Hectic, productive preseason for Riders’ new owners
Posted on Aug 30, 2009 by Jeff Johnson.
Jeff Jauch is the new president/CEO of the RoughRiders. Photographed Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, at Cedar Rapids Ice Arena in Cedar Rapids. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)
CEDAR RAPIDS — Jeff Jauch has what he calls “my bachelor pad.”
The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders CEO has rented an apartment in town. He’s here Monday through Thursday, then heads home to Madison, Wis., to be with his family.
It’s a lot of travel, and his new job has been a lot of work. It’s not easy running a junior hockey franchise when you’ve never done it before.
But Jauch and his partners in ownership group Newco Riders LLC (Tony Sdao and Mark Carlson) are determined to make the RoughRiders as successful off the ice as they have been on it. The Gazette sat down with Jauch at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena for a chat Thursday.
The smell of paint was strong as workers continue putting the finishing touches on improvements at The Stable: green and black paint everywhere, new video screens, large television screens hanging outside every suite, cameras on the ceiling pointing down at the goal-crease areas …
The place looks good.
Q: What have the first three months been like for the new ownership?
A: What we’re trying to accomplish in three months is usually done in a year. So it’s been fast and furious. A lot to get done in a short amount of time. But in the long run it’s going to be great. Because it’s like get it done right, get it done now and then get on to normal business operations and hockey operations. That’s the objective. Get it done now, and get it done right, and not wait for a year or two to fill these seats.
Q: What has been the reaction of the community to the new ownership?
A: The reaction I have gotten is positive. Everything has been positive. I haven’t heard anything negative. Obviously, there’s going to be something, you’re always going to have bumps in the road and that. I understand that. But you know what, the initial indication I have gotten is that everyone likes what we’re doing. With the product that has been on the ice, plus this, I think we’re going to have a great entertainment (opportunity) for people. We’re going to make it a lot of fun.
Q: Have you set any goals as an organization for this first season?
A: Yes, we do have some goals. Our main goal, really, is to sell out every game. That’s our goal, what we want to do. Whether that’s done with season tickets or group tickets or just individual tickets, we need to figure out what that combination is going to be. Obviously, with the economy, there are some real challenges. But you know what, this is a great town. If you compare it to other places in the country from an economic standpoint, actually this area is not doing so bad. So I think we’re in a great area, and I’m very confident that we can get close to our goal.
I think our real opportunities are with groups, group sales. That’s where we really feel our opportunities are going to be. And it’ll build on itself. When people come here and look at the environment and the fun, word of mouth, telling their friends, that’ll take care of itself.
Q: Could you tell me about everything you have going on with arena improvements?
A: The long and short of it is that we want to make this rink feel like the home of the RoughRiders. Hence, the painting … What we want to try and accomplish here is almost like a sports bar type of theme. We’ve got four video screens here, and they can all work independently of each other. So you can have replays on one, logos on the other, you can have another game on one. You can have all kinds of things going basically on four video screens. But you can also link them up so the same things are happening on all of them. You can have “Goal” reach across all the screens. There are a lot of things we are trying to do there.
We’ve also put in what they call Gobo lights, there are eight of them in here, and that’s what’s going to give a lighting effect during goals, pregame, all sorts of other stuff. We’ve got quite a pregame introduction show planned. Hopefully, it’ll get the crowd all riled up and excited about the game.
Q: So are you excited about everything?
A: Very much so. I think the easy part will be the season. We get all of the remodeling one and get the season going, get things all organized. Then it’s just a matter of execution.
It's really great to see that the new owners are putting in some effort to help make the RoughRiders a success instead of simply relying on arena staff and the marketing team to make things happen. With a sports organization (and really organization, really) I think communication is key, and for there to be a group of owners who are working alongside each other to make things happen is really great. This first season might not go completely smooth considering the new ownership is trying to change how the organization has been ruin in the past, but I believe it will definitely be worth the wait.
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