Wolves shut down
By IAN CLARK
New Hampshire Union Leader Sports
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 Share on Facebook
MANCHESTER – The Manchester Wolves announced Friday that the franchise will not join the upstart Arena Football 1 League next year and will instead cease operations.
The Wolves played in the arenafootball2 league, joining in 2002 as the Mohegan Wolves in Connecticut. In 2004, the team relocated to Manchester. Over six seasons here, the team had a winning record and made the playoffs every season except its first in town.
"It is with a great deal of sadness that we make this announcement. But after careful consideration and analysis, the owners of the Wolves decided that the structure of the new league was not in the best interests of our franchise," said Wolves general manager Stephanie Bike, whose father is Wolves principal owner Steve Schubert.
The parent league and majority owner of the af2 was the Arena Football League, which suspended operations after taking the 2009 season off. With the uncertainty facing the af2 after the demise of the AFL, several owners took their franchises out on their own to start the Arena Football 1 League.
The Wolves suspended operations last month, choosing to wait on the new league before deciding whether or not to join. But with no teams located geographically close to Manchester, the cost of travel is prohibitive.
"We would have to fly to every away game over the course of the 16-game regular season, and then there would be the playoffs. Several of the teams we would play will be located on the west coast in the Pacific time zone and most of the others will be based in markets that are extremely difficult to connect to and from Manchester," Bike said. "From a travel perspective alone, it doesn't make sense for the Wolves to be a part of the new league."
If the new league proves it can survive and put forth a good, profitable product, than the Wolves might return somewhere down the road. Bike said that she believes the team will retain regional rights for at least one year.
"I think our ownership group would be willing to see what happens and make a decision then," Bike said. "I think they are willing to watch and then, who knows?"
For now, the team has officially shut down operations, citing not only the travel disadvantage, but the competitive disadvantage that would have come from traveling farther and thus having less practice time.
"We would have liked to move forward and been part of the new Arena Football 1 League, and we wanted to keep a professional football franchise right here in Manchester and in New Hampshire," Schubert said. "But it simply was not feasible from both an economic perspective and from a football perspective."
The loss of Wolves leaves a hole in scheduling for the Verizon Wireless Arena as well.
"It's unfortunate, but not unexpected based on the developments in the league. It's been an absolute pleasure to work (with the Wolves organization) and we hope to have a chance to work with them again," said arena general manager Tim Bechert. "As for the arena, we'll continue to march forward and seek out new forms of entertainment in sports, family entertainment and concerts."
Bike said that the Wolves have a few loose ends to tie up, but are essentially fully shut down. The team Web site is already defunct. As for employment losses, Bike, ticket manager Dave Hamilton, administrative assistant Brittany Josselyn and media relations director Lynne Snierson were the only full-time employees of the team. Bike said that a few part-timers and interns make up the rest of the staff that will be let go.
The Wolves averaged 4,772 fans per home game in 2009, a number that dropped consistently from the first Manchester season in 2004 when the team averaged 7,490. But that trend was league-wide as nearly every team suffered a steady drop in attendance from year to year, with many teams folding in that time frame.
"The strong support which the Wolves enjoyed was a big part of the team's success, both on and off the field," Schubert said. "Our fans were the best in the af2 and we shall always appreciate them along with the contributions of everyone who became a part of the Wolves family."
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Chris, the federal government can not create a single job, except by extracting money out of working citizens under threat of jail and giving it to someone else, and calling that a job. Government is a big anchor around the neck of our economy. It can't stabilize our economy long term.
- Jack, Auburn
If you sap people of discretionary dollars, then you'll see more and more empty seats at Verizon events. I've already seen a whole strong of concerts get canceled there, obviously because ticket sales never reached a threshold. In this economy, people will spend only for what they need. There is not a single event at the V that people 'need' to attend. Until we feel better about the economy now and into the future, we're not spending unnecessarily. The Verizon is just going to have to deal with that and hope our federal government does something about jobs and the security of them.
- Chris, Brookline
I wish all the players the best of luck. The Wolves will be missed. It may have been cost prohibitive for Steve Schubert to keep the Wolves in the new league but why "retain regional rights for at least a year"? If you're not going to carry the franchise anymore maybe someone else would.
- Dan P., Manchester
Bummer, this was great entertainment. I went to a few games.
Would go to the PURITAN for an awesome dinner, then downtown for the game
Oh Well
- Harry, Atkinson
All I can say is that Stephanie and her staff were top notch. We ,(the ENVIROPALS!) a new kids television series on PBS, were invited to be part of their “GREEN” night they sponsored in June. It was such a classy event with scores of community people from tumblers, motorcycle riders, local business teams, that crazy Joey the MC and Governor Lynch and best of all great football! I remember thinking to myself that what a wonderful and professional organization the Bike/Shubert team had put together. Having grown up in Manchester and never having anything really exciting to do I thought this was so great. Sure beats shopping at Zayer's! There was an electricity and energy in the air, and a sense of true camaraderie within the team and the attending crowd as well. The city of Manchester does need to feel a sense of loss and sadness...from my prospective...I saw a lot of people for at least that brief night...having a lot of fun. We need more of that today. The ENVIROPALS team wishes Stephanie, Mr. Shubert and the entire Wolves organization the best in the future.
Ray Grimard
Daytona Beach, Florida
- Ray Grimard, Daytona Beach, Florida
The Wolves will be missed. While I was never a season ticket holder I regularly went to games. Very entertaining, the demise was the ticket prices in general. $16 for the cheap seats. Regardless the timing just didn't work out. There isn't a lot happening at the Verizon in general these days with the exception of the Monarchs.
- Chris P., Manchester
Arena football is the 4th worst sporting league ever created behind XFL, WNBA, and WUSA. When will those who create these leagues figure out that 99.9% of the population couldn't give two cents about these leagues
- Kevin, Hampstead
Although I only attended a handful of games over a few years, the Wolves put on a great show, their staff was always upbeat and amped, smiling, accommodating and clearly maxed out their sponsorship opps.
The players had heart, went all out and you can't ask for more than that.
Good luck to them all.
- RG, Manchester
To Jack Alex: What does Obama have to do with the demise of the Wolves? If you are going to continuously post comments here, why not stick to the subject and the facts and stop inserting your right wing views over and over again. The economy didn't collapse under Obama, and the Wolves folded based upon a wise business decision that it would cost far more to travel than they could take in as income. Even though Manchester has a busy airport, it's only good to reach certain destinations, otherwise it's expensive and an all day trip. The league was set up as a bus league and it appears that the league abandoned the Wolves. The team will be missed, but no one owns a team to lose money. Best of luck to the future of the Wolves-if there is a future. Thanks for 6 fun seasons!
- Tim, Litchfield
I am saddened to hear about the Wolves. My grandson and I had many happy trips to the Verizon Center to watch the games. The Wolves organnization did a wonderful job in providing their fans a great evening of fun and excitement. Thanks to the Wolves' organization for happy memories I can share with my grandson.
- Bill, Derry, NH
The way things are going we may have to turn it into tent city. They can serve the growing bread lines beans, day old bread, and coffee for breakfast, potato soup for lunch, and hamhocks and beans for supper. I already got my space picked out in section 110. Lets see how many people can call the Verizon Arena home. They say it can hold 10,000. Maybe it can hold 110,000 while we sit around sipping the kool-aid and singing kumbooyayh and waiting for Obamalism to restore our economy.
- Jack Alex, Manchester
I will be sorry to see them go. Thanks for giving my family a great time!
- Carl, Concord
Maybe we can get a Roller Derby franchise now.
- Steve, Pembroke