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Ams owner adding incentives Tri-City Americans owner Darryl Porter is taking nothing for granted. Normally when the Spokane Chiefs and Americans meet, you can be certain there will be a big crowd on hand to watch no matter how each team is doing in the Western Hockey League standings. Spokane will be at Tri-Cities Coliseum on Saturday night and Porter has added some inducements he hopes will reacquaint some of the team's long-lost fans to this current edition. Porter will continue his "Drive for 35" marketing plan to average 3,500 a game by admitting everyone with an ASB card into the building for $7 every Saturday night. Anyone without an ASB card can get a discount coupon for an $8 ticket at all Sun Mart stores and everyone in attendance is invited to a free skate after the game with the team. Porter is hoping to build his franchise through volume, willing to take less from each fan to attract more fans, the only way the franchise will ever be completely viable. It's an approach that was tried two seasons ago by former owner Wayne Overland but abandoned when the community didn't immediately respond. Overland eventually sold the team to Mark Wagstaff. Wagstaff's marketing plan was simply to extract as much money as possible from the few fans who did attend to maximize the bottom line. Porter's philosophy more resembles Overland's. The question now is whether he'll be able to maintain it. Porter called a news conference Thursday to ensure fans he's here for the long run. "It's an aggressive approach and I think it's the right thing to do," Porter said. "If it doesn't work, it's a double whammy for us. In essence all I can ask is for the community to trust that we're going to build a winner. We need the commitment back to support the team. Our goal remains to draw 3,500 fans a game." That won't be easy. So far, the team is averaging 2,438 a game, a total the organization feels is well short of what it needs to ensure financial stability and viability. Porter refuses to speculate on what might happen if things don't improve and has been very careful not to say anything that could be perceived as a threat. "What we need to do is draw 3,625 fans a game for the rest of the year," Porter said. "We think we can do that because we have an excellent schedule on the back end and we've got a competitive team that is getting better." Anyone who watched the team's overtime victory over Portland on Wednesday might be convinced. Now Porter hopes their neighbors will join them and make Tri-Cities Coliseum a place where people gather again. "What we've tried to do is have a number of offerings for people who have been in the building before to come back at a price that they can manage," Porter said. "Then they can make their decisions from there if they like what they see." So for just about every game, there will be a variety of different promotions, all with the express intent of inviting people to come back. "It's hard to ask for trust when you have people in this community who have heard all this before," Porter said. "All I can say is that we are a different group, we are going to be patient and we are going to be a competitive team. We've got a market that wants to come back. We're asking people to let go of the past, live in the present and grow with this team." | ||||||||||
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