The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3
Will the runaway hockey operation rife with alleged financial abuse that occurred in Corpus Christi reappear in Birmingham, Alabama?

Brian Ross

Revised 08.11.03

The metro Birmingham, Alabama area is a wasteland. Those of you living there who commute through downtown or Pelham probably don't see it. To witness the destruction, you have to put on your magic hockey business glasses.

There. Now you can see it: The old World Hockey Association (WHA) limped through a few seasons at the BJCC, the principal arena in the area. The ECHL Bullies struggled along and failed as well. When all was said and done, hockey shrunk from a best crowd of about 8,000 a game to the 2,000 to 3,000 core hockey fans currently estimated in the Birmingham metro area. Hardly enough to do any justice to the 17,000 seat BJCC arena.

Enter Stage Left, Taylor Hall - Man with the Plan

Taylor Hall, player, manager, general manager, arrives on the scene with what appears to be a great hockey pedigree. He was General Manager of the Corpus Christi Ice Rays, one of the most attended operations in minor league hockey.

With the Ice Rays organization from its beginnings, Hall saw the benefits of opening up in a smaller venue with limited seating. After all, if you're only going to have 3,000 core fans, why have many more seats? A full arena sells better than a drafty, empty one.

Such was a key component to the success of the Ice Rays of the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) which moved to the Central Hockey League (CHL) with the merger.

So it was only natural that Hall saw the opportunity to open a World Hockey Association 2 (WHA-2) team in nearby suburban Pelham, at a small practice facility near concert venues that draw metro Birmingham residents.

Professional hockey in Pelham was born.

Fly in the Ointment

The Ice Rays took two years to establish themselves in the community, opened up in a small building, and played to record-setting crowds. Under Hall's management, the Ice Rays had some of their biggest seasons.

So why did the CHL league office revoke their franchise, and hand it over to New Mexico Scorpions owner Doug Frank?

Those Nagging Books

While the product on the ice was filling seats, life was anything but skittles and beer in the accounting office.

The Ice Rays were sold in their second year of operation to an ownership group headed by Bill Davidson, and included Hall and his current partner in the Pelham operation, Kevin Simpson.

According to Gaylord Hoyt, one of the minority partners who purchased the operation with Davidson, Hall and Simpson, the Canadian ownership could not keep a close enough eye on the operation in Corpus Christi, and wanted to pull out.

Davidson, at the time, was the GM of the Ice Rays. Hall was the Coach of the team. According to Hoyt, Davidson's prior managerial experience had been in the operation of a small lawn-care business in Canada.

"When I first met Bill Davidson, he couldn't show more than $40,000 in net worth," says Hoyt.

Hoyt, a long-time resident and local benefactor of public operations like the aquarium, put approximately $50,000 into the operation, largely to make sure that hockey stayed in the community of Corpus Christi.

Problems arose under Davidson centering around the books. Davidson had also taken over the operation of the WPHL franchise in El Paso. Partners, knowing the depth of Davidson's pockets, and suspecting some issues with the operation of the Ice Rays, feared that the Corpus Christi franchise might be propping up the failing El Paso franchise.

The minority partners demanded a full accounting of the books. They were refused on numerous occasions. They filed a civil suit against Davidson and the Ice Rays in Nueces County to gain access to the records.

Davidson is on the record in the local media as saying that the publicity surrounding the lawsuit hurt the operation's attendance, which, to a lesser extent, seems to have been true. Numbers dipped during the conflict.

Davidson retained his ownership, stepped down as GM, and named his friend of many years Taylor Hall as the new General Manager.

Hall, also a partner in the venture, did not provide any information to the remainder of the partnership while he was General Manager. Hall explains that he was under Davidson's orders to do so, and had no real knowledge of what was going on.

Sources within the organization and area reporters confirm for MLN a large number of alleged irregularities in the finances that largely appeared after the CHL revoked the team's franchise and stepped in to reassign it.

