Rex to fold?

[IndyTreeFan]

Just saw a tweet from Todd Golden that the Rex are to be sold or will fold, perhaps as early as this week. I can't help but think what an idiotic idea it was for the ISU Foundation to start a freaking baseball team. Stupid beyond words.

However, it would be a shame for the Rex to fold. They really seem to have done a nice job connecting with the community. Hopefully someone with deep pockets will come along and buy it. TH First, the Gibsons, even Brian Dorsett (Lord knows they paid him enough when he was skipper) could do it? I hope someone does. Nice summertime attraction for Terre Haute...

 

[bluestreak]

I'm surprised, I thought they drew pretty good crowds

 

[SycamoreFan317]

I'm surprised, I thought they drew pretty good crowds

Not about attendance. It is about the foundation getting back to what the foundation is supposed to be doing.

 

[bluestreak]

Okay, makes sense.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

I had been told they had poor attendance as well. Is that not accurate?

 

[blueblazer]

I had been told they had poor attendance as well. Is that not accurate?

Last game attendance was good but it has been well down this year, support has fallen off

 

[SycamoreFan317]

Todd Golden has tweeted that things have gotten stale nothing new promotion wise for a couple of years. Attendance would probably pick up when promotions pick up.

 

[Eleven]

Agree... but it's a tough balance.
I remember when there was a deal for: 4 Tickets, 4 Hot Dogs, 4 Sodas for $25.

It's a GREAT deal, but how can you make ANY money doing that?

They also started the franchise with Fireworks Friday's.... costs money.. and people just sat across the street and watched.
Terre Haute is generally cheap... sorry... it just is.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

Let's get a few ballance sheet things strait about the Rex.

A. Copper Bar gets 100% of all food and drink sales. They provide the staff and supplies. Highly doubt they are paying a % of profit.

B. When you pay your 1st Manager over $50k for a 3 months season over his first 3 seasons you aint making any coin.

C. When you have a GM Roland Shelton and Asst. GM Casey Dagrote having saleries paid for by the Rex "income" you aint making any money.

D. I believe the players get weekly food money. On top of this Rex assume all travel and lodging costs.

E. They pay umpires, field manager, announcer, box keeper, etc. on a game by game basis.

F. I'd assume they pay a fee to the Prospect league. No idea what that is.

G, H, K, T, R, Z. Univeristy Foundations should NEVER be in the business of buying baseball teams. Don't you think it would have been done before Indiana State if it was a valuable move? Thought so...

 

[SycamoreFan317]

Let's get a few ballance sheet things strait about the Rex.

A. Copper Bar gets 100% of all food and drink sales. They provide the staff and supplies. Highly doubt they are paying a % of profit.

B. When you pay your 1st Manager over $50k for a 3 months season over his first 3 seasons you aint making any coin.

C. When you have a GM Roland Shelton and Asst. GM Casey Dagrote having saleries paid for by the Rex "income" you aint making any money.

D. I believe the players get weekly food money. On top of this Rex assume all travel and lodging costs.

E. They pay umpires, field manager, announcer, box keeper, etc. on a game by game basis.

F. I'd assume they pay a fee to the Prospect league. No idea what that is.

G, H, K, T, R, Z. Univeristy Foundations should NEVER be in the business of buying baseball teams. Don't you think it would have been done before Indiana State if it was a valuable move? Thought so...

This is just piss poor administration decisions, especially the concessions. What about the clothing.

 

[Daveinth]

To be honest as far I am concearned the promotions have fallen off . What I mean by this is I have rarely seen anything in the way of actually promoting the team this year . I usually go to several games a year but this year I admit I have not taken in a single game and I blame that on 1. Being busy as hell but really I really havent seen much in the way of reminders that the games are being played .

 

[bent20]

This is too bad if true. Terre Haute really should be big enough to support a minor league team. Smaller cities do it and they have triple A affiliates. From what I've seen though, most rely primarily on concessions for their revenue. It's usually not difficult to find someone with a connection for free tickets. They want you there for the food and drink sales. They also lure people there with activities for the kids - basically playgrounds at the stadium.

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

This is too bad if true. Terre Haute really should be big enough to support a minor league team. Smaller cities do it and they have triple A affiliates. From what I've seen though, most rely primarily on concessions for their revenue. It's usually not difficult to find someone with a connection for free tickets. They want you there for the food and drink sales. They also lure people there with activities for the kids - basically playgrounds at the stadium.

