News Six Flags Corporate Moves Back to Texas

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Zachary

Zachary

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Looks like Six Flags' corporate headquarters is, once again, on the move. This time, they're shifting everything back to Arlington, TX after just recently recentralizing the combined company to Charlotte, NC.


These constant corporate relocations have to be having a real effect on morale and are likely resulting in more and more brain drain each time they occur, no?
 
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Not really unexpected, considering the three new hires were located in Texas. But the Charlotte office goes back to being Paramount Parks HQ, then a satellite Cedar Fair office, and then moving more of CF to Charlotte and finally consolidating with SIX merger. At least they are keeping the finance and other positions at the CP Sports Center. It doesn't make sense to have co-headquarters. They aren't Starbucks or Amazon (not large enough). But I hoped they'd just go back to Sandusky.

The Texas parks are nearly year round. It may be more tax favorable, and perhaps more of a hub for air travel of course than Sandusky ever would be, so I guess it makes sense from that standpoint.

But it feels like another more move of former SIX and less of FUN.
 
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This is totally for a tax break. The UFL is based in the same offices, and all teams offices are located there (in the same building as Six Flags) to get a tax break. For those that don't know the way the do their league is all teams have offices there and they fly out to their assigned cities a day or so before the game starts.
 
Zachary said:
These constant corporate relocations have to be having a real effect on morale and are likely resulting in more and more brain drain each time they occur, no?
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Yes. I know someone still working there. He was with SF pre-merger at HQ, then they pushed him to park, pulled him back after a year, went through the merger to move to NC, and is heavily thinking to quit over this latest move. I feel like there’s going to be a fair number of “rank and file” employees that will leave because they don’t want to relocate.
 
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Does anyone think this will have an impact on Carowinds now that is will not have offices local anymore. This gets nerve wrecking seeing them floundering month after month. Also what are thoughts on east coast being cut off moving forward?
 
A few thoughts:

Seems like they're cutting the Charlotte office entirely. Six Flags is locked into a 15 year lease at what is likely a pricy corporate office embedded in an Arlington, TX stadium. Supposedly, Sandusky is locked in due to ownership of the office properties and deals with the local government for public improvements that would benefit Cedar Point. Relocating the corporate office to Texas will have the same effect as a layoff, while also cutting leasing expenses.

Carowinds saw no benefit from having Six Flags corporate up the street. The park's quality diminished rapidly following the merger, and the only noticeable change was more media being filmed at the park.
 
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It almost certainly will result in some loss of attention for Carowinds from corporate, but with the new structure of hopefully competent, empowered park level management, it shouldn't matter too much.

I do think this likely solidifies Six Flags Over Texas as the new chain's testing grounds though. We're already seeing that with Over Texas' Fright Fest this year debuting the chain's first "premium" scarezone, Doc Varnum's Hybrid Hell Pit. I expect we'll see more corporate concepts attempted at Over Texas first in the years ahead.
 
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Straight up my opinion, but they’d look like idiots too close to the park next to the corporate office! Maybe they took the chance to bail while they could! I mean, it’s not secret that we definitely do not do the best attendance numbers at Carowinds. I mean, it’s definitely improved this year but not to the level of KD, KI, CP, etc. If I were Enchantment Parks, I would snag Carowinds and make it the flagship park in seconds! That’s unrealistic though since they definitely don’t have the money to buy Carowinds.
 
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CarolinaCoasters said:
Straight up my opinion, but they’d look like idiots too close to the park next to the corporate office! Maybe they took the chance to bail while they could! I mean, it’s not secret that we definitely do not do the best attendance numbers at Carowinds. I mean, it’s definitely improved this year but not to the level of KD, KI, CP, etc. If I were Enchantment Parks, I would snag Carowinds and make it the flagship park in seconds! That’s unrealistic though since they definitely don’t have the money to buy Carowinds.
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The Charlotte office was made the HQ for cost savings, and is now being closed for cost savings. This has little to do with the park up the street.

Not to say it isn't the case, but where are you getting this idea that Carowinds is lagging behind attendance-wise? I could see it, especially considering my experience talking with locals about the park, but haven't seen any real numbers to prove a suspicion.

Zachary said:
It almost certainly will result in some loss of attention for Carowinds from corporate, but with the new structure of hopefully competent, empowered park level management, it shouldn't matter too much.

