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Post by exit322 on Mar 15, 2007 10:11:47 GMT -5
Bernie and the new management look like asses without doing a thing wrong...gotta love the AIFA!  www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=22289Berks County, PA - The Reading Express said it will honor coupon tickets that caused confusion at the team’s last home indoor football game at the Sovereign Center. Express general manager Bernie Nowotarski said the team was caught by surprise Saturday when several fans tried to use discount coupon tickets to gain admission to the game with the Baltimore Blackbirds. Fans complained when their coupons were not honored. “It’s just a whole series of misunderstandings,” Nowotarski said. “It kind of makes us look bad. Unfortunately, we didn’t know anything about it.” After discussing the situation with new team owners Ted Lavender and Lisa Lavender, Nowotarski said the Express will make good on the coupon tickets sold by the marketing firm The Smart Circle. The Express’ next home game is at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 31, against the Huntington Heroes. “We apologize to any fans who were inconvenienced or turned away,” Nowotarski said. “We’re going to honor what’s there.” Nowotarski said the confusion arose when former team owners Carl Leaman, Ben Fahndrich and Charles Mitchell contracted The Smart Circle to sell discount books for $30 each that entitled the purchaser to free tickets for some games and discount tickets to others. The former owners sold the Express to Ted and Lisa Lavender on Feb. 23. The new owners and Sovereign Center staff were unaware the coupon books were sold and unprepared to handle the tickets. “It’s one of those things between an ownership change that didn’t get passed on,” Nowotarski said. Nowotarski also wanted to assure fans that The Smart Circle also was caught in the middle. The Smart Circle has done marketing work for other professional sports franchises, including the New York Yankees. “They’re doing what they were contracted to do,” Nowotarski said. “They did nothing wrong either.” •Contact Brian Rippey at 610-371-5070 or brippey@readingeagle.com. |
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Post by Gene on Mar 15, 2007 10:31:01 GMT -5
I will say that the writer, Brian Rippey, writes more on the "negative" side of things. As many good things that happened in 06 he focused on the bad. Glad to see he pumped out this story quickly. Now if only he could respond with more positive ones.......... 
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Post by Coach Bernie on Mar 15, 2007 13:20:56 GMT -5
hey it's alright you don't have to feel bad.....i wanted to get something in the paper and our website as fast as possible....this whole coupon thing came up 2 or so months ago...nothing against smart circle , but i just didn't want to do it.....i thought that was it....however before the new owners took over, the past(ownership) went ahead and approved the coupons with no communication to me or anyone else...leaving myself, the arena, ticketmaster, new owners and smart circle all surpised...we'll work thru it....there will be a few things from the past that will creep up from time to time , i'm sure but ,ted and lisa are great and we're moving in the right direction...lots of positives coming...
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Post by expresszac on Mar 15, 2007 17:09:05 GMT -5
It's good to see that as soon as a problem Bernie and the new owners take care of it in a very timely fashion. Great job to the office. As for Rippey he has been putting a few positive articles out there about the team as well as the league. He is being alot more positive this year than he was last year. I guess he figured this team is here to stay and not a 1 year trial. Hopefully as they said the owners will keep this team here since we have one of the best arenas in the league. We need everything postive to get as much publicity as we can give it to get more fans for all the teams. I know at our last home game there was just a shy under 4000 there we need to break the 5000 mark if we can so if you know someone that like football get them out to the games. I guarantee they will be hooked.
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Post by Coach Bernie on Mar 15, 2007 17:43:16 GMT -5
thanks zac...we are here to stay and we're gonna hit the consistant 5000....ted and lisa have already got us on billboards, tv commercials, newspaper and the players are making countless appearances as well as the steam team....i have several seminars and luncheons i am speaking at as well as being on y-102 every friday before a home game with Jackie and Scott ....we're doing everthing possible to let all of berks and surrounding areas they have a prof. football team ( and a pretty good one) working on tailgate parties outside the arena on game days...looking to do food, beverage, music merchandise fun for the kids etc....
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Post by Gene on Mar 15, 2007 19:05:59 GMT -5
The rumor goin around is that the Royals "might" fold after this season. Due to the fact that the LA Kings want to move an ECHL affiliate to Ontario. If this happens then possibly the Express can pick up a few more fans and the football team should be the #1 draw. At this time, not sure how the new basketball team will do? They are using one of the the Express' original name ideas, the "Railers".
Maybe one of our Royals fans who visit here can clarify exactly whats happening or might happen with the Royals.
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Post by Canton Cougar Fan on Mar 15, 2007 20:00:44 GMT -5
The rumor goin around is that the Royals "might" fold after this season. Due to the fact that the LA Kings want to move an ECHL affiliate to Ontario. If this happens then possibly the Express can pick up a few more fans and the football team should be the #1 draw. At this time, not sure how the new basketball team will do? They are using one of the the Express' original name ideas, the "Railers".
