Page 5 - BusinessWest August 8, 2022

out a team, became “the talk of the town” during that playoff run. Elaborating, he told BusinessWest that the team took a huge leap forward in terms of visibility, prominence, and, yes, relevance. It always had a core of solid fans, but it hadn’t truly arrived. Until this spring.
“It all came to fruition when the playoff run happened,” he told BusinessWest. “All the stuff we thought could happen — that we would be the talk of the town, that we could be the focal point of downtown Springfield ... it all came together. And now, it’s about trying to capture some of that momentum and keep things moving.”
The extended playoff run gives the Thunderbirds a short offseason, but in the larger scheme of things, that’s a good problem to have.
The team took this huge step forward in large part because the team seized a huge opportunity during the playoffs to capi- talize on the 11 extra games and the excitement generated with each passing round by promoting the brand in every way imag- inable, from ceremonial posters and rally towels handed out at the home games to extensive social-media coverage of the team’s run to the Eastern Conference title and the brink of a Calder Cup.
The challenge — and huge opportunity — moving forward, as Costa said, is to build off this hard-earned momentum, and this is what management will be doing in this abbreviated offseason.
“It all came to fruition when the playoff run happened. All the stuff we thought could happen — that we would be the talk of the town, that we could be the focal point of downtown Springfield ... it all came together. And now, it’s about trying to capture some of that momentum and keep things moving.”
“All the positives around the business now, and all the stuff that comes from having a nice run like this is ... huge, and it’s something we’ve never had before — we’ve never even made the playoffs before in my time with the Thunderbirds,” he noted. “We’re in a good position to take advantage because we’ve laid a really solid foundation that we can build on.”
Looking back on a memorable season, one that earned the T-Birds Team of the Year honors (the President’s Award) from the
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BusinessWest FEATURE AUGUST 8, 2022 5