Flashback: 2003

THE YEAR: 2003

Encouraged by Acadiana’s then-successful Louisiana IceGators hockey franchise, an East Coast Hockey League team in Erie, Pennsylvania, decided to make Baton Rouge its new home in 1996. Though never as popular as the IceGators, Baton Rouge’s Kingfish franchise initially averaged a little more than 6,000 fans per game and earned upward of $1 million in each of the team’s first three years. But the Pennsylvania owners’ tactics—refusing to discount season tickets and demanding more and offering less to corporate partners—eventually took its toll and the franchise was put up for sale in 2001. Local businessman Scott Bolduc bought the failing franchise to save it from bankruptcy, but his aggressive style also took its toll on the Kingfish, and the team moved to Canada in 2003.

“POOR ATTENDANCE and few corporate dollars are the deadliest combination in professional sports, as evidenced by the Kingfish losing more than $2 million since Scott Bolduc purchased the team. The on-ice losses, Bolduc says, were expected, but the community’s cold shoulder, especially from corporate leaders, has stunned him. To hear Bolduc tell it, everyone except Bolduc is responsible for the mess that is the Kingfish franchise. ‘People in this community who could have helped me have turned their back on this team,’ said Bolduc, anger rising in his voice. ‘I didn’t do anything to these people. If people in this town expect me to kiss their ass they’re wrong. I don’t kiss anybody’s ass.’”

—From the March 4, 2003, issue of Business Report

+ ALSO FROM THAT ISSUE ...

GETTING AROUND: Business Report’s Mukul Verma takes a ride on the newly released and highly coveted Segway scooter.

LICKING ITS CHOPS: Proposed Wal-Mart for College Drive will threaten two local Albertsons stores.

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