Serious Business

I have two semi-serious issues to write about today; the second one being of more importance than the first. So I'll start with the least important one:

First, I would like to apologize for not keeping my promise to update frequently this last week. There hasn't really been a lot of news regarding the ABL that I've found easy to write my take on, and finals week is really running me through the wringer. Therefore I haven't been able to break up the week with any research-project type off season reports. The good news is that today is the last day of final exams for me, so whatever happens I'll have plenty of time over break (although, with holidays and all, you know how that goes) to write. And if I get enough F's this semester I might have a LOT of time to write, so you win either way.

Now, on to something more serious. The Mat-Su Miners might be in a little bit of financial trouble. If you go to their website, you can read on the GM's Mid-Month Report the following passage:

Looks like we will wind up with $43,000 less in gaming by the end of the year as compared to 2008. That's a huge amount to lose and how it will affect our operation in 2010
and 2011 remains to be seen. The Board of Directors and I have met and will try to come up with alternative ways to generate revenue to lessen the impact of the loss.

I got to thinking about it, and I thought that maybe this blog could be used for some good rather than just wasting time on the internet and avoiding work/school. If there was some way that I could get myself and my few loyal readers motivated to contribute to the team either financially, or by doing volunteer work to help offset other costs, we could help bridge the gap. So I fired off an e-mail to General Manager Pete Christopher asking if I/we could help.

His response was not overly optimistic, to say the least. He said that anything we did would help "I guess", and that this was the most serious problem to face the team since he took over as GM. I definitely don't want to start any rumors that the Miners are on the verge of folding, because I've received absolutely no indication that it has gotten to that point, but whatever happens this is definitely not a good thing, and his lack of any real suggestions on how to help makes me wonder if they've really got a plan to get out of this mess.

So, my dear readers, do you suppose that we -- the fans -- could do anything to help keep this team going in their time of need? I obviously don't have $43,000 hanging around to donate, and I doubt any effort we undertook would raise that amount of cash...but maybe if we pull together we can do enough to make some sort of tangible difference. What do you say?

This also raises one other question. How are the other teams doing? I'm guessing the Miners have taken this hit as a result of recent economic downturn, and people aren't out buying pulltabs or whatever as much these days. Considering other teams raise funds this way, I wonder if they've taken a hit also. In any event, Mat-Su is the only team I've notice who has publicly stated their problems, so who knows.

But, I think this is a golden opportunity for the communities to rally around the teams and the league and really show them more than the passive support that we've offered in the past. With that in mind, I would like to open up the comments section of this post to any ideas on how we can do this.