(12/18/21) We hinted at this last week, but I’m hearing that big changes are starting to happen to the management structure at Six Flags, both in the corporate office as well as at the theme park level. All of this seems to be coming down from a restructuring plan from the new CEO who is of the belief that there are too many layers of management in the company, and has set forth a new plan to streamline everything. Unfortunately i’m not sure if this will involve some lay-offs at the management level, or if this is more of a restructure with positions being moved around, or perhaps a little bit of both.
One thing that was implied to Screamscape was that the new management structure may actually be more reminiscent of how Six Flags was run decades ago, long before the RedZone take-over and eras that followed. Back in the early days Six Flags Park Presidents were said to hold a lot more power and control over how their parks were run, and a significant amount of say in what kind of new attractions were needed. Under the management system the chain has used for the past couple decades, the power most Park Presidents said to be mostly limited to the point that all the big decisions were made at the corporate levels, leaving the Park President to mostly serve as a General Manager to ensure the corporate will was executed on the local level, but unable to make much in the way of decisions or policy on their own. Even under that system, select Park Presidents have made a name for themselves and were able to gain limited support from the corporate office, but this is the exception and not the rule. From the sound of things, the new CEO seems to be ready to give the power back to the Park Presidents and empower the parks once again, who best know their own demographics, to help guide and lead their own future development.
Again, this is a lot of speculation and rumor right now, but on the surface these changes may be leading Six Flags in a very positive new direction going forward. For the moment however, there is going to be a bit of chaos and change to deal with ahead of the 2022 season. Stay tuned!