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Post by lightningjeff on Feb 15, 2008 14:00:45 GMT -5
Weaver's Potato Chips here in Lincoln closed their doors this week, leaving approximately 80 people out of work. For those who don't know the entire story, Weavers and the Lincoln Lightning were entwined. The Lightning were originally formed by the Indoor Football League in 1999 (Kerry Ecklund owned the entire league). Ecklund later offered up the franchises to individual ownership, and a man named Andrew Cheesman stepped up and bought the Lincoln franchise for $1 million. At the time, Lincoln, along with Peoria, were considered the jewels of the league. Cheesman had come to Lincoln to turn around the failing fortunes of Weaver's Potato Chip Company. Cheesman likely overpaid for the franchise (Duluth could be had for under $100K) and his first course of action was to double ticket prices for 75% of the arena. This alienated the Lincoln fanbase. The league was evenutally sold to AF2 and Lincoln entered play there in 2001. Attendance had went from sold out (5,000 per game) to under 2,500 by the end of the 2001 campaign. The whole thing collapsed early in 2002, and few details were given as to why. Cheesman had a reputation for turning failing businesses around, which is why he had been brought in at Weavers. From all reports, he had done just that, turned them around financially. However, there were many rumors that he was using Weavers money to fund his purchase of the Lightning. Weavers went unsolvent again about the same time as the Lightning collapsed, so draw your own conclusions there. Cheesman was gone shortly thereafter, both from Weavers and the Lightning. Sad to see both gone.
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