The readers on my blog who posted comments after my "it's all connected" post made some very great — and, perhaps, very scary — points. The whole Donner situation is definitely a black cloud over the sports scene in Rochester.
And, like the readers suggested, we might have to accept the fact that when all the dust settles, we might have one or two fewer pro sports teams in town.
Man, I have so many ideas and thoughts bouncing around in my head, so I'll just do a few bullet points here and try to sort it all out ...
• Many people have suggested that the whole mess with the Rochester Sports Group would be alleviated if Donner were taken out of the equation. Ideally, that might work, but I just don't see him leaving voluntarily.
Plus, if he's fired or removed or whatever, you'd be cutting the cord between the Blue Cross Arena and PAETEC Park — you'd have the Amerks and Knighthawks on one side, and the Rhinos and Rattlers on the other. They'd probably become two different entities.
Then what? Would LaTona be willing to take on management of the Amerks and Knighthawks himself? And would DuRoss be willing to do the same with the Rhinos and Rattlers? Or would the teams be sold off completely? Or would the weaker ones just fold?
If the teams are sold, there's a good chance one or more of them may leave town and settle somewhere else.
I guess my query is, if Donner was gone, would all of it — all four teams — fall apart? Of course, one could argue that the teams are already falling apart anyway.
• I love the Rhinos, and I love watching them play. However, you have to wonder if the team was doomed from the very beginning. When they first started, they had to play in a baseball stadium, which everyone knew was a lousy situation all around.
And one could argue that things actually got worse when the Rhinos became really popular and successful, because at that point it became even more apparent that the team couldn't keep playing in a baseball stadium. They needed their own place. (Don't forget to toss in the half-baked dreams of joining Major League Soccer. Success, in this case, DID go to their heads.)
OK, so the soccer team needed their own stadium, but there's a problem ... who's gonna pay for it? As we all know now, the owners of the team couldn't pay for it, so the taxpayers are footing most of the bill. And even THEN the thing can't get completely built. There's still a shortage of funds.
And now, because the stadium planning was a little screwy — you want to build it in WHAT neighborhood? With virtually no parking? — it's not drawing the type of attendances the team's used to. Now the soccer team can't pay its bills — it can barely pay its employees — so how long is it until the Rhinos become the financial mess the Amerks have become, if it's not there already?
Sooo, to come back to my original point, were the Rhinos doomed to begin with? I almost think they were. A professional soccer team needs the right type of joint to play in, but Rochester didn't have any such places, especially after the crowds got bigger and bigger. They had no place to play, but they couldn't afford to build their own place, either.
The only way soccer will work in America — whether it's MLS or lower leagues — is when an owner with an ungodly amount of wealth, like Lamar Hunt or the Kraft family, basically sets up a team as a hobby — one that will most likely lose money and can AFFORD to lose money because the owner is filthy rich — and builds his (or her) own stadium.
That was not the case in Rochester, and now we're at the point we're at. It's smind-blowing to think that a team was actually planting the seeds of its own destruction by succeeding at first. The bigger the Rhinos got, the worse it got in the long run.
• One could also argue that the Rhinos were up stuff's creek the minute Chris Economides left for Carolina.
• Is it reasonable to hope thata Tom Golisano will swoop in and save the Amerks? Or is that just wishful thinking?
• A lot of people have suggested that, quite simply, one or more of the four RSG teams have to either leave or shut down for any of them to survive. I'm sure there's hockey fans who love the Amerks and couldn't give a crap if the Rhinos weren't here anymore. And I'm sure there's soccer fans who wouldn't give a crap if the Knighthawks moved away.
But have we reached that point? Have things gotten so bad that one or more of the teams have to be killed off? Is there any way all four teams could survive, or is it hopeless?
More and more I'm thinking that, yes, we HAVE reached that point. I just don't see a painless resolution to this mess. No matter what happens, somebody's not gonna be happy — including the sports fans of Rochester.
And, to be truthful, the sports media as well. The thought of losing one or more of the teams would probably frighten any of the D&C beat writers who cover those teams. There would also probably be ramifications at other media outlets — the less there is to cover, the less manpower is needed.
Sports media are just so interwoven with and dependant on the teams they cover. When a team dies, so does part of the mediaa. So I'll guarantee there won't be many sports journalists in this town calling for the elimination of the Rhinos, or the Knighthawks, or the Rattlers. That includes me.
There's no way I WANT that to happen. But we all might have to accept that it WILL happen.
