Black Bear Strikes Again!

[Guest]

BB is not renewing their contract with LiveBarn when it expires in September. BB will have their own game streaming product. This streaming will be for AHF games only (not sure about THF) and will not include practices or recording/playback.  All BB owned rinks will no longer have LB. So if you play at a BB rink, every member of your team will have to pay $50 registration fee if you want access to games or not to cover the cost of this redundant product. This fee does not include the monthly fees for BB steaming product. But when your kid plays at a non-BB you will have to pay for LB too. BB stands to make millions off this inferior product by forcing everyone to pay by calling it an AHF registration fee.

So let me sum things up for families that play at BB rinks: We have to buy crappy uniforms from Breakaway. Bond Sports is the worst registration site I have ever been on. Most if not all BB rink are dumps and need rehabbing. The snack bars at 90% of BB suck because they charge way too much in rent to the operators and don't have enough traffic to support them. The leagues they have, AHF & THF, have stupid parity events that do nothing to make the schedule balanced and only serves for BB to get people in their rinks. These leagues play way too many games against the same teams. We travel 3.5 hrs to CT for a showcase only to play 3 teams that are 40 minutes from your home rink and that we already played 4 times. Photos at the showcases are incredibly overpriced and not even good. We travel to NY (upstate & LI), CT, MD, Western PA, Harrisburg and VA for league games where we used to just stay in NJ, PA & DE. No more rankings by MHR because BB had to have their own ranking system, which sucks worse than KRATCH! BB is at war with AAHA and the AAHA basically blackballs BB kids from their development camps or Quebec teams. Oh, I almost forgot- BB tuition is outrageous compared to other rinks. BB ruined youth ice hockey and it will be a miracle if it survives.

Private Equity model is bleed as much money out of their companies as possible until there is nothing left but a bankrupt shell of what was and then walk away while blaming everyone but themselves. This will happen to BB owned rinks, but they will take down all of youth hockey with them!

[Guest]

This seems like a bridge too far.....screw them, I'm not paying for the streaming service. 

Live Barn was not great, but it worked. And you had access to just about every rink.

[Guest]

Black Bear owns the rinks, owns the teams, owns the kids. They care about $$$$$. Not about the kids or the sport. Youth sports should not be a monopoly. The schedules are a joke. The parity event is moronic. The teams that they don't own are given crappy venues and crappier times. It is a disgrace what they are doing.

[Guest]

I love all the hate BB gets for their fees. My kid plays for the LVPY, a non-profit🤣 club, were our fees are right up there with BB rinks. BB includes 2 tournaments, we don't even get 1 tournament paid for, we used to but they stopped that years ago. BB owned Palmyra from 10U-18U ranges $2395-$3345,  LVPY 10-18U $2850-$3050. Mites BB owned Palmyra $995 LVPY $1950. I'm thinking if we continue to get nothing for our money moving to a BB rink maybe worth it.

[Guest]

I love all the hate BB gets for their fees. My kid plays for the LVPY, a non-profit🤣 club, were our fees are right up there with BB rinks. BB includes 2 tournaments, we don't even get 1 tournament paid for, we used to but they stopped that years ago. BB owned Palmyra from 10U-18U ranges $2395-$3345,  LVPY 10-18U $2850-$3050. Mites BB owned Palmyra $995 LVPY $1950. I'm thinking if we continue to get nothing for our money moving to a BB rink maybe worth it.

Didn't believe it so I checked it out. My 18A player for Palmyra is $2995 his LVPY opponent cost $3050. We get 2 tournaments, they have no tournaments listed in what they get. Palmyra 18AA is $3345 with 2 tournaments were LVPY 18AA is still $3050 and no tournaments so it will cost them about the same with 2 tournaments out of pocket. I Guess LVPY have a monopoly since the rink closed in Lehigh, next closest rink is what 45min or so away?

[Guest]

I agree with all this, but will add that the livebarn replacement I bet is Spiideo given that this was on gunty's twitter feed:

Congrats to my good friend Scott Bushman and our partner @spiideo on this amazing announcement.

Seems they got 20m capital from someone

[Guest]

So my understanding that the evil empire $50 league registration fee has nothing to do with the live barn replacement. Pretty sure it’s just a fee that they claim all of a sudden. M C-unty tries to tell you it’s in the contract.  The contract is vague and had no specifics saying only league fee. This leader amongst scammers could say it’s a $500 fee and try to justify it with his shady language.

Also Evil Empire has some line in the AHF guidebook that you can’t record or stream AHF games. So they are going to profit on your kids.  Crap rinks, crap product. M C-unty probably on here with a burner account. And the way he responds to people who make up his program is sad. Horrible table manners, way to grow the program, weasel.

[Guest]

Rumor has  it that Grunt is allegedly charging his mother to use the internet at his house,

[Guest]

You know, if everyone stopped playing hockey for a year or two....

[Guest]

With this new video thing BB is doing, is what is on their site seriously the cost of it???  Spiideo - Black Bear Sports Group

If so, basically the only way people can watch games if not physically there is if their entire team pays towards this spiideo??