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ECHL Affiliations

bleedblue94

bleedblue94

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Jun 8, 2004
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So with a few teams not operating this year or other pauses, are there teams that are going to be for sale or potentially relocating coming out of covid?
 
Atlantian

Atlantian

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Dec 13, 2017
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A couple of interesting options for the Gladiators if Boston goes to Maine. First, we have the Rangers, who are currently Maine's affiliate. I had thought, correct me if I'm wrong, there was some sort of ownership link between the Rangers and Mariners. You also have Seattle coming in next season, Florida or Carolina depending on who becomes the permanent affiliate of Greenville, and possibly Ottawa because Brampton folded. The last bit is the Gladiators would be competing for an affiliate against either Allen or Iowa, depending on if the rumors are true regarding the Minnesota affiliation.
 
royals119

royals119

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Jun 12, 2006
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Atlantian said:
A couple of interesting options for the Gladiators if Boston goes to Maine. First, we have the Rangers, who are currently Maine's affiliate. I had thought, correct me if I'm wrong, there was some sort of ownership link between the Rangers and Mariners. You also have Seattle coming in next season, Florida or Carolina depending on who becomes the permanent affiliate of Greenville, and possibly Ottawa because Brampton folded. The last bit is the Gladiators would be competing for an affiliate against either Allen or Iowa, depending on if the rumors are true regarding the Minnesota affiliation.
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I'm surprised no one else clarified this yet, but the Mariners are owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns Spectra Experiences (the company that manages their arena), the Flyers, a few other sports teams, the cable/internet provider and hold a majority stake in a little company called NBC/Universal. So the Mariners and Flyers are owned by the same parent company.
 
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CHRDANHUTCH

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royals119 said:
I'm surprised no one else clarified this yet, but the Mariners are owned by Comcast Spectacor, which also owns Spectra Experiences (the company that manages their arena), the Flyers, a few other sports teams, the cable/internet provider and hold a majority stake in a little company called NBC/Universal. So the Mariners and Flyers are owned by the same parent company.
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Spectra also built Cross Arena among other things....as a replica of the Spectrum.... the tie in was Spectra also runs the off ice activities of Hartford.....
 
royals119

royals119

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CHRDANHUTCH said:
Spectra also built Cross Arena among other things....as a replica of the Spectrum.... the tie in was Spectra also runs the off ice activities of Hartford.....
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Spectra also manages the arenas in Abbotsford, Des Moines, Springfield, and Allentown, so they have a "tie in" with those AHL teams too.

They also manage what is now called Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton NJ, Ford Arena in Beaumont TX, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, James Brown Arena in Augusta GA, and NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. All of those buildings have hosted ECHL teams in the past, so Spectra could decide to put ECHL teams in any of them, and those teams could affiliate with the AHL team in one of their other buildings, or with an entirely different team. They could even choose to relocate the Mariners to one of those buildings if it was in their best interest.

They also manage sponsorship sales for the Tulsa Oilers, and ticketing for the Phantoms, so they are tied in there too.

My point being that Spectra is a big company that manages a lot of buildings and runs some or all of the team operations for a number of teams, and their parent company owns some teams outright. The affiliation agreement between two of those teams isn't written in stone, and they don't have to affiliate with another team that they have a business relationship with. Any of their teams could affiliate with a team they don't own. For example the Flyers are owned by Comcast and Spectra runs the Wells Fargo Arena, the Phantoms are not owned by Comcast, but they play in a Spectra managed building and Spectra runs their ticket department, and the Royals have no connection to Comcast other than the affiliation. (SMG runs the concessions at Santander Arena in Reading)

Just because Spectra manages both Portland and Hartford's buildings, and Comcast owns the Mariners, doesn't mean they have to be affiliated with the WolfPack.
 
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CHRDANHUTCH

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royals119 said:
Spectra also manages the arenas in Abbotsford, Des Moines, Springfield, and Allentown, so they have a "tie in" with those AHL teams too.

They also manage what is now called Cure Insurance Arena in Trenton NJ, Ford Arena in Beaumont TX, Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, James Brown Arena in Augusta GA, and NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. All of those buildings have hosted ECHL teams in the past, so Spectra could decide to put ECHL teams in any of them, and those teams could affiliate with the AHL team in one of their other buildings, or with an entirely different team. They could even choose to relocate the Mariners to one of those buildings if it was in their best interest.

They also manage sponsorship sales for the Tulsa Oilers, and ticketing for the Phantoms, so they are tied in there too.

My point being that Spectra is a big company that manages a lot of buildings and runs some or all of the team operations for a number of teams, and their parent company owns some teams outright. The affiliation agreement between two of those teams isn't written in stone, and they don't have to affiliate with another team that they have a business relationship with. Any of their teams could affiliate with a team they don't own. For example the Flyers are owned by Comcast and Spectra runs the Wells Fargo Arena, the Phantoms are not owned by Comcast, but they play in a Spectra managed building and Spectra runs their ticket department, and the Royals have no connection to Comcast other than the affiliation. (SMG runs the concessions at Santander Arena in Reading)

Just because Spectra manages both Portland and Hartford's buildings, and Comcast owns the Mariners, doesn't mean they have to be affiliated with the WolfPack.
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nobody was saying that, but the ill informed post about the Expo has nothing to do with that.... Spectra had been managing the Arena anyway, it didn't help matters when the trustee board kept blocking the ownership.
 
Growlers

Growlers

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Atlantian

Atlantian

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Maine is officially announcing their affiliation with the Bruins at 10am on 6/30. I am told that Atlanta already has a new affiliation. Theoretically I’d imagine they’d announce it fairly soon as well.
 
Tao Jersey Jones

Tao Jersey Jones

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Sep 28, 2003
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There are rumors that they may move a team to Binghamton now that the Binghamton Devils of the AHL are leaving for Utica. The Atlanta Gladiators franchise is now also without an affiliate so that could be a possibility. There is also a new Savannah Georgia team coming into the league in 2022 that is unaffiliated at the moment.

https://bellyupsports.com/2021/06/maine-mariners-changing-nhl-affiliate/
 
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Atlantian

Atlantian

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Dec 13, 2017
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Atlanta, GA
Tao Jones said:



There are rumors that they may move a team to Binghamton now that the Binghamton Devils of the AHL are leaving for Utica. The Atlanta Gladiators franchise is now also without an affiliate so that could be a possibility. There is also a new Savannah Georgia team coming into the league in 2022 that is unaffiliated at the moment.

https://bellyupsports.com/2021/06/maine-mariners-changing-nhl-affiliate/
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Atlanta is not moving. They already have an affiliation in place for next season. Allegedly, there is at least one group interested in putting an expansion team in Bingo for 22-23.
 

jabberoski

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Aug 1, 2011
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Tao Jones said:



There are rumors that they may move a team to Binghamton now that the Binghamton Devils of the AHL are leaving for Utica. The Atlanta Gladiators franchise is now also without an affiliate so that could be a possibility. There is also a new Savannah Georgia team coming into the league in 2022 that is unaffiliated at the moment.

https://bellyupsports.com/2021/06/maine-mariners-changing-nhl-affiliate/
Click to expand...

The Rangers do not own an ECHL team, so they cannot just move a team there.
 
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