AHL team to be announced in Belleville

ZekeA

The Pride is Back...
Jan 13, 2009
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Where the Cup is
The franchise is owned by a local group in Binghamton.........

Belleville and or Ottawa has to have a franchise to play in the AHL....
 

TcNorth

Registered User
Jan 25, 2015
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So if I am understadnig this correctly, Yardmen Arena will close this fall for renovations and Binghamton will have a lame-duck team this fall?
 

Canucks21

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Feb 24, 2015
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Canada
The franchise is owned by a local group in Binghamton.........

Belleville and or Ottawa has to have a franchise to play in the AHL....

They could still just buy the team from the current owners like what Arizona did earlier this summer or they can do what Vancouver did a few years ago when they moved to Utica, just buy another team and swich affiliate with another NHL team
 

go comets

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Jul 10, 2013
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The rumor I have heard involves the devils leaving Albany for either Utica or Bingo depending on who is talking....
 

wildcat48

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Jul 16, 2005
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Portland, Maine
The way its understood is the Senators will purchase the AHL franchise from Tom Mitchell and relocate to Belleville for the 2017-'18 season. The Albany Devils will relocate to Binghamton with Mitchell acting as manager of the organization. The Canucks have plan in place to move its team west. I've heard Pacific Coliseum in the first choice, but they are looking at Abbotsford, Victoria and another un-named city in BC.... St. John's will relocate to Laval. Whether another team relocates to Albany or Utica remains to be seen. I've heard yes that's its a possibility and I've heard that the ECHL is likely option for both cities.
 

adsfan

#164303
May 31, 2008
12,621
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Why Binghamton or Utica over Albany?

Bingo seats about 4679 but fills it almost every game (3812). Albany seats 15K, but averaged 3366 last season. Utica averaged 3860 in a 3860 seat arena.

Which city of those three would you avoid?
 

paul-laus

Registered User
Jun 20, 2007
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The way its understood is the Senators will purchase the AHL franchise from Tom Mitchell and relocate to Belleville for the 2017-'18 season. The Albany Devils will relocate to Binghamton with Mitchell acting as manager of the organization. The Canucks have plan in place to move its team west. I've heard Pacific Coliseum in the first choice, but they are looking at Abbotsford, Victoria and another un-named city in BC.... St. John's will relocate to Laval. Whether another team relocates to Albany or Utica remains to be seen. I've heard yes that's its a possibility and I've heard that the ECHL is likely option for both cities.

Victoria isn't giving up on their WHL junior team Royals to bring in an AHL team. It just isn't happening....
 

go comets

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Jul 10, 2013
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Bingo seats about 4679 but fills it almost every game (3812). Albany seats 15K, but averaged 3366 last season. Utica averaged 3860 in a 3860 seat arena.

Which city of those three would you avoid?

playing a game in Albany is like playing in a morgue..... the devils simply can not draw fans there. ahl stats suggest and average around 3300 fans, but actual bodies in the seats is far less. i have heard of people saying some games are under 1,000 fans with no problem. either Bingo or Utica is a much better atmosphere and they would have media attention which they get little of in Albany.
 

zetajerk

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Jan 1, 2015
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playing a game in Albany is like playing in a morgue..... the devils simply can not draw fans there. ahl stats suggest and average around 3300 fans, but actual bodies in the seats is far less. i have heard of people saying some games are under 1,000 fans with no problem. either Bingo or Utica is a much better atmosphere and they would have media attention which they get little of in Albany.

What on earth does any of that have to do with development? Albany has much more to offer than Utica. Building is better, travel is easier. The damage done by Lou's mismanagement will take time to heal. Especially when there's DI hockey to watch. The hockey fans in Albany might just expect more for their time and money. But if you want to play in a tin can with falsely reported sellouts in an inconveniently located city, Utica is your place.
 

Blueshirts

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Dec 12, 2006
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What a stupid move. Binghamton sits right in the middle of the Eastern teams. Short trips to Rochester,Syracuse, Utica,Albany,Wilkes Barre,Hershey, Lehigh Valley and even not too far from the New England teams. Now Ottawa is adding thousands of miles of travel to their prospects.But wait, this is Ottawa, stupid moves are a way of life with this franchise.
 

go comets

Registered User
Jul 10, 2013
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What on earth does any of that have to do with development? Albany has much more to offer than Utica. Building is better, travel is easier. The damage done by Lou's mismanagement will take time to heal. Especially when there's DI hockey to watch. The hockey fans in Albany might just expect more for their time and money. But if you want to play in a tin can with falsely reported sellouts in an inconveniently located city, Utica is your place.

