RSS
In defense of the Twisters
When a businessperson decides to make a new investment in Torrington, what can or should the community, city government and business leaders do to welcome it?
What if that investment was in the downtown, where investment is sorely needed?
What if that investment had the potential to spin off additional business for downtown restaurants and shops by bringing more people into the city for an afternoon or evening of entertainment?
No, I'm not talking about the Warner Theatre, although there's certainly some parallels considering the grumbling that has taken place recently about its tax-exempt status and its growing downtown footprint.
I'm talking about the Torrington Twisters, its new ownership, and its decision to raise ticket prices this summer.
The Twisters were in desperate need of the energy and businessperson's approach that new owner Robin Wadsworth has brought to the organization.
If NECBL baseball is going to work in Torrington, it needs to be financially viable. Do the math. It's a wonder that the team didn't just shut down years ago with $3 ticket prices.
Charging $6 isn't going to make anyone money. It's going to, maybe, keep the team afloat and provide some baseline of funding to reinvest into making Twisters baseball in Torrington a better-known and bigger regional draw for the downtown.
And $6 is still less than the price of a movie, less than most value meals at McDonald's, less than a beer at Yankee Stadium, less than two gallons of gas, less than a pack of cigarettes.
Yet we have politicians proposing to pull part-time police protection for Twisters games from the Recreation Department budget because the team has the gall to put the ticket price up to a bigger fraction of what it's worth ... and still far below what it would likely take to pay the team's costs.
Sometimes, while bemoaning the deficit of good things coming to Torrington, we don't do enough to appreciate and invest in the good things that we already have going for us.
Let's hope that, in spite of this, the Twisters find a way to make it work in Torrington before another community, say Bristol, Middletown, Westport, or numerous other communities inside Connecticut and elsewhere in New England, realizes the benefit an NECBL baseball team could be to their downtown.
What if that investment was in the downtown, where investment is sorely needed?
What if that investment had the potential to spin off additional business for downtown restaurants and shops by bringing more people into the city for an afternoon or evening of entertainment?
No, I'm not talking about the Warner Theatre, although there's certainly some parallels considering the grumbling that has taken place recently about its tax-exempt status and its growing downtown footprint.
I'm talking about the Torrington Twisters, its new ownership, and its decision to raise ticket prices this summer.
The Twisters were in desperate need of the energy and businessperson's approach that new owner Robin Wadsworth has brought to the organization.
If NECBL baseball is going to work in Torrington, it needs to be financially viable. Do the math. It's a wonder that the team didn't just shut down years ago with $3 ticket prices.
Charging $6 isn't going to make anyone money. It's going to, maybe, keep the team afloat and provide some baseline of funding to reinvest into making Twisters baseball in Torrington a better-known and bigger regional draw for the downtown.
And $6 is still less than the price of a movie, less than most value meals at McDonald's, less than a beer at Yankee Stadium, less than two gallons of gas, less than a pack of cigarettes.
Yet we have politicians proposing to pull part-time police protection for Twisters games from the Recreation Department budget because the team has the gall to put the ticket price up to a bigger fraction of what it's worth ... and still far below what it would likely take to pay the team's costs.
Sometimes, while bemoaning the deficit of good things coming to Torrington, we don't do enough to appreciate and invest in the good things that we already have going for us.
Let's hope that, in spite of this, the Twisters find a way to make it work in Torrington before another community, say Bristol, Middletown, Westport, or numerous other communities inside Connecticut and elsewhere in New England, realizes the benefit an NECBL baseball team could be to their downtown.
Labels: NECBL, Torrington Twisters, Warner Theatre
posted by Matt DeRienzo at
12:00 AM
5 Comments
