A Message For Fans From River Dragons President/GM Scott Brand

River Dragons Family,

First of all, at some point we need to figure out what we are called as a group. Maybe a Tsunami, a Court, a Valor or a Thunder of Dragons - I have heard them all and maybe that is your (fans) summer project. Anyways...

As everyone knows this season ended like no other with the current health situation in the world. I know we are all used to running to cross the finish line and instead the finish line came to us this year. As many of you know I am not much on political correctness, so how the season ended just plain sucked. Was it the right thing to do to shut down? 100% yes. Does that make it suck any less? No. 

I know we were all looking forward to making a run to move up in the standings and especially the remaining games against our southern cousins, the Thunderbirds. Knowing that we would have gotten hot in the playoffs and faced Danbury in the Championship and winning in game 3 in the 4th overtime on a fluke goal, I ordered myself a championship ring and gave myself a bonus. (Hey, we can all dream)

All kidding aside, we appreciate everyone who has reached out to us and in particular asked about our players. Our top priority right now is getting our players home. We have accomplished that with the exception of our non-North Americans whose countries are currently under quarantine. We will take care of them until they can leave. 

Our non-hockey employees under the direction of ownership and the City are closing our office temporarily so that they can take care of their families. Our plan is to close the office this afternoon, March 20th, and take a week off and open (based on conditions) Tuesday March 31st at 10:00 AM. Please check back with us as this may change. Our emails, if you need us during that time, will be operational, with dragonsden@rdragons.com always available for general inquiries.

As for the business side, those who purchased tickets for single game tickets, Ticketmaster should have or will be returning your funds quickly, that includes any tickets purchased for the March 27th & 28th game at the Rink. Season ticket holders, you will have several options (once we return) to 1) Be issued a refund 2) Have your balance applied towards next season 3) Receive a credit towards souvenir/jersey purchases. 4) Donate the remaining number of tickets to a non-profit and we will match your donation in tickets for next season. 

Also, to the several of you that have donated their remaining balance to the players, they have received your generous gift and that will go a long way to getting last minute flights home and meals/transportation for those unable to go home. To our corporate partners, we will be reaching out to you all about credits and opportunities over the next several weeks. 

Looking back at last season, we are overwhelmed with the support of the community including the fans who attended our games and the businesses who partnered with us. Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley are a great sports town and an unbelievable community. We are so blessed how you all welcomed us to the family. Thank you so much. 

One of our goals was to average 2,500 fans and draw 75,000 people in our first season. We were averaging over 3,000 people and had drawn 76,000+ people when our season ended. We had six regular season games plus a playoff game left and two of those games already had projected crowds of over 4,000. I believe we would have hit 100,000 fans before the end of the season, that’s amazing. Our ownership has challenged us to be the Southern Hockey Capital by hitting 1,000 season tickets for next year. 

Moving forward, we will be making some changes in our office to streamline several processes, improve communication and become more efficient. Our ownership is going to make a major announcement regarding our relationship with the city, which is growing better and better each day. We will put our game and practice jerseys on sale online as well. 

Season ticket holders, we will be reaching out to you during the week of March 31st, your due date to renew season tickets has been extended so please do not worry about losing your seats. We will be announcing some significant broadcast communication news, some player news and new opportunities for fans.

Not sure what more I can add, except please take care of yourselves, support local businesses anytime you can (especially friends of the River Dragons!) and don’t get your health advice from the internet. Wash your face and don’t touch your hands, dang it I got it backwards again! 2020-21 is going to a HUGE season for the River Dragons, looking forward to seeing you all throughout the summer.

From our family to yours,

Scott Brand

President/GM