In the meantime, we are still seeing occasional news items regarding the team. For example, there's this item from Oursportscentral.com:
Mike Thompson named VP of Business Operations for the Adirondack Phantoms
May 20, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL) Springfield Falcons
Springfield, MA - The Springfield Falcons, proud members of the American Hockey League, announced today that Mike Thompson has been named the new Vice President of Business Operations for the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms. Thompson served as the Falcons Vice President of Corporate Partnerships during the 2008-09 campaign.
"I am very happy for Mike and his family," said Falcons President and General Manager Bruce Landon. "This is a wonderful opportunity for him at this stage in his career. He has done a great job with the Falcons over the past 4 1/2 years and has helped us grow our sponsorship revenues."
Thompson joined the Falcons during the 2004-05 season with a strong background in ticket sales and servicing. Prior to arriving in Springfield, Thompson created Vertix Sports Marketing. Vertix Sports Marketing's notable clients included twenty hockey franchises in the ECHL, CHL and the OHL, Penn State University, Western Kentucky University, Texas Christian University, Bowling Green State University, and Cleveland State University. Thompson has also worked in baseball at both the major league and minor league levels.
"The Phantoms ownership group offered me an incredible opportunity and I am very excited to move on to the next stage in my career," said Thompson. "I cannot overstate how important and valuable it has been to have Bruce Landon as a mentor and friend, and I will miss the entire Falcons organization tremendously. Fortunately, I won't be too far away and I'll definitely be visiting the MassMutual Center to see the Falcons and Phantoms play next season."
The Phantoms will be based in Glens Falls, NY starting in 2009-10 and their National Hockey League affiliate will remain the Philadelphia Flyers. The Phantoms will play their home games at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
"We are excited to be adding Mike to our staff," said Adirondack Phantoms President Jim Brooks. "His excitement and passion are unmatched and his success and skills speak for themselves. Mike has a tremendous amount of experience in sports and specifically hockey to draw from, including working with us several years ago, and we look forward to working with Mike again for a long time to come."
There's coverage at poststar.com, also.
Phantoms choose front-office leader
By MAURY THOMPSON
thompson@poststar.com
Updated: Thursday, May 21, 2009 1:20 AM EDT
GLENS FALLS - The Adirondack Phantoms are beginning to assemble their front-office staff as they gear up for the American Hockey League team's inaugural season at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
The team, on Wednesday, announced the hiring of Mike Thompson as vice president of operations.
Thompson, who most recently worked in the front office of the Springfield Falcons, will start full time on June 1, heading the team's local front office staff.
Team co-owners and co-presidents Rob and Jim Brooks will be splitting their time between Glens Falls and other cities where they operate sports franchises.
Thompson said in a telephone interview he has already visited Glens Falls a few times and is excited about being part of returning professional hockey to Glens Falls, which has been without a permanent hockey team for three seasons.
"It's a great hockey barn, and I cannot wait," he said.
The Phantoms, the top farm club of the Philadelphia Flyers, is relocating to Glens Falls and will begin playing at the Civic Center in October.
Thompson, a native of Oakville, Ontario, has worked in a variety of sports management and consulting roles in hockey and baseball, including a stint with the Florida Marlins.
"Last count, I've been in about 40 states," he said.
He previously operated Vertix Sports Marketing, a ticket sales consulting firm whose clients included hockey teams and college sports programs.
His clients included the Wheeling Nailers, an ECHL team that the Brooks Group also owns.
"He has great enthusiasm, and he really knows how to sell tickets," said Rob Brooks, the team's co-owner.
The owners have set a goal of selling 2,500 season tickets.
As of Wednesday, the team had commitments for the equivalent of 1,772 full-season tickets.
The number is prorated to include the equivalent commitments for 20-game and 10-game partial season ticket packages.
Thompson said the team will be hiring six to eight people, in addition to himself, to run the front office.
"We'll have the core staff, I would say, ready to go within the next three to four weeks," he said.
Brooks said the team will be announcing the hiring of a ticket sales director later this week.
. If anyone connected with the Philly incarnation of the team had had a lick of sense, they would have used last season's Phantoms third jersey, which has a FLYERS LOGO for the shoulder patch. Then again, IMO if the Comcast-side people connected with the Philly incarnation of the team had a lick of sense, or gave a hoot about anything besides the bottom line, the team would still BE in the Philadelphia area.
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