Pro Teams and Factory Teams.........

[Rick 0]

These questions may seem silly but I was checking out some of the roller hockey tournement pics from one of the links in the Sprung chassis thread and I was wondering.

Are Pro RH teams made up of paid players? I remember when RHI was big a lot of the players were ex-NHL guys and minor league guys and they got paid something to play.

Do factory team players get all the gear free? Like do Team Mission or Team Tour guys get free top of the line skates, ect?

If you play for a factory team are you required to wear their gear?

Just wondering

Rick Henry

[team USA 22 0]

Factory teams probably get free gear. THey win money for winning tournaments, i know that.

[Hoffer 0]

Usually factory team players get there equipment for free and are required to wear there sponsors equipment. They don’t get paid unless they win though.

[OhMyGodImOnFire 0]

yeah, cuz roller hockey isn't that big. I know my local pro RH team charges to go in, but it's like $5 which covers the rink time probably.

[wk_style 0]

Just because a team is sponsored by say Mission doesnt mean they get stuff for free. Sometimes they offer these teams nothing more then discounted gear, which is better then nothing I suppose. But I guess it depends on your level of play, how many tournies that team plays, or win percentage or whatever.

[CSW1618 5]

correct.. pretty much all the pro teams out there get some sort of free gear. The Tour Mudcats get head to toe in tour. Why? They are a solid team and they win big tournaments. The Mission Guys have been winning D1 championships for the Mission Habs for a while and most of them are R&D guys and also get free stuff. There are teams out there who are sponsored but have to pay for discounted equipment

[Justin 1933 134]

Pretty much all sponsored teams pay for gear...The may get discounts or free this or that, but very few get free head to toe....Only the Pro Team is head to toe...Many guys on the Habs are product testers, since our head of Roller marketing is their coach..

I will say this...I get a huge salary for playing on the pro team... ;)

[Roach 0]

I will say this...I get a huge salary for playing on the pro team... ;)

LOL! Good one, Justin!

[All Torhs Team 0]

correct.. pretty much all the pro teams out there get some sort of free gear. The Tour Mudcats get head to toe in tour. Why? They are a solid team and they win big tournaments. The Mission Guys have been winning D1 championships for the Mission Habs for a while and most of them are R&D guys and also get free stuff. There are teams out there who are sponsored but have to pay for discounted equipment

When Dan Castanza coached me, he even wore Tour shirts, Sandals and Hats the entire time.

[Hoffer 0]

When Dan Castanza coached me, he even wore Tour shirts, Sandals and Hats the entire time.

That’s not that rare to see. My old and current coach always wears tour hats and shirts. My team has to wear a team shirt or tour shirt to tournaments.

[Rick 0]

Thanks for all of the replies to my questions. As I looked through more photos I noticed that you also see players playing for companies like Mission, CCM, Tour ect. that may be wearing a different brand of skates or gloves or what ever and some of the players on those teams were even wearing older skates with flat chassis. Some were wearing what appeared to be ice hockey skates converted to inline (like mine) but most seemed to wear skates most anyone could buy. Just kind of interesting.

Rick Henry

[sdcopp 1]

there are some pro level guys who do dual sponserships like Gerry St Cyr when the Elite League was still around using CCM and Mission. The other end is an organization with many teams across age levels getting bulk team discounts on item made in their colors, people seem to only pay attention to the older aged teams (Bantams, Juniors, etc.) and think it's a pure sponsership for the team.

[CSW1618 5]

someone like gerry does have a dual sponsorship. Why not have your top of the line pro players decked out in your company? So many people look up to them and see them. A companies like tour and mission who clearly try to expand the growth of roller hockey probably ask their players to wear clothing outside of the rink. There are few younger players who are fully sponsored.. as you move up to midgets you'll find a few.

[OhMyGodImOnFire 0]

FULLY sponsored? wow, I'd love to have all that junk.

[Jim A 4]

Most people who are "fully sponsored" are product testers...also they have generated goodwill over the years and don't go from company to company with their hand(s) out...its a long process...

[CSW1618 5]

veryyyyyyyyyyy long.. gotta be well known usually or know the right people

[Krog7d7 0]

veryyyyyyyyyyy long.. gotta be well known usually or know the right people

I'm fully sponsored....

From myself!!

I deck myself out in whatever equipment I like the best.

It's great!! :)

[cj190 0]

I used to play on a team that was fully sponsored. We got in some hot water because a big picturer came out in a magazine with one of our players wearing a pair of gloves with a rival companies logo very prominently displayed. I was annoyed at him because it is just common courtesy to not do that or at least black out the logo, which is what I did.

[MDE3 0]

Full sponsorship of youth and non pro teams is pretty rare..although for a few high end select teams it does happen. In most cases "sponsorship" simply means that a team buys their equipment at wholesale prices....something which invariably pisses off the local LHS which is often the recieving point for all this equipment, and for which they recieve nothing.

As has been stated...the equipment manufacturers pro teams usually get full gear for the Tohrs or Narch Pro series, some of the privately sponsored teams also get full gear depending on the depth of pockets and generosity of the team owners. Besides the issue of conflicting sponsorship, making players wear your brand of skates is a tough one because it can seriously impact a players performance, or at least they may think it does which amounts to the same thing...(rememeber V-Form in Pro beach where all the players had to wear the 16 degree V-Form skates...many were not too thrilled about that)

The Piha and MLRH teams usually have some discount arrangements for equipment. In a few cases the owners may pay for full uniforms..but that is pretty rare.

Some of these teams charge an annual player fee which goes towards uniforms, helmets and gloves but usually not skates, and then they can make this back by selling game tickets (a la the Lunatics of Piha in Harrisburg).

[Justin 1933 134]

In most cases "sponsorship" simply means that a team buys their equipment at wholesale prices....something which invariably pisses off the local LHS which is often the recieving point for all this equipment, and for which they recieve nothing.

Not sure who this applys to, but all of our team sponsorship programs run through a store. We give the dealer an percentage off wholesale, in which he in turn sells it to the team at a price. The dealer makes some money and the teams get a discount on the gear...A win win for the dealer and the team...

[kovalchuk71 212]

and a nice gesture by the company :)

[MDE3 0]

In most cases "sponsorship" simply means that a team buys their equipment at wholesale prices....something which invariably pisses off the local LHS which is often the recieving point for all this equipment, and for which they recieve nothing.

Not sure who this applys to, but all of our team sponsorship programs run through a store. We give the dealer an percentage off wholesale, in which he in turn sells it to the team at a price. The dealer makes some money and the teams get a discount on the gear...A win win for the dealer and the team...

Good job...I can assure you not all of the manufacturers were so generous....nor smart.

[opus22 0]

someone mentioned piha. as a player i get custom jerseys and pants, decent gloves, some guys got helmets if they wanted them. to justify this they have to either find some sponsorship for themselves or sell a handful of season tickets...or pay. for all the hockey and practice time i get its not a bad deal at all. the better you are, the more you get away with not paying. a couple of stars get free skates from yoder. very few players are flat out free. thats the colorado division anyway. there is a big cash award for whatever team wins it all, it is supposed to be split up amongst the team. i dont know if thats true though.