Blues Chair Jerry Ritter fired team President Jack
Quinn and GM/Coach Mike Keenan, citing "budgetary and
strategic factors, our team's indifferent performance on the
ice" and "a dramatic drop in home attendance," according to
Bill Coats of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. Quinn had been
with the team's front office since '83, and has been offered
a job as a consultant. Mark Sauer, former Exec VP and CEO
of the MLB Cardinals and most recently President of the
Pirates, was named as the Blues' new President & CEO. Coats
reports that fans were staying away from the Kiel Center "in
alarming numbers" and "voicing growing discontent" on the
team's performance. The team's attendance was 19,489 in
'94-95 but was down to 15,991 so far in '96. Only two of
the team's 16 games so far this year at Kiel Center sold out
(ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20). Ritter: "We were having a
dramatic change in the attitude of the loyal fans that we've
developed over 30 years. They were slipping away. That was
just not acceptable. It's intolerable for us to lose this
fan base." Ritter, a former Anheuser-Busch Exec, and Blues'
Chair for five months "decided last Friday that a change had
to be made," despite the fact that Keenan has four years
left on his contract with the team for around $7M. Quinn has
three years left on a contract that pays him an estimated
$300,000 per year (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20). Sauer:
"This is a franchise that has had a rich track record of fan
support. There's no reason we can't resuscitate that very
quickly. ... I'm going to look at every aspect of the
organization ... It's not just what we do for the balance of
this year" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20).
MIGHTY QUINN: Quinn, on his dismissal: "There is
absolutely not an ounce of bitterness." But Quinn added he
"was surprised." The POST-DISPATCH's Tom Wheatley writes
Quinn "was a controversial and often confrontational force
... [but] he took the high road out of office Thursday" (ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20). Columnist Bernie Miklasz, on
the Blues' "fiasco," writes Quinn, "who did so many worthy
things to grow hockey's popularity and status in St. Louis,
pushed too hard and too far. The constant increase in
ticket prices, the move to pay television ... Quinn is a
superb sports executive, but, like many of us, he needed
someone to whisper in his ear: 'Jack, back off. Don't do
it. Bad move'" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/20).