Alleged skimming of money from the all-cash parking operation, alleged under-reporting of sponsorship monies, and alleged floating of capital between the El Paso and Corpus Christi operations were just a few of the irregularities believed to have been dragging down on the team's finances.

"They blamed the sloppiness of the books [for the irregularities]" says Caller-Times reporter Greg Rhaan, who covered the Ice Rays during this time.

Could Taylor Hall have run a team where he didn't have enough access to the books to know what was going on, as he claims?

Partner Hoyt is crystal clear about his beliefs in Hall's involvement: "Taylor Hall was on the string that Bill Davidson was pulling."

Perquisites or Pickpocketing?

Beyond the irregularities of the books, there were also questions about charges made against the operation. Hoyt accuses Kevin Simpson, the other partner in the Pelham operation, of misuse of the company's funds.

"Kevin Simpson bought a $10,000 boat on Ice Ray money," he says.

Hoyt says that Davidson, Hall, and Simpson created a consulting organization called Southern Sports Strategy Consulting.

Allegedly the trio billed the Ice Rays $6,000 in consulting fees for their expertise and advice, even though all three were on the team's payroll to provide the same services.

"The whole mess was a farce," says Hoyt.

When asked for his opinion of Hall running another hockey operation in Pelham, Alabama, Hoyt was equally clear: "Birmingham is in bad shape if they go forward with this deal."

It should be noted that Hoyt is not angry with Davidson, Hall, or Simpson because of a loss of his money. "I spent $50,000 on the hockey team. That same year I donated the same amount for my wife to build a dolphin exhibit at the aquarium. Do you think I'm going to get the money back out of either of them? I didn't plan to get the money back. I spent [it] because I believe in Corpus Christi."

Could History Repeat in Pelham?

Hall is a charming and charismatic figure. There are many of his colleagues in the hockey industry who would like to believe that he somehow avoided the taint of Davidson's operation in Corpus Christi.

The WHA-2 says that Hall's group meets financial ownership requirements to operate a team. Neither Hall nor Simpson seems to possess that kind of wealth, and MLN can find no information on additional partnership interests to support the notion that they have even a year's operational capital.

Players are paid centrally by the league, which at least insulates them via the deeper pockets of league owner David Waronker from possible local ownership irregularities.

The facility in Pelham was formerly a practice rink used for local hockey and small events. Paul Andrejewski, in charge of the management of the facility, tells MLN that no financial or background checks were needed to sign a lease. "We signed on their word," says Andrejewski.

When asked about the Ice Rays, Hall shifts the blame for the Corpus Christi situation on his former partner, Bill Davidson. He will tell you that he was the one who stayed and took the heat.

"When the league stepped in, we went over everything with a fine tooth comb," says Hall.

The comb caught quite a bit that fell into the lap of new owner Doug Frank.

Frank, who has successfully revived the New Mexico Scorpions franchise, took on the Ice Rays' ownership. It will be up to him to decide what, if anything, will be done with the past books of the team. Davidson has since declared bankruptcy, and the lawsuit from the former owners might take some precedence. In the end, Frank might just bury the past as a loss on his tax form rather than re-ignite the controversies of the past that might impact attendance again.

Hall claims that he and Simpson left Corpus Christi on good terms with new management, in search of a place to run a hockey operation.

Road Maps & Ice Dreams

"We scoured the Southeast for pro hockey cities," says Hall. "The Birmingham Metro area was the best place."

On the numbers, if this operation keeps crystal clear books and avoids any excesses, the team could indeed be profitable on a small attendance.

"We're operating at a lower cost structure," says Hall. "We needed to be realistic as to where we needed to be. It is realistic to draw 2,000 to 4,000. Many of our fans tend to live in the Pelham, Hoover, and Shelby County areas."

They can also benefit from exposure that nearby summer entertainment offers. "The amphitheater next to the arena has big concerts in the summer months,"says Hall.

Rolling Out the Red Carpet

Hall has spent the summer developing the community fan base. Pelham is less singed than Birmingham. His start-up time is short, but should be enough to gain lift-off by opening day.

