Jul. 14--The president of Sports Towne hopes to work with the owners of the Macon Whoopee to ensure both hockey and arena football can coexist in Macon.
Though the teams are at odds over the rights to sell indoor advertising at the Macon Coliseum, Bryan Watson said he hopes installing rotating signs, which would display several ads on the same signs, could provide an amicable solution.
At a City Council meeting this week, Mayor C. Jack Ellis said he has had some experience in the advertising industry and was unsure if rotating signs would be a viable option.
But Watson said he spoke to the mayor after the meeting, and Ellis seemed more amenable to the idea.
Ellis could not be reached for comment Thursday.
As the Whoopee and city officials negotiate a new lease agreement aimed at keeping the minor league hockey team at the Coliseum, negotiations have turned into a football vs. hockey argument, Watson said. And that's a dispute he would like to avoid.
'I think the city should approach it the way they did (at the City Council meeting),' he said, 'not where it's hockey vs. football. That's my contention. I hate that it's turned into this thing.'
Although Watson placed calls to Brother Stewart, a majority owner of the Whoopee, he said he has not heard back.
Calls by the Telegraph were answered by an assistant, who said Stewart was out of the country.
Currently, the Macon Coliseum has only two permanent, backlit signs hanging in the arena, although there's room for 15-20 more.
The Whoopee has asked Ellis for exclusive rights to sell the signs, with revenues to be split with the city. Ellis has said the city might be able to give the arena football team a cut of the city's revenues.
Watson, however, said if his arena football team isn't allowed to sell at least some signs, he couldn't bring a team here. Rotating signs could be the answer, Watson said.
If static signs were hung in the arena, each advertiser would have to pay about $7,500 per sign, he said. But signs that would allow several ads to rotate during a game would increase the amount of available space and decrease the cost of each ad.
Watson said small-business owners could spend much less for an ad that would rotate in and out of view during games. In a small market like Macon, many local advertisers might not be able to afford the higher cost, he said.
Cost of the signs themselves, however, could prove to be an obstacle.
Static signs measuring 10-by-3 feet can cost about $2,500. Signs that rotate can cost three or even four times that.
On Tuesday, a special committee of the City Council approved an agreement with the Whoopee, eliminating language that would have given the Whoopee exclusive advertising rights. The amended agreement is expected to go before the entire council Tuesday.
Council President Anita Ponder said she has spoken to Watson about the possibility of rotating signs, but the matter is not up to the City Council, she said. Council members can approve or deny lease agreements, but they do not negotiate leases. That is the mayor's job.
'In regard to signs, I only have one opinion,' she said. 'No one should have exclusive rights.'
When the council removed the word exclusive from the lease agreement negotiated by the mayor, the goal was to make sure no future teams would be excluded, Ponder said.
'Taking out the word exclusive leaves a number of possibilities,' she said. 'I just don't want to take away any possibilities.'
But other cities are finding similar problems juggling hockey, football and arena signs.
Columbus, which also is seeking to land an af2 team, has static backlit signs in its Civic Center that are owned exclusively by the Columbus Cottonmouths hockey team.
Tony Ford, the director of the Civic Center, has been a key figure in trying to bring arena football to Columbus. He expects the arena to eventually switch to rotating signs due to the potential for increased revenue.
'Why not get an alternative to the backlit signs?' Ford said. 'Then everyone has an opportunity. We are looking into that.'
And that's where the situation gets sticky.
Although Phil Roberto, general manager of the Columbus hockey team, hasn't been involved with any of the af2 discussions, he said his team wouldn't be very willing to change its signs.
'The backlit signs are sold year-round to the people who purchase them,' Roberto said. 'I think (if the arena switched signs), then there would be an issue.'
- By Thomas W. Krause and Phillip Ramati
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(c) 2000, The Macon Telegraph, Ga. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
