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Date: 10/17/2023
SPRINGFIELD — Both the Big E and Westover Air Reserve Base have regularly released economic impact studies that show they are among the region’s economic engines, but another engine has emerged: the Springfield Thunderbirds.
A report compiled by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was released on Oct. 11 at a press event at the MassMutual Center that showed over the seven years of the hockey team’s history the overall economic impact has been $126 million, with $76 million making up cumulative personal income created and $10 million paid to state and local taxes.
An analysis of game night spending showed that 78% of fans spend money on something other than hockey when they go to a game. Sixty-eight percent of the fans spend money at a bar, restaurant or at MGM Springfield. The median amount spent is $40 per person, according to the report.
The report also noted that “every dollar of T-Birds revenues is estimated to yield $4.09 of additional economic activity in the Pioneer Valley.”
The team started with 112 jobs created and this year that number has grown to 236 jobs.
There are five reasons fans cited — more than half of which report attending at least six games a year — for attending games: the hockey itself; affordable entertainment; family-friendly activity; theme nights; and celebrity appearances.
The Thunderbirds replaced the Falcons, one of the worst attended franchises in the American Hockey League, to become one of the best attended with an average attendance that started in 2016 at 4,664 people to now 6,162 fans per game.
Citing its community engagement, the report said the Thunderbirds have raised $300,000 for its charitable T-Birds Foundation and its mascot, Boomer, as well as team members, have made 1,500 appearances in the region.
One of the members of the owners group, Dennis Murphy, acted as emcee of the presentation and recalled the team was created in a six-week period in April 2016 when the Springfield Falcons announced the franchise was moving to Arizona. Businessman Paul Picknelly gathered together a group of investors who backed a new American Hockey League franchise for the city and region.
The managing partner of the group, Picknelly, recalled, “They were not necessarily hockey fans but fans of Springfield.”
“It [the departure of professional hockey] was another negative that could not happen,” Picknelly added.
“We know we’re making a difference in our community one game at a time,” Picknelly said.
Nate Costa, the president of the Thunderbirds, said of the report that “thousands participated” in the survey resulting in the report.
He added, “It was a long process. We wanted to do everything right.”
Remembering the first season, Costas said, “We wanted to create an urgency … we had to fill the building and create some demand.”
The owners wanted to show what happens when the community is engaged, he added. “The idea was to be a true part of the fabric of the community,” he said.
Mayor Domenic Sarno has been a fixture at home games and a season ticket holder. “To say this was a miracle is underselling it,” he said.
MGM Springfield is a presenting sponsor of the team, and the gaming company also manages the MassMutual Center. Chris Kelley, president of MGM Springfield, said he and the company are “extremely proud” of the team, which he described as a “strong anchor tenant” for the building. In a written statement he said, “The success of the Thunderbirds both on and off the ice is a story that should be celebrated. In just seven years we have gone from nearly losing professional hockey to having one of the AHL’s most admired franchises.”
Speaking of the report, Kelly said, “We have proof of what we already knew.”
The new executive direction of the Springfield Business Improvement District, Michelle Grout, said downtown restaurants and bars see a 45% increase in business during Thunderbirds home games. The Thunderbirds, she said, “really feed the local economy one meal at a time.”
The complete report is at the team’s website, springfieldthunderbirds.com.