The games are sold out and have been for over fifty games. Players enjoy the attention they get from tv, radio, newspaper and a rowdy atmosphere at the auditorium makes for an excellent game atmosphere in which players enjoy performing. Utica is also in easy proximity to several ahl teams making travel easy for the team. We have D1hockey in Hamilton, but the Comets are the focus of this area.
 

jason2020

Registered User
Sep 24, 2014
5,596
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What a stupid move. Binghamton sits right in the middle of the Eastern teams. Short trips to Rochester,Syracuse, Utica,Albany,Wilkes Barre,Hershey, Lehigh Valley and even not too far from the New England teams. Now Ottawa is adding thousands of miles of travel to their prospects.But wait, this is Ottawa, stupid moves are a way of life with this franchise.

As of now your right there close to many but a few of those teams could be moving in the coming years take Syracuse I could see Tampa wanting them closer.
 

go comets

Registered User
Jul 10, 2013
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Wonder what both Tampa and Florida are thinking. But the division they play in keeps them in the north east a lot.......
 

Canadian Game

Registered User
Jul 18, 2005
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First off, I can empathize with Binghamton fans as we (were blind-sided at the last minute and) lost our team last season.

The article from today supports exactly what I've speculated the entire time, as it's like very much like what happened with the shuffle (and loss) of teams between Belleville, Hamilton, St John's, and Winnipeg last year.

Many people have been confident that the Sens couldn't leave Binghamton because of the remaining lease on the arena. However, Hamilton also had a least remaining on their arena last year when Montreal's AHL team was moved to St. John's. To fulfill their lease agreement, the owner in Hamilton bought the Belleville Bulls although the city went from having an AHL team to an OHL team. With Binghamton, it sounds much like what happened with Hamilton, although Binghamton will continue to have an AHL team.

With everything said though, nothing is set in stone until it is approved by the AHL Board of Governors and there is an official announcement. Basically for people on both ends have acknowledged that this is what's in the plans.
 

wildcat48

Registered User
Jul 16, 2005
4,273
300
Portland, Maine
What a stupid move. Binghamton sits right in the middle of the Eastern teams. Short trips to Rochester,Syracuse, Utica,Albany,Wilkes Barre,Hershey, Lehigh Valley and even not too far from the New England teams. Now Ottawa is adding thousands of miles of travel to their prospects.But wait, this is Ottawa, stupid moves are a way of life with this franchise.

Travel within the AHL is no longer a prime consideration for NHL clubs. That changed when the western NHL clubs moved their affiliation out west. Now, the primary concern for NHL clubs is having their affiliate as close as possible to home base so they can incorporate them into the daily life of the NHL operation whether its scouting, training, nutrition or medical etc.

It's the new AHL....
 

Canadian Game

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Jul 18, 2005
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What a stupid move. Binghamton sits right in the middle of the Eastern teams. Short trips to Rochester,Syracuse, Utica,Albany,Wilkes Barre,Hershey, Lehigh Valley and even not too far from the New England teams. Now Ottawa is adding thousands of miles of travel to their prospects.But wait, this is Ottawa, stupid moves are a way of life with this franchise.
Just a guess but I think the motivation behind the potential move is for a few reasons:
(A) The team would be closer to Ottawa for call-ups. This point has also been written about in articles
(B) Money. In terms of the Sens NHL rivals, Belleville is one of the most central locations for Sens, Leafs, and Canadiens fans to watch rival games. This region in general has a wide mix of fans from all 3 teams. If you go less an an hour east, Kingston the Habs fan base is more noticeable. If you go an hour west to Oshawa, they are mostly Leafs fans. and north east of here is Sens region. Even Belleville was in Sens region for hockey games up until 1 or 2 years ago. Leafs and Habs regional games were blocked out and we considered Sens territory for TV broadcast rights. As a Leafs fan I decided this would be a great year to check out the Marlies and made the 2 hour trip to downtown Toronto on 3 occasions. Now Sens fans can do the same thing without having to cross the border, and Toronto and Montreal fans can travel to Belleville to watch rival games.
(C) Build the Sens fan base. Like I said, Belleville used to be part of the Sens tv broadcast region. I know many Sens fans in Belleville. Leafs tickets are too difficult and expensive to get, so many people (myself included) go to Ottawa for NHL games instead. I'd imagine the Sens see a move to Belleville as an opportunity to try and increase their fan base and maybe some will travel to Ottawa to cheer for the Sens rather than the opposing teams. I don't know about other teams but I can picture the Sens eventually wanting to cross-sell the teams...organize trips or discounts for Sens fans in the Ottawa area to see the AHL Sens, and offer discounts and discounts for fans to travel from Belleville and see the NHL club.
 

go comets

Registered User
Jul 10, 2013
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Most of these moves are ultimately to expand the parent teams fan base. But with NHL tickets being so expensive, a lot of fans may opt for the more affordable AHL team and games.... this may ultimately backfire......
 

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