s, which was before I arrived here,” Greensboro Coliseum Director Matt Brown said to the News & Record of Greensboro.
The Generals’ continued existence was first called into question in mid-2003 when owner Art Donaldson, a local lawyer, announced he was no longer able to cover the team’s losses. In an attempt to keep the franchise afloat, the city of Greensboro agreed to operate the team for the 2003-04 season and be responsible for any losses that might result.
Brown oversaw the team’s day-to-day operations. Generals Head Coach Rick Adduono was made a city employee.
The city’s motivation in operating the Generals was hardly altruistic. The minor league hockey franchise was a key tenant at the city-owned coliseum, making use of the facility for far more days than any other organization or event. Even with the Generals playing 36 regular-season games at the facility, the arena operated at a loss in 2002-03.
The Generals’ demise leaves the Greensboro Coliseum as the largest arena in the nation without a permanent tenant and will make breaking even that much harder for the coliseum.
Greensboro is still figuring its exact loss from operating the Generals. Despite reducing expenses below what is typical even for a minor league franchise, the Generals’ nominally lost $59,187. “To hit (a $59,000 loss), I think we did pretty good,” Brown told the newspaper. “Obviously, I would have liked it to be on the plus side.”
The $59,000 total, however, does not tell the whole story. The coliseum assigned revenues that it would normal receive at Generals games to the team, reducing the team’s loss while making the arena’s figures worse.
The smaller loss amount also includes a promised $200,000 from a private group called the Generals Brigade trying to save the team. The Brigade, which was led by local businessmen Don Brady and Bill Black, held the franchise rights for the 2003-04 season and was seeking private donations to help. Its efforts were largely unsuccessful. It is unclear how much money the city will ultimately receive from the Brigade.
Without these adjustments, the Generals lost $376,071 for the 2003-2004 season.
Counties join state health plan
A provision in the new state budget allows five smaller counties to enroll their employees in the state’s health insurance plan. The move is an experiment to see whether joining the state plan will save smaller localities money.
Small employers, whether public or private, often have trouble obtaining affordable health insurance. A few serious illnesses or accidents spread over a relatively small employee pool is almost certain to cause substantial increases in insurance premiums. The way to get around the increase is to be part of a larger pool, which spreads risks over a larger group of people. In North Carolina, no insurance pool is larger than the state employee’s health plan, which covers 600,00 state workers including teachers, their dependents, and state retirees.
Bladen County current pays $366 a month per worker for employee-only coverage for its 315 workers. The insurance is purchased through state Association of County Governments. The county’s personnel director hopes to be able to get coverage through the state plan for $285 a month, a savings of $100,000 a year for the county.
“Potentially, we could give the counties a break,” Jack Walker, executive administrator of the state health plan, said to The News & Observer of Raleigh.
If joining the state plan really does save the counties money, the General Assembly may in the future allow other counties and perhaps towns to join the state plan.
Cherokee, Rutherford, Washington, and Wilkes are the other counties in the experiment.
Gastonia bail bonds ban?
Gastonia is considering banning new bail bond offices from opening downtown. The measure, if adopted, is aimed at improving the image of the city’s central business district.
As is true in many cities and towns, Gastonia’s downtown is not the vibrant area that it once was. With the economic decline has come at least a common opinion that the area is crime-prone. “We’re still working with a perception problem,” Councilman Dave Kirlin said to The Charlotte Observer.
One way that at least some city council members and city officials want to address this perception is by targeting a legal business that they think makes the area appear unsafe: bail bondsmen. Under the proposal, no new bail bond businesses could open in downtown Gastonia. Existing firms could remain at their current locations but could not move to a different site downtown. Six of the city’s nine bail bond companies are located downtown.
As might be expected, bail bondsman strongly oppose the proposal. “To me, y’all are manipulating the bail bond business,” said Rocky Hall, owner of Rocky Hall Bonding. “You’re telling us we’re unwanted.”
The central city revitalization and housing committee will study the proposal. The committee is scheduled to report to the full council on the issue Oct.