Smaller cities do it with less staff overhead and not being run by an organization that's mission has nothing to do with running a baseball team. The sad part has nothing to do with low attendnance or the lack of support from the Terre Haute Community. Yeah Terre Haute sucks when it comes to supporting things.

The sad thing here piss poor of a plan this was in the first place.

317, as far as merchandise I am going to guess that they retained a portion of those sales. Although Rick Bagnoche of Bagnoche Sports had that contract as well, so I am sure the majority of sales were going to him. He himself was at a lot of the games selling gear, he wouldn't be wasting his time if he wasn't getting a good cut of that himself. My assumption is because the Foundation owns the rights to the Rex Brand that they had enough common sense to realize thay they shouls get a cut of the sales. The same should also be said for food and drink sales, but my understanding is that wasn't the case.

 

[BankShot]

What role did "Clabber Girl/Hulman & Co." have in this consortium w/ the ISU Foundation? Were any other of the ancillary Hulman-related companies (i.e. Coca Cola/Trib-star) and other TH-based corporations pitching in their "fair share?" Sounds to me like this was primarily a "one-horse" carriage, with too much DEAD WEIGHT in the stables!

 

[SycamoreStateofMind]

What role did "Clabber Girl/Hulman & Co." have in this consortium w/ the ISU Foundation? Were any other of the ancillary Hulman-related companies (i.e. Coca Cola/Trib-star) and other TH-based corporations pitching in their "fair share?" Sounds to me like this was primarily a "one-horse" carriage, with too much DEAD WEIGHT in the stables!

Clabber Girl was a major corp. sponsor for the first 3 years and stepped away this year. The first 3 years they were even selling Rex merch. inside Clabber Girl. Union Hospital and UAP Clinic have always been major corp. soponsors and also provide athletic
training for the athletes.

Other than that they have smaller sponsors. Toyota of TH is a pretty big sponsor.

Other than that, you have a lot of the same suspects in Terre Haute that give a lot of money. The well eventually runs dry, these organizations like TH First who use to give out money for everything have tightened things up. They have a lot more money tied up than they use to with all these banks they are operating in IL.

 

[SycamorePsycho]

Agree... but it's a tough balance.
I remember when there was a deal for: 4 Tickets, 4 Hot Dogs, 4 Sodas for $25.

It's a GREAT deal, but how can you make ANY money doing that?

They also started the franchise with Fireworks Friday's.... costs money.. and people just sat across the street and watched.
Terre Haute is generally cheap... sorry... it just is.

Couldn't agree more...

 

[Sackalot]

Its nice for TH to have the Rex, it is a "nice" thing. But practical, efficient...NOPE! Foundation should not be doing this...the foundation is there to raise money and support ISU, not the community. If the community really wants the Rex, someone will step up. But I will be surprised if this happens. People in business (successful business) are in business because they know how to turn a profit, they know how to do business. If no one steps it, it is an indicator of the situation and why the Rex was a bad decision on the part of the Foundation. Can't really fault the foundation for trying something new...but it appears that the time to cut bait and move on has come.

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Let's get a few ballance sheet things strait about the Rex.

A. Copper Bar gets 100% of all food and drink sales. They provide the staff and supplies. Highly doubt they are paying a % of profit.

B. When you pay your 1st Manager over $50k for a 3 months season over his first 3 seasons you aint making any coin.

C. When you have a GM Roland Shelton and Asst. GM Casey Dagrote having saleries paid for by the Rex "income" you aint making any money.

D. I believe the players get weekly food money. On top of this Rex assume all travel and lodging costs.

E. They pay umpires, field manager, announcer, box keeper, etc. on a game by game basis.

F. I'd assume they pay a fee to the Prospect league. No idea what that is.

G, H, K, T, R, Z. Univeristy Foundations should NEVER be in the business of buying baseball teams. Don't you think it would have been done before Indiana State if it was a valuable move? Thought so...

Is anyone that was involved with the whole Rex concept and pushing it through at State still there?

 

[Jason Svoboda]

Anyone know where we can find the Rex financials? I'd like to see what this endeavor cost the school vs. what it brought back in.

 

[BankShot]

Clabber Girl was a major corp. sponsor for the first 3 years and stepped away this year. The first 3 years they were even selling Rex merch. inside Clabber Girl...

Curious as to relationship of the team name (Rex) and the brand of coffee similar-named and made by Clabber Girl. Were they hoping that the Summer baseball squad would be a big marketing boost to their regional coffee sales campaign? So given that Clabber Girl "backed away" from supporting baseball this past season, they essentially got a full season of free coffee "advertising?"