Herschend Acquires the Harlem Globetrotters + FireChaser Teaser

Herschend Family Entertainment, a private company behind some of our favorite them parks such as Silver Dollar City and Dollywood, has announced the acquisition of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters.

The purchase will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Herschend, which is the "largest family-owned themed attractions company in the U.S., owning and operating 26 properties throughout the country, including theme parks, aquariums, hospitality businesses and tours."

Herschend President & CEO Joel Manby (left) and the Globetrotters CEO Kurt Schneider with the team.

The Harlem Globetrotters just wrapped up their best touring year ever, performing more than 400 live events annually - reaching more than 3 million fans in 30 countries.  Both parties are looking forward to "opportunities to cross-market between the Harlem Globetrotter's popular tour and players and HFE's family attractions," though I'm not sure that means we'll see a Globetrotters ride at any park too soon.

Still, the acquisition rounds out Herschend even more, and I'm sure in some regard we will see the brand utilized in the attraction side of things.

And while we're on the subject of Herschend properties, Dollywood just released a teaser of a full FireChaser Express animation they've created:

While it only shows a small bit of the ride, at least we're starting to get something!  The park, via Facebook, promises to release more bits of the animation until the full reveal on October 9th. You can be sure we'll be waiting for that!