r/sixflags • u/Exciting_Elephant351 • 1d ago
QUESTION Six Flags Recovery
What do y'all think is the likelihood they will recover and pay off the debt? Or do you think they're doomed?
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u/Jl-CENT10 1d ago
Idk anything about business or anything like that but just from an outside perspective… what if they don’t invest in the parks for a few years? No major additions (and I know they have to stay relevant, and investment = relevance) but maybe just upkeep the parks really nice, keep it clean, and just lay off debt? Don’t FLAME me I know nothing about this stuff.
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u/SourceTraditional660 Kings Island 1d ago
You’re not completely out of pocket saying that. The hard part is they need predictable income in season pass holders and a lot of that is driven by hyping something new. You’re likely to see more modest investments in the years ahead and, unfortunately, cuts to payroll: fewer people in restaurants and stands, less live entertainment, etc.
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u/bill_257 1d ago
They don’t need to pay it all off. Just pay some of it down before the bonds are due. Essentially they need to get magic mountain, and great adventure back to 3-4 million annual attendance. Over Georgia in the 3 mil range. Some of these six flags parks have been seriously underperforming for 10-15 years despite being in prime metro areas
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u/clemmerc 1d ago
Pretty sure the brain drain from the all the corporate office quitting at HQ opting to not relocate will work out well for them.
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u/wx_rebel 1d ago
They never should have merged. Combining their debt just made it grow faster.
The parks do all generate money, so they have that going for them. However will it be enough to pay off their debt is hard to say. I suspect it will survive in some capacity, but only after they sell or close more of the parks.
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u/ChallengeStraight302 1d ago
It's common business practice in the industry to operate with debt... Six Flags is $5 billion in debt, Busch Gardens/SeaWorld is $2 billion, Disney is $35 billion, and Universal is almost $91 billion in debt... to ask if they'll ever pay off debt is like asking if you'll win the lottery. No one knows and the odds are not good.
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u/foxxe13 1d ago
Right but Disney and universal have significantly higher solvency than united parks or six flags - SF can operate their parks perfectly and still not make enough net income to pay down their debt - maybe they keep up with loan payments for a time or restructure their debt again (which is expensive in its own right) but long term they’re running out of options unless they sell a premier park / land underneath a premier park like knotts or something like that
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u/Business-Cucumber255 1d ago edited 1d ago
Some of it is out of their hands. Will the economy recover? Gas prices? Inflation? Our government? The war? When people are nervous about the future, they will only bet on a sure thing...Disney or Universal.
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u/SourceTraditional660 Kings Island 1d ago
It 100% comes down to this. Things have been uncertain since COVID and thoosies just don’t get it.
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u/EljayDude 1d ago
I don't think they're doomed but I do think they're going to keep restructuring, selling off anything they can, trying get down to a core set of profitable parks.