I do think this likely solidifies Six Flags Over Texas as the new chain's testing grounds though. We're already seeing that with Over Texas' Fright Fest this year debuting the chain's first "premium" scarezone, Doc Varnum's Hybrid Hell Pit. I expect we'll see more corporate concepts attempted at Over Texas first in the years ahead.
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It'll be interesting to see investment strategy at Carowinds over the coming years. Rip Roarin' Falls is a Cedar Fair project, so what awaits us in '28 / '29 will be mostly if not entirely born out of SFEC.
 
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CarolinaDog said:
The Charlotte office was made the HQ for cost savings, and is now being closed for cost savings. This has little to do with the park up the street.

Not to say it isn't the case, but where are you getting this idea that Carowinds is lagging behind attendance-wise? I could see it, especially considering my experience talking with locals about the park, but haven't seen any real numbers to prove a suspicion.



It'll be interesting to see investment strategy at Carowinds over the coming years. Rip Roarin' Falls is a Cedar Fair project, so what awaits us in '28 / '29 will be mostly if not entirely born out of SFEC.
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Not exactly showing attendance numbers but a few parks did post ridership number last off season and Carowinds with Multiple high capacity 3 train B&M's does not seem to pull the numbers it should from those rides. So from the outside i would assume it does not have the highest attendance
 

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I did locate this in a press release. Seems the owner of both the Charlotte building and the Arlington building are one and the same:

Arlington’s taxpayer-backed headquarters agreement is not new. The City Council voted (https://arlingtontx.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?clip_id=3280&view_id=9)9-0 on October 15, 2019, to approve a Chapter 380 agreement (https://legistarweb-production.s3.a...S-Six_Flags_Chapter_380_Program_Agr__002_.pdf) supporting Six Flags’ earlier headquarters move to 1000 Ballpark Way, Suite 400, at Choctaw Stadium.


The agreement authorized up to $9 million. That included as much as $6 million to reimburse eligible relocation and office costs, plus up to $3 million through annual $200,000 grants from 2021 through 2035, subject to appropriation in the city budget.


City registers (Check Registers) show a $6 million payment in 2020 and three $200,000 payments from 2021 through 2023. The documented total reached $6.6 million by August 31, 2023.


Those payments supported the earlier Arlington headquarters move. They predated Tuesday’s announcement and did not finance the later move to Charlotte.

In exchange, Six Flags agreed to maintain its headquarters at the Arlington offices through September 30, 2035, and keep at least 120 permanent full-time jobs there.
 
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Jazma said:
I did locate this in a press release. Seems the owner of both the Charlotte building and the Arlington building are one and the same:

Arlington’s taxpayer-backed headquarters agreement is not new. The City Council voted (https://arlingtontx.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?clip_id=3280&view_id=9)9-0 on October 15, 2019, to approve a Chapter 380 agreement (https://legistarweb-production.s3.a...S-Six_Flags_Chapter_380_Program_Agr__002_.pdf) supporting Six Flags’ earlier headquarters move to 1000 Ballpark Way, Suite 400, at Choctaw Stadium.


The agreement authorized up to $9 million. That included as much as $6 million to reimburse eligible relocation and office costs, plus up to $3 million through annual $200,000 grants from 2021 through 2035, subject to appropriation in the city budget.


City registers (Check Registers) show a $6 million payment in 2020 and three $200,000 payments from 2021 through 2023. The documented total reached $6.6 million by August 31, 2023.


Those payments supported the earlier Arlington headquarters move. They predated Tuesday’s announcement and did not finance the later move to Charlotte.

In exchange, Six Flags agreed to maintain its headquarters at the Arlington offices through September 30, 2035, and keep at least 120 permanent full-time jobs there.
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This is also the same tax breaks keeping all of the UFL at Choctaw Stadium, and why they exist with satellite teams rather than existence in the cities they represent
 
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The vague references to building a more collaborative team culture make me wonder if one of the reasons for moving to Texas is simply its more central location. Cedar Fair was pretty concentrated to the eastern US and Midwest, so having a lot of its corporate offices in Charlotte made sense geographically. Now the company has a big presence in Texas and California, which might make Charlotte too logistically difficult.

For example, if park presidents need to travel in for a meeting, the massive cross-country flight (and time difference) for the California and Texas leaders is extremely taxing. Likewise, it seems like John Reilly and Mark Pauls have a pretty boots-on-the-ground leadership style, so the central Texas location makes it a lot less draining to visit the Texas and California parks than coming all the way from Charlotte, while the eastern parks still remain reachable.

I don’t know if this was a factor. But if I was a CEO trying to strengthen my company’s culture and accountability, having my headquarters on the literal other side of the continent from some of my most valuable properties would strike me as a problem to solve.
 
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