A Letter From The Owner

[Free Agent Fan]

Letter from the owner of the Tallahassee Titans, David Morris.


I would like to first thank everyone that is associated with the Tallahassee Titans and the people and fans of Tallahassee. There has been a flurry of discussion and comments this last week concerning financial health of the organization I brought to Tallahassee. I think it is time that everyone hears from me; this is the first business that I have ever started....... Have I made some mistakes? ........I think I have made several. I initial brought in a team of people that represented themselves as “Indoor Football Experts” to Tallahassee and they failed us all. Our schedule I failed to recognize that there were issues like spring break and other large events like St. Pattys day, which, drop our attendance at our games. (We have had 5800 to 4000 fans at our games I am told)

Who are the Titans? We are an organization that first believes in being involved in the community. I believe in Education and I started an out reach program to the educators in Tallahassee to help inspire what we value the most, our child. This program is from my heart and it will remain as long as the people in Tallahassee allow me to operate this organization in Tallahassee. We have worked with the boys and girls club, United Way and others.

Do we have a great and exciting football team? Ask the fans that has attended the games! We are currently 6-1 and our next game is against the Southern Division Leaders, the only team that barely won against us the “Mississippi Mudcats”. We have a Great head coach in Kevin Jackson, the assistant coaches are from Tallahassee and what a surprise our football players are from Tallahassee. We have over 100 people that work very hard to bring you, the fans and residence of Tallahassee a world-class event at our level of play.

So do I need help? ………Yes……..Do men normally ever ask for help? Do they stop and ask for directions when they are lost or just keep driving around until they stumble across what they were looking for and then say to their wife’s see I was never lost.

Where are we really if this was the second season? If the bare bones mode is 323 thousand dollars we have generate about 82.35% of the operational revenue. So why are we having difficulty….The first year startup cost I estimated has been exceeded and I have made some mistakes.

What do I need?
1. I need the help that Ron Spencer has offered by releasing $30,000.00 of my $75,000.00 deposit I gave them back last summer.

2. Because of how, "for better or for worse" the Titans make the money they need to operate, What I need the most is “Fans in the seats” at the Civic Center!!!!!!

3. Support from the Tallahassee Community.

I have an outstanding organization and a great football team. We are in a cash flow crunch and I would like to personally thank, Bob Sullivan of Bob’s Auto; Dale and Connie Joyce of AD/MAX; and Howard Libin of Adventures in Advertising; our sponsors, fans and the community support thus far.

Please support your Tallahassee Titans.

[picman]

Its good to see an owner come out and tell us what going on and admit that some of the problem were their own fault

[expresszac]

All I have to say about that is CLASS ACT. :smileytitans:
If all of what is said in there is true, We should be proud to have him as an owner in this league. Also some other owners should be so lucky to have this guys drive and determination as well as honesty. 9 times out of 10 the owners will put all the blame on the league and atleast he said that most of the problems with this team came from inside and are now being worked on to fix the problem not only for now but in the future. All I have to say is Good Luck to this organization. Hope you are in it for the long run.

[mississippimudcat1]

Hopefully the Titans will be in this for the long haul. Because I think that the Titans are great for the AIFA and it looks like the Titans and Mudcats are going to have some great games with each other in the future.
:smileymudcats: :smileymudcats: :smileymudcats:

[Gene]

4,000-5,800 average attendance? Your doing better than most teams. Both times i have been in Johnstown they only averaged around 2,000 per game. When we were in Erie last season there was maybe around 3,000. If the team is in financial trouble then there is more going on here than is being discussed. I might suggest David Morris speak with the other front offices and see how they operate. There is a gross mismanagement of money somewhere.........

[slocoma]

Is that for real?

Hilarious.

Where was that printed? I hope a lot of people don't see it.

[sportsfankeith]

So what should it take to run a team. 100-150 give or take or am I way off.

[Coach Bernie]

gene your correct in your evaluation and sportsfan k you are off on your #'s...150k gives you a bare bones running of a team and your players probally won't be very happy...payroll alone for the players if you would play 14 games and lose every game would be $73,500...so if you play any more games than that and win your payroll goes up...now add in your coaches..front office..front office operating costs..travel..equipment...league responsibilities..uniforms...housing for the players...food for the players (the last two can be traded if you find the right sponsors)etc...150k cuts you to the bones...your front office has to get out there and create a community desire to be involved with your team and that takes place all year round , not just during the season...during the season , you have to also work at getting people in the seasts (paid seats) besides what you did in the off season to get your season ticket numbers up..a lot of folks think, you get a team, sell some tickets play a game and thats it...as most of you in here already know there is a lot more to it

[mississippimudcat1]

Could not of explained it better than btnexpress!
:smileymudcats: :smileymudcats: :smileymudcats:

[sportsfankeith]

I will have to wait a couple of more years before I buy a team. My piggy bank will thank me!

[Catfish]

If it takes that much to run a team, how do the teams that average 1,000 to 3,000 make it from year to year? It seems that 3,000 average attendance would be about a break-even number. Is that correct?

[expresszac]

He is one of the reasons that the Express is a well respected team by the players, fans as well as other teams in the league.

mississippimudcat1 said:

Could not of explained it better than btnexpress!

[loco]

It would seem that way, but different arenas have different operating costs. We have a team in Reading and not in Hershey or the Spectrum b/c of operating costs of the arena.

The way you get ahead is NOT JUST to sell seats. THink about the NFL. If they were operating solely on their STH's the players wouldn't be getting paid what they do. The next level of security is sponsorship investment. If you do well in that plateu it won't matter how many people you have in the stands.

Of course, with a great sponsorship budget you can DO more for the fans, which brings them in, keeps them happy when they are in, and makes them want to come back and bring their friends. And getting them in the door first is the key.

catfish said:

If it takes that much to run a team, how do the teams that average 1,000 to 3,000 make it from year to year? It seems that 3,000 average attendance would be about a break-even number. Is that correct?

[jeffhauser]

Gene, Catfish, expresszac:
(1) David Morris is indeed a class act, and I've learned quite a bit from him as a novice at franchise ownership myself.
(2) I can't speak for David or Bernie's operations, but arena deals vary greatly market by market, so breakeven points using attendance are not uniform. Reading's will be different from Tallahassee's and both will be different than Pittsburgh.
(3) Be aware that building fan equity in startup franchises such as Pittsburgh and Tallahassee requires some promotional investment in the form of discounted tickets.
(4) The franchise that can cultivate sponsorship and other streams of revenue, will be the one most likely to survive low attendance or expense hiccups. In most markets, and the Mon Valley in Pittsburgh appears to be one, it will be the local business community's support that will ultimately decide if the team survives.

How about those RiverRats???!!!!

Regards,
Jeff Hauser
Pittsburgh RiverRats

[sportsfankeith]

So how much of their money is spongers? I am guessing a lot with the cats. We have a like a 30 page program (give or take) and like 5 pages involve the team. Not to mention they toss in a sponsor any given chance, sometimes to the point of being annoying.