Travis Kelce partners with Jana Partners to influence Six Flags

Well, this is certainly an interesting development. I guess only time will tell if Travis is going to use this as a long-term investment to try and improve the company, or a short-term investment to try to make a quick buck. I certainly hope he is using this as a long-term investment.

Are the legacy SF parks in bad shape overall and the reason this merger is failing?

Having been to SFNE, GrAdv, Dorney, Knotts, and CP this season, I would say the CF parks took bigger hits under Zimmerman pre SF merger, ops speed and Iroc especially at CP where the best they have been in ages. And the incremental maintenance and food improvements are still happening. The pay lockers at Knotts are silly, but dispatches at HangTime def were rolling.

As far as the SF legacy parks, iroc, and maintenance money, and security where all vastly improved for there first season. The problem there is decades of terrible customer facing things. The speed they turned around the food situation was quite impressive and I expect next season with a full of season of CF rule and the integration of the food plans, and perks, and the people they did promote to have an even fuller effect.

I think the enthusiast doom and gloom is really overstated, and last quarter was just one quarter. With Bossul now on the way out, and all the turmoil, I just hope remaining board memes adjust their stances, and considering how much they survey guest, it should be really clear where the issues are.

Yeah, hope in one hand and...do something else in the other and see which one fills up first. The board is not playing the long game.

I'm hopefully Kelce is taking this investment on from the perspective of a fan more than a get rich quick scheme. My last two visits to Cedar Flags properties (CP and SFGAm) were lackluster in terms of operations. Maybe I'm naive but it seems like if you provide a quality experience and add-ons (food, souvenirs, etc.) are priced where it's hard for customers to say no, the profits will follow. Waiting thirty minutes for a bucket of overpriced popcorn doesn't really provide a great experience.

Part of me also thinks there are too many choices before you even get in the park. How will you get in the park? Membership (gold or prestige), season pass (same options), or daily pass? Would you like to buy one meal, a daily meal pass, a season meal pass? Oh season dining, one meal a day or two meals a day? Would you like to use that at other parks? And the story continues.

I know Disney is infinitely more complicated but they also have the magic that Cedar Flags doesn't.

Bigboy - Yes, I fully agree that the board is not trying to make the company a good long-term investment. However, I don't know what Travis is thinking. Maybe he is in it for the long run, and will try to turn the company around. Owning 9% of the company is certainly enough to get the attention of the board, and probably enough to exert some influence over it. What he does remains to be seen.

Jana holds the 9% stake. Kelce could just own a small part and he is being used for PR purposes. It could be, he was given the stock in return of using his name

If Travis really wanted to help the parks, he'd let SF film some ads of him and his girl enjoying time at some of the parks, riding coasters and enjoying some shows, games, etc. Make it look cool to go to a SF park again, not just Universal or Disney.