News: Cedar Fair holds conference; headquarters might leave Sandusky

http://www.pointbuzz.com/news.htm?id=916

While listening to the call, my take was that future of the Charlotte office was up in the air. I don't believe that Cedar Fair will leave Sandusky.

I agree Walt, they didn't sound like they want to go anywhere. They almost sounded like they were happy that the lease was almost up on the North Carolina offices.

yeah he was a little excited lol

I absolutely forbid them to move to North Carolina.

Hmmm...maybe that mid-rise office building I've been thinking about that should be built off point (as in not in the park) for a few years is finally closer to reality... *** Edited 5/22/2006 8:59:45 PM UTC by BlueStreak64***

I hope the headquarters doesn't leave Sandusky, but it's not like I can really see any reason that it would...

I'd hate to see the headquarters leave Sandusky.

Actually, I dream that they expand their headquarters in Sandusky. Like, in the city, not in the actual park.

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Quick Questions

1.) Who owned Kings Island before Paramount?

2.) Will they still have "Paramount" infront of the names?

2. I'm pretty sure that's a separate license that is still being worked out.

I'll bet they will remove the "Paramount" from the names, and return them to what they were before Paramount came along. I.E. "Kings Island" ect.

To answer your first question CP Obsessed, Kings Entertainment Company, more commonly known as KECO, owned the former Paramount parks prior to Paramount acquiring them.

to answer the second question CP OBsessed, in the conference call dick said that the parks will loss the paramount name and just go by what ever followes IE: Paramounts Kings Island will just go by Kings Island, same with the others.

I think the reporter was reading into things way too much. I doubt they'll leave because I can't see a good business case for doing so.

Come on, Jeff. The media never does that. ;)

MrScott

I doubt they'll leave because I can't see a good business case for doing so.

Jeff, I read it as leverage against the next round of proposed Sandusky parking tax increases.

While they may not actually plan to leave Sandusky, hinting at the possibility might get them a few "guarantees." And...if Sandusky is stupid enough to start screwing with them over more dumb taxes, I see no reason they wouldn't/couldn't...

Frankly I think the reporter was trying to stir the pot. Work everybody into a lather to create more "news".

Leaving or not leaving would have little effect on Sandusky city policies against the park. I don’t see why Sandusky would make such a big deal out of it anyway. Only a handful of P&D, Marketing and Finance people work at CF “HQ”. Those 20 or so jobs going won’t make a huge a dent in Sandusky’s economy, especially since 4,000+ work at the park itself.

One he other end, unless they really need bigger office space then there is probably no reason for CF to move. They are already at the flagship park and have offices set-up, it would just be a waste to time and money to move. It’s not like NC is a more central location and besides most of the work is probably done via network. Not to mention inconveniencing the families of those few who are full time CF’ers.

And I'm not sure it's even close to 20 at Cedar Fair, so I guess in a sense it's largely symbolic. It's interesting that the number of employees at Paramount's HQ is several times that number. It could just be the way they are structured (perhaps there are equivalent positions at Cedar Fair, only at individual parks). We'll just have to wait and see what they decide over the next few months.

I'm not saying it would never happened, but from what I've heard, I would be shocked if they moved.

Walt: That's a lot of it. Cedar Fair is a lot more decentralized than the KECO parks. Cedar Fair manages a lot of their operations, maintenance, planning, marketing, that kind of stuff at an individual park level, while Paramount takes care of all those things from Charlotte.

It's one of the reasons I suspect that initially, at least, Cedar Fair may handle the 'new' parks as a single entity, complete with their corporate back-end because some of the necessary talent is sitting in Charlotte instead of spread out among the parks.

But again, what do I know?

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Does Kinzel own his home, or is it owned by Cedar Point/Fair?