If a sale hasn't been signed, maybe not? But even if possible, it would realistically almost certainly never happen. Too much money has already been spent winding down the park and organizing the land sale. Plus, it was shuttered for a reason, unfortunately. The chain desperately needs the money and desperately needs to slim the portfolio.
News John Reilly Named New CEO
- Thread starter horsesboy
- Start date
I find it funny in a good way that the incoming SF CEO was a product of the direct competitor (BGW) to the outgoing CEO's starting park (KD).
Maybe that means KD will keep getting the love it deserves as he works his way around the company
Maybe that means KD will keep getting the love it deserves as he works his way around the company
Interesting, Glenn Murphy was the CEO and Chairman of Gap Inc. from 2007-2014 and is credited with turning the company around after faltering sales that were made worse by the economic downturn.
JANA PARTNERS APPLAUDS SIX FLAGS' CEO HIRE AND PROVIDES UPDATE ON INVESTOR GROUP
Any captain on the Titanic ends up with a sunken ship…..
Palace Parks were run worse than Six Flags. Kennywood really went downhill under them. So a great park manager running a bad company does not translate to turn around…..
Well...maybe, its better than a bad manager with a bad company. You've got to start somewhere
Reilly only boarded the Palace ship relatively recently and he had already begun to right that chain's course. Again, Kennywood this year was in GREAT shape.
I agree that no one can come into a company the size of Six Flags and bend it to their will instantly, but if anyone can start turning the ship around, it is probably someone with deep industry knowledge, copious amounts of experience, and someone who has seen and run successful parks from the inside like John Reilly.
No new CEO could be a silver bullet, but this is definitely one of the absolute best outcomes we could have hoped for and that's worthy of celebration.
Lastly, I'll say this too: I have no reason to believe Richard Zimmerman was a bad CEO. Obviously he made some decisions that I'd classify as really damn ill-advised (from where I'm sitting at least—we don't have the full picture) and his reputation has been irreversibly harmed as a result of what seems to look like a true failure of a merger. That said, Cedar Fair under his leadership was excellent—pushing many parks in the chain to highs they had never seen before. I think he's right to step down given the state of the company, but for the same reasons Reilly can't be expected to be a silver bullet, Zimmerman also shouldn't be universally panned.
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I'm just happy it's someone from the park's industry, and it's just a bonus that it's someone who's super experienced turning parks around.
There are three main causes for this situation.
1. Most if legacy Six Flags parks are pretty trashy. They need a lot of cleaning up.
2. The focus during the last 30 years on just adding roller coasters, thrill rides, and kitty rides while cutting live entertainment and removing true slow moving family rides. This leaves a majority of a population absolutely nothing to do at the parks for a full day.
3. The whole price structure of the supercheap season passes, meal plans, and super high prices on individual purchases. The meal plans are one of the stupidest business decisions ever.
To reverse all of this, it’s going to take money and enduring losses. Especially to get the season pass pricing where it should be and eliminate meal plans. This year has already proven that cheap season passes don’t produce more profit. And they make yhe oarks less pleasant with higher crowds.
I don’t know if anybody is capable of convincing the board and investors to endure losses long enough to turn the ship around
1. Most if legacy Six Flags parks are pretty trashy. They need a lot of cleaning up.
2. The focus during the last 30 years on just adding roller coasters, thrill rides, and kitty rides while cutting live entertainment and removing true slow moving family rides. This leaves a majority of a population absolutely nothing to do at the parks for a full day.
3. The whole price structure of the supercheap season passes, meal plans, and super high prices on individual purchases. The meal plans are one of the stupidest business decisions ever.
To reverse all of this, it’s going to take money and enduring losses. Especially to get the season pass pricing where it should be and eliminate meal plans. This year has already proven that cheap season passes don’t produce more profit. And they make yhe oarks less pleasant with higher crowds.
I don’t know if anybody is capable of convincing the board and investors to endure losses long enough to turn the ship around
I’m glad I’m not alone in this. Zimmerman has been the scapegoat for decisions that enthusiasts disagree with which almost certainly weren’t specifically his call (looking at those who blame him directly for Kingda Ka’s removal and call the 2024 removals “zimjobs”), but there’s a reason he was a part of the industry for nearly 30 years, and it’s not because he pissed people off. Of course he hasn’t made all of the right decisions, but who has?
He’s at an ideal age for retirement and to be frank, if I had the means to retire when a bunch of uninformed people spent their days blaming me for every single issue within the company, I probably would too.
I don't even think SFA's gonna be a theme park anymore