Recessionomics: Lightning lays off ThunderBug mascot
April 14, 2009 at 6:58 am by Wayne GarciaHow in the world do the Tampa Bay Lightning expect to compete for another Stanley Cup without the uber-annoying ThunderBug mascot tromping up and down the steps of the Times Forum? We’ll have to see as the restructuring team trimmed payroll yesterday and laid off the man who played the bug mascot, Matt Hitchcock. It says the mascot will remain even as Hitchcock hits the highway, as TBO.com reports:
Lightning team spokesman Bill Wickett said ThunderBug will not be going away and the team intends to have somebody else fill the role next season.
More layoffs are expected in the next week.
On Monday, the team issued this statement:
“The Tampa Bay Lightning today announced a restructuring aimed at creating more efficiencies and eliminating redundancies by reducing the size of its workforce. When the current ownership purchased the team, it elected to take a full hockey season to observe and analyze the business before making major decisions regarding its long-term direction.”
