M-Borg vs. THE Flavortown U Thread, Orig. by Buckeye Paul, absconded w/by talent.

[Ghengis Jon]

Graft, corruption, kickbacks, coke parties, excessive executive compensation, bribes, junkets, etc.

[WM Wolverine]

TV people were willing to pay a lot more money to split up the top 3 programs in ratings; PSU, Ohio & M as they wanted 2 of those playing each other in the CCG. One of those programs had to move 'west'. I don't agree with the why but it explains it.

[Tony G]

here's a glimmer in what may have happened to many of them....

Worlds of Fun is the latest amusement park to go on the block


By Robert Niles
Published: March 9, 2009 at 3:18 PM
Cedar Fair announced today in a press release that it is putting two more of its amusement parks up for sale: Kansas City's Worlds of Fun and Minnesota's ValleyFair.The amusement park chain previously had put Santa Clara's California's Great America up for sale (it has been trying to sell the park to the San Francisco 49ers for land for a new stadium, though that deal is going nowhere). The chain's also been trying to sell the old Geauga Lake amusement park.
Cedar Fair blew its cash and took on a huge debt burden when it bought the former Paramount Parks from CBS for $1.24 billion in 2006. Like Six Flags before it, Cedar Fair's learning that taking on debt to expand in boom times comes back to haunt you when the economy goes bad.

[Tony G]

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Profit Maximizing an Amusement Park: Six Flags Food Rebranding


Just read the rumor over on Screamscape.com about Six Flags rebranding the food options in their parks (ie. Papa John's Pizza to a generic pizza place). At first glance, this doesn't make any sense to me. In this report from January 7th, 2010 they claim branding their food significantly increased their [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]revenue[/COLOR][/COLOR]:

Six Flags' ability to rapidly identify and effectively capitalize on sponsorship opportunities is a part of the significant growth in gross revenue per capita and gross profit per capita. For example, replacing unbranded pizza in 2006 with Papa John's, a newly-acquired national sponsor, increased gross revenue per capita spending on pizza by 93% and increased gross profit per capita on pizza by 87% by 2008. Similarly, replacing unbranded hamburgers with Johnny Rockets increased gross revenue per capita spending on hamburgers by 42% and increased gross profit per capita on hamburgers by 30% by 2008.



If branding their food resulted in increased gross revenue why would they suddenly un-brand it? Well, I think the key word here is REVENUE. Their revenue increased and they make no mention of what the PROFIT was. So, branding their food options may have increased revenue but profits could be down, we just don't know. Another key missing piece of information is the price of the food. The revenue may have gone up only because the price of a piece of pizza dramatically increased. If the price was higher for Papa John's brand, then you've got your per-cap growth right there. That's just an increase in spending however, it doesn't reflect an increase in profits if the cost of that product was also higher.

From what I've heard, for many of these name brand sites, the [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]deals[/COLOR][/COLOR] had Six Flags only getting

a percentage of the cost of the items... and not the full profit. Not sure, but I wonder if they were franchised out entirely with the staff being employees of Papa John's and not Six Flags.



This is much the same way that a lot of ride photo stands started out long ago, and I know Lo-Q works the same way with the flash passes. Lo-Q runs the stands, Lo-Q pays for the install in the park and still owns the devices and system. This is why Six Flags Flash Pass is so expensive, because Lo-Q takes most of the profits from the system as the operator, and just gives Six Flags a percentage off the top.



Same goes with all those crazy locker systems Six Flags put in. Six Flags didn't pay for them, they are leased out by an outside vendor, much like all the soda machines in the parks. That's why you don't see soda machines in Disney... they make more money by having their own stands with employees running them to sell plastic coke bottles all day. I'm guessing Six Flags can't staff enough employees to make this work out for them, so they went the automated machine route.



If it made better financial sense to outsource, even the big parks in Orlando would think about it, but they don't... because you always make more money in the end by owning everything you sell and cut out all the middle-men whenever possible.



Anyway, from what I'm told, all of these deals are under renegotiations and unless the terms are a lot better for Six Flags, they are leaving.

[DennisT]

lol to being Tonied.

[lineygoblue]

The "flagship" loses in Basketball to the Hoosiers, 74-70.

[Pasadena Blue]

I think talent only claimed flagship status for the football program.

IU has a good coach now... they're going to be good for a while.

[WM Wolverine]

Really good, that talent in Indiana won't be so freely available anymore. Luckily the B10 area produces a ton (Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois); not sure if all the top B10 programs can stay top 20 programs; Indiana, MSU, M, Ohio, Wisky and even Illinois.

[Jamie H]

It's taken Crean a few years but he does seem to have Indiana back on track. It's kind of shocking that Indiana has been down for this long, but that is what happens when you make bad coaching hires.

[iam416]

It was a game ruined by officiating. Impossible to watch b/c of so may whistles. And OSU ends up playing most of the game with their second team (to be fair, Zeller got hosed on two awful calls, too). Too bad, really. Should have been a fun game to watch. IU is decent, but they're going to get railed in Columbus.

Also -- flagship=both money sports combo. Ohio State will win their 3rd straight B10 title this year adding to their lead for most B10 titles.

[Optimus Prime]

Speaking of vessels in distress....

It's a damn shame that Admiral Meyer doesn't have the strength of character to be in Jacksonville to face the Florida recruits that he left high-&-dry. No doubt he will be "cheering' from an undisclosed, secure location, just a few weeks on the job and the program is embroiled in controversy.

Wonder if Fickell will be "ceremoniously" fired Post-Gator, Hillbilly-Style or will Meyer wait to pull the trigger from the cozy confines of Columbus when "BuckNut 1" touches down on the tarmac?



"That's right Luke, your HC contract is down there, way down there, just reach-in and grab it"!

[Tony G]

I thought Fickell had the defense for 2012

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7348959/urban-meyer-says-luke-fickell-call-defense-ohio-state-buckeyes

[SeattleLionsFan]

Well coach leyer has also hired a "co"defensive coordinator already.

As for urban giving his word to Luke that he'd be around? We all know what that "word" is worth.

[Jamie H]

Yeah, he's CO-defensive coordinator. As in, "Go get coffee for this other guy who is actually running the defense."

[iam416]

Hmmmmm. I can get this "level" of commentary from the scout forums. FWIW, they're also petrified of UFM.

Ah, just 60 more minutes of this miserable season. Can't wait for it to end. A great day. And then on to a remarkably great future with, by far and away, the best football/hoops coach combo in the nation. Pure awesome.