Q & A with EPHL Commissioner Jim Riggs- Finale

Here is the final part of the nearly half-hour Q & A done with Riggs on June 1.

Aces Over Brooklyn: What are looking forward to doing in year two?

Jim Riggs: There’s work to be done, there’s no mistaking that. The sooner we can announce these teams, then we have July and August to sell the product and the players that played last season will know that things are stable and they’ll come back as well. They are our best recruiting tool. When they go back home, if they had a good experience and I would hope the Brooklyn and New Jersey players had a good experience, certainly the way the playoffs went, they’re going to tell people that we’re a decent place to play. We’re telling the people in New England that there are a lot of players from that area and if they don’t make the American Hockey League and the ECHL, what are they doing right now? They’re probably going to start a full-time job. We think we can offer the same type of situation that Brian Gratz and Chris Firriolo did recruiting players from the area that will be more than happy to play because their friends and family are in the area. We also know that there are scouts at our games last year.

AOB: A bunch of players got called up during the year. How does that make you feel?

Riggs: It’s been our mission statement from day one. To develop players for the three double-A leagues, the CHL, IHL and ECHL. I don’t think we sent anyone to the IHL, but we certainly did with the other two leagues. He did that, so it’s another plus and it’s great to know that when our coaches call up other coaches in other leagues, there’s already a track record to say that our players were good enough. Some of them were just called up for a weekend, but you had other people like James Brannigan that ended up spending the rest of the season in the ECHL. You had a couple of goaltenders called up to the AHL too. Were they fill-ins? Yes, but the point is someone thought they were good enough to go to that level. That can only help our credibility as we move on to the future here.

AOB: You mentioned before that you weren’t happy with the attendance during the playoffs. Is this something you will address next season?

Riggs: I’m a firm believer that all of our teams could have done a much better job in group sales. Go to a minor league baseball game sometime and sometime during the game, you’ll hear over the PA all the groups that are at the game. If you speak to the people that run those teams, they’ll tell you that group sales are their bread and butter. That’s how you make up your difference and fill up your building. They not only help your attendance, it helps the bottom line. The strength in numbers helps get new fans hooked and makes them come on their own because they had a good team and the tickets are affordable. Because of that, I’m a huge proponent of group sales. I don’t know of if it was because we didn’t have enough staff or it wasn’t stressed enough, but we’re all to blame, including myself for the lack of group sales this season. In year two, it’s going to be heavily stressed from day one.

AOB: I’ve spoken to plenty of people this offseason and many of them don’t know if there’s going to be a league at all next season. Can you answer that question for them?

Riggs: There is going to be a 2009-10 season based on everything we’ve been discussing. Everyone we are talking to, our existing people, the people looking to buy Danbury and the people in New England, everyone is focused on making sure there is a 2009-10 season.

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