"Bobby Hayes, the Mayor of Pelham, is so excited about having us. He rolled out the red carpet."

Hall is receiving cooperation from the city to pay for some of the capital improvements to the arena. They will add 1,000 glass-side seats, and upgrade the food and beverage areas. Hall hopes to create the "carnival-like atmosphere" that lead to Corpus Christi being a fan-favorite.

At the Pelham arena, he can secure prime weekend dates, and avoid playing weeknights, typically down-attendance periods for minor hockey. This should also maximize team income.

If the WHA comes through with its proposal to own contracts, Hall and Simpson's operation will become even more profitable, as salaries, a huge component of independent hockey's cost structure, are lifted.

 

The Other Potential Angles & Ramifications

The speculation as to how things will roll out in Pelham has many possible turns.

Hall and Simpson could be the innovative hockey imprimaturs that they claim to be. They could be rebuilding the hockey market in Birmingham. The team, run without deviation, has the potential to be a financial success and a boon to the community.

There are other scenarios, however, that may come into play here.

The Major League Factor

The World Hockey Association (WHA), set to take the ice against a possibly strike-torn National Hockey League (NHL), has already made noise about putting a major league club into Birmingham.

If the WHA is suicidal enough to open in Birmingham (which didn't work in their 1971-1979 incarnation), there is a likelihood that they would either buy out or relocate the Pelham operation to make room for the major league club (4,000 fans is just 13,000 away from looking like a major league hockey club, after all. Most nearby teams that offer "affordable" alternatives get blown out by higher-level hockey, as the San Antonio Iguanas found out when the AA AHL moved into their city.).

They could also leave the Pelham team in place and develop fans downtown, another unlikely scenario if the market for hockey remains at the same low levels in Metro Birmingham..

Hall and Simpson could find themselves in some level of the operation of a major league franchise if they are absorbed into the WHA team.

The SEHL Plains War Scenario

Allegedly the rival minor hockey Southeast Hockey League (SEHL), the remnants of the now-defunct Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL), continues to look for ownership to secure a minor league hockey team at the BJCC arena in Birmingham. The arena says that nothing is definite at this hour for either the WHA or the SEHL, it should be noted.

If the SEHL opens in Birmingham, Hall's operation in Pelham might end up in a turf war. Being first on the block helps, but if the SEHL engages in a well-funded campaign to gain market-share out of the limited audience of core hockey fans, the operation may find itself spending a lot to keep its fan base. This could jeopardize or, ultimately, kill off one or both franchises. The SEHL is fighting a number of its own brush fires at the moment, and, in a market where college sports dominate corporate sponsorships, it is unlikely that the SEHL would find someone who wanted to go up against the established WHA-2 team.

The Ghost of Ice-Rays-Past Scenario

If the Corpus Christi situation has continued fall-out, either from a broadening of the old minority interest lawsuit still pending in Texas, or by action taken by the new ownership, Mr. Hall and/or Mr. Simpson may also find themselves expending time and money dealing with issues in those cases. Lacking any deep pockets that MLN could verify, they may have to expend resources and time that might prove a distraction to operating their current franchise.

In for the Long-Hall?

On paper, Pelham is a smart way to market hockey in a community with a limited attention span for the sport. Hall, as a coach and former GM, should know how to put an entertaining and competitive product on the ice, and keep it on a budget.

Yet Hall and Simpson left a high attendance operation that was cash-strapped in Corpus Christi when the CHL repossessed the franchise. How much of that was their fault, or how much they may still be held accountable for, remains for time, potential civil suits and accountants to sort out.

Birmingham is a damaged market. One that has been ravaged both by the under-funded and well-intentioned, and by those looking to make a fast buck off of hockey fans whose jersey logo should be the endangered species symbol.

Hall professes to be in the community with the best of intentions. He will need to go a bit out of his way, in light of the history of the past operation with which he was involved, to show fans, the media, corporate seat holders and sponsors that his hockey club is there to be part of the community for the long-haul.