Maybe one of our Royals fans who visit here can clarify exactly whats happening or might happen with the Royals. I know a few years ago there was a shuffling in baseball (maybe just the Indians), but almost all the minor league teams are close to the big league team. Cleveland's AAA is Buffalo, AA is Akron, A is Lake County and Mahoning Valley is a rookie league I believe. Any chance the Flyers put a team in Reading? |
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Post by Gene on Mar 15, 2007 20:12:42 GMT -5
The rumor goin around is that the Royals "might" fold after this season. Due to the fact that the LA Kings want to move an ECHL affiliate to Ontario. If this happens then possibly the Express can pick up a few more fans and the football team should be the #1 draw. At this time, not sure how the new basketball team will do? They are using one of the the Express' original name ideas, the "Railers".
Maybe one of our Royals fans who visit here can clarify exactly whats happening or might happen with the Royals. I know a few years ago there was a shuffling in baseball (maybe just the Indians), but almost all the minor league teams are close to the big league team. Cleveland's AAA is Buffalo, AA is Akron, A is Lake County and Mahoning Valley is a rookie league I believe. Any chance the Flyers put a team in Reading? |
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Post by loco on Mar 16, 2007 8:03:24 GMT -5
Agreed about the affiliate change. Someone will come in. Maybe the Capitals will follow Hershey and put their team in Reading.
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Post by tmiles on Mar 16, 2007 19:35:47 GMT -5
I know a few years ago there was a shuffling in baseball (maybe just the Indians), but almost all the minor league teams are close to the big league team. Cleveland's AAA is Buffalo, AA is Akron, A is Lake County and Mahoning Valley is a rookie league I believe. Any chance the Flyers put a team in Reading? The Titans were bought by the NJ Devils org earlier this year. They are supposedly moving their AHL affiliate from Lowell to Trenton next season. So its possible that the Flyers will have an ECHL affiliation available. There's also a new arena being considered in Allentown, so who knows. If anything happens, I can't see the Royals folding as just changing affiliations. Right now its all just the rumor mill flying around. The Royals have sent out their season ticket renewals, so it doesn't look like they're going anywhere next season. |
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Post by Gene on Mar 16, 2007 19:45:02 GMT -5
The Flyers ECHL affiliates are the Trenton Titans in Trenton, NJ. Not sure if they would move Trenton to Reading or not? But, if the Royals do leave rest assured there will be another hockey team there in the next year or 2. Too strong of a fanbase not to have a team. The Titans were bought by the NJ Devils org earlier this year. They are supposedly moving their AHL affiliate from Lowell to Trenton next season. So its possible that the Flyers will have an ECHL affiliation available. There's also a new arena being considered in Allentown, so who knows. If anything happens, I can't see the Royals folding as just changing affiliations. Right now its all just the rumor mill flying around. The Royals have sent out their season ticket renewals, so it doesn't look like they're going anywhere next season.
Didnt Phiily put a bid in originally back when they wanted to put a team in Reading but financially it didnt work out? I always thought it was odd to be affiliated with the Kings all the way over here on the East coast....... |
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Post by Tatonka on Mar 17, 2007 7:39:53 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not a hockey fan so I don't know anything about how these affliations are set up, but when I was in Portland, Maine last summer, I thought it was odd that the Pirates (their AHL team) was affiliated with the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim. I don't know if they could have picked a team any farther away...
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Post by loco on Mar 17, 2007 9:06:05 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm not a hockey fan so I don't know anything about how these affliations are set up, but when I was in PoThere'rtland, Maine last summer, I thought it was odd that the Pirates (their AHL team) was affiliated with the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim. I don't know if they could have picked a team any farther away... Up until the IHL folded the AHL's westernmost city was Louisville. Yeah, we're talking nearly 60 years of AAA hockey strictly found on the East Coast. Even with the IHL teams you're only looking at a half dozen teams out of 24 west of the Mississippi. |
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Post by Frosty on Mar 18, 2007 18:51:43 GMT -5
After talking to people involved with the Royals they have not heard anything close to what has been stated. The GM has not indicated that the team is going anywhere. Additionally with the ammount of players that are called up to Hershey and the Monarchs the Kings would be crazy to move the team.
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Post by tmiles on Mar 18, 2007 22:19:03 GMT -5
"If" there is an affiliation move (and that's a big if), it wouldn't occur until at least the 2008-09 season. There was a newspaper article indicating that the Kings wanted to move one of their minor league teams (the article didn't state AHL or ECHL) to a new arena being built in Ontario. This is all just rumor right now, but that's how all this talk got started.
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