Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company based in Chicago, Illinois that started off as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer. The company then expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, hotels, and theme parks.
Bally was the parent company of Six Flags Corporation from 1982 to 1987, a period of just five years. This was the shortest-lasting ownership period of Six Flags, just behind Time Warner (1991-1998).
History[]
Purchase of Six Flags[]
In January 1982, Bally Manufacturing acquired Six Flags from Penn Central Corporation for $147.4 million, beating out Columbia Pictures Industries in a bid.
Opening of Six Flags Atlantis[]
In 1983, Bally Manufacturing acquired the unopened and incomplete Atlantis: The Water Kingdom water park in Hollywood, Florida, which had sat in a state of partial completion after a local developer ran out of funds. Bally put in the funds required to fully open the park, which opened in the summer of 1983 as Six Flags Atlantis.
Purchase of Marriott's Great America[]
In May 1984, Bally announced that they had acquired the Marriott's Great America theme park in Gurnee, Illinois from Marriott Corporation for $113.2 million. It was the second and final park acquisition made by Six Flags under Bally leadership.
Opening of Six Flags Power Plant[]
In July 1985, Six Flags Power Plant opened in Baltimore, Maryland. Specifically advertised as "not an amusement park", the Power Plant offered unusual and unique attractions that were much different than ones typically found in Six Flags theme parks at the time. Its opening however, was seen as a failure.
Sale of Six Flags to Wesray Capital[]
In March 1987, the Chicago Tribune reported that Bally was considering selling Six Flags, with sourced indicating that the company was hoping to sell for at least $300 million, net of any Six Flags debt. On April 22, 1987, Bally Manufacturing announced that it would sell the Six Flags theme park chain to Wesray Capital Corporation for $600 million. This sell-off was made to allow Bally to concentrate further into its main business which was casino gambling and other gaming businesses. In a statement to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, William Peltier, VP of communications at Bally, said "We've been moving that way for the past few years", noting the recent purchases of the MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas and the Nugget Hotel in Atlantic City. "The amusement parks have been profitable for us, but we just wanted to concentrate more on the hotel and gaming side." Some of the debt acquired from Bally's ownership of Six Flags was paid off using sale proceeds.[1]
Properties[]
During their just five years of owning Six Flags, Bally owned or managed the following properties:
Theme parks[]
- Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington, Texas)
- Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Georgia)
- Six Flags Over Mid-America (Eureka, Missouri)
- Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, New Jersey)
- Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia, California)
- AstroWorld (Houston, Texas)
Water parks[]
- Six Flags Atlantis (Hollywood, Florida)
- WaterWorld (Houston, Texas)
Entertainment centers[]
- Six Flags AutoWorld (Flint, Michigan)
- Six Flags Power Plant (Baltimore, Maryland)
References[]
- ↑ Storch, Charles (April 22, 1987). BALLY TO SELL SIX FLAGS UNIT FOR $600 MILLION. Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020.
