Storm to leave Altrincham !

[DiscoRay]

Posted by 4000andcounting on facebook

"Statement: Manchester Storm
Following careful consideration, Altrincham Ice Rink will not be issuing a licence for Manchester Storm to continue their operation at the venue for the 2026/27 season.
For several months, there have been persistent rumours regarding a potential move by Manchester Storm to the AO Arena Manchester. The club’s initial communication to us confirmed that they intended to remain in Altrincham until the new arena is ready at TraffordCity which would become their new home. However, the frequency and credibility of these rumours have since increased, with venue operators, players, and staff informing us that discussions between Manchester Storm and the AO Arena have taken place and that plans for a move were being agreed.
In response to this, Heath Rhodes, the rinks Chief Operations Officer, issued a further email on Tuesday April 21st requesting clear confirmation of the club’s intentions for the 2026/27 season. This request sought a simple and direct answer. No reply was received until today at 16:47, and even then, the club did not indicate what their intentions are regarding a potential relocation from the Altrincham rink.
Throughout our correspondence, the rink has been clear that we fully support Manchester Storm in pursuing opportunities that allow them to build on their success. Should they wish to relocate, we would do what we can to support a smooth and professional transition. However, it is both reasonable and necessary that we receive sufficient notice of any such decision.
Unlike other teams in the league, Manchester Storm have not released season tickets for the upcoming season. This has placed rink staff in a difficult position, facing questions from supporters that they are unable to answer. We do not believe this is fair to either supporters or staff.
As a result of the continued lack of communication and clarity, the rink has been placed in a position where we must determine our next steps to safeguard the future and will now pursue other opportunities."

Have Planet Ice cut so much back they don't have these things called telephones? Or even speak to Storm management on a game day prior to the seasons' end, when both parties can be on site?

Screams to me as PI throwing toys out the pram, there was plenty of avenues open to resolve this in the background, plus why would you act on this based on "rumour"? Doesn't make them look very professional either.

[kivo1889]

I wonder if the management of Manchester arena have been along to games in Sheffield, Belfast and Nottingham and thought if these places can get 7000+ punters in 30+ times a year, then with the population of greater Manchester at 3 million they could do 10k+? It could work.
(Although Glasgow could make a similar argument.)

[mark]

Have Planet Ice cut so much back they don't have these things called telephones? Or even speak to Storm management on a game day prior to the seasons' end, when both parties can be on site?

Screams to me as PI throwing toys out the pram, there was plenty of avenues open to resolve this in the background, plus why would you act on this based on "rumour"? Doesn't make them look very professional either.

There have been a number of stories questioning the way PI run the rinks in respect of Ice Hockey over the past few years, a general feeling seems to be that the rinks are poorly maintained and that they can be difficult to work with. I'm sure there is more to the story than has been written, perhaps Storm have been examining their options to move elsewhere and to be honest who can blame them, that rink will forever be the limiting factor to their business whether that's attendance or just the difficulty of attracting decent players to what is a dump of a building. People talk and obviously something has got back to PI management who have thrown the teddies out of the pram as a result, perhaps they need to realise that no one wants to run a team out of a PI managed rink where there is any alternative provider available, and that is down to the way they run things.

[Steeling thunder]

Great news for Manchester (hopefully) & great news for the league in general. Manchester is such a huge market and there's the nucleus for a great fanbase there.
If they get the marketing side right they could do well.

[Keith Sheppard]

My worry is that this may have come a season too early, there still may be no ice plant in the old arena. Maybe they were planning to do the move in a years time and play next season in their current barn. If this is the case where the hell do they play in September?

[Firefox1001]

<snip>

Would also like the playoffs to be hosted there. Make the tickets cheaper and get a bigger attendance.

There's a deal in place to keep the playoffs in Nottingham for the foreseeable future.

[Clear The Zone]

My worry is that this may have come a season too early, there still may be no ice plant in the old arena. Maybe they were planning to do the move in a years time and play next season in their current barn. If this is the case where the hell do they play in September?

It seems that temporary iceplants are a thing - the Manchester arena has hosted various ice events over the years after removing their ice plant apparently. Also read that the iceplant at Altrincham was basically just pipes laid down into sand, so is probably 'temporary' too. So I expect there's a solution there.

[Bryan]

I was part of that 17245 record crowd. It was a marvellous experience. I really hope this works. It would be fantastic for the league. I don’t know how often the AO Arena is booked for events now. Will Storm be able to play there at weekends? Until they can actually fill the AO, which may be some years, I imagine they will be shunted to the less popular dates. I imagine storm must have thought all this through. it would be awful to see them go bankrupt again. If it looks stable for a couple of years I can’t see the league turning down the opportunity to hold the playoffs there.

[DiscoRay]

I was part of that 17245 record crowd. It was a marvellous experience. I really hope this works. It would be fantastic for the league. I don’t know how often the AO Arena is booked for events now. Will Storm be able to play there at weekends? Until they can actually fill the AO, which may be some years, I imagine they will be shunted to the less popular dates. I imagine storm must have thought all this through. it would be awful to see them go bankrupt again. If it looks stable for a couple of years I can’t see the league turning down the opportunity to hold the playoffs there.

AO Arena only has a dozen or so events between now and this time next May. The Co-Op Arena on the other hand has a dozen events on for next month alone. It's a gamble for both the AO and Storm, but provided both don't get carried away and allow for time to build the fanbase up, I don't see why it can't work over the longer-term. Storm were getting 2.5k last season for attendance, getting that up to an average of at least 4k next season isn't out of the question, between a good promotional campaign, and plenty of folk being curious to check them out again at the arena. If it works, long-term Storm will by far be the biggest team in the league.

[Clear The Zone]

This is great news for Manchester and the entire league. Honestly I don't see any reason to think they'll struggle to make attendance figures work.

Interesting to contrast the unnecessarily sassy and bitchy Planet Ice statement last week with the professionalism of the Storm's press release (where they didn't even mention Planet Ice or Altrincham when it would have been easy to stick the boot in).