wildcat48
Registered User
Darryl Wolski
@darrylwolski Hearing the ECHL and CHL are in talks to merge both leagues
https://twitter.com/darrylwolski/status/496830689741139970
Darryl Wolski
@darrylwolski Hearing the ECHL and CHL are in talks to merge both leagues
I'm guessing four, five or six of the CHL teams (Wichita,Missouri, Rapid, Allen, and possibly Tulsa and / or Quad City) join and a few of the ECHL teams get shoved out (Alaska plus a few other west coast teams). Alaska joins the NAHL, and the Cali ECHL teams join the AHL. At the end, the "Slow spin down the bowl continues" thread enjoys a slow spin down the bowl along with a few other ECHL teams.Yay this league isn't big enough...which hanging by a thread franchises are gunna survive.
I'll believe it when I see it. Not saying I'd be shocked, as it seemed obvious for a while that the ECzhL would eventually gobble up a few of their remaining choice teams, but just always believed that the CHL would keep hobbling along no matter what until proven otherwise.
It does seem interesting, Brampton has huge travel costs, and as the league shrinks why put up the money associated with the travel, plus all the hassel of getting the team across the boarder for every game, combined with at best mediocre attendance.
For now the CHL better hope that Arizona and Brampton remain in tact rather than drop to 6 or worse 7 teams.
I'm also curious does anyone have any information regarding the CHL's lawsuit against the ECHL?
No. One boarder on another site has claimed to have seen the court documents but hasn't given any proof or actual information from the documents. Funny since court documents are a public record and anyone can view a copy of them. A search of AZ's courts reveals no lawsuit against the ECHL.
As you probably know by now, Arizona is gone for this season. Seven teams. Repeat of the old UHL imploding.
Here is the court case. A lot of the documents are only the screenshot of the first page.
http://courts.dallascounty.org/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=4810277
But I did read the lawsuit on the blog, which refers to the Western Professional Hockey League, a Texas-based league (with Louisiana and New Mexico teams) that lasted for three years and was absorbed by the CHL itself, resulting in the most amount of teams it ever had.
I didn't know that they don't want to discuss "merger" talks because I feel the ECHL would rather let the CHL die and then offer franchise expansion to the remaining CHL markets. I'd prefer it if they gave a discounted amount for some of the teams, because at least five (Wichita, Tulsa, Allen, Missouri, and Rapid City) would be good markets as the ECHL might have to settle for the mountain states as their boundry if they wind up losing California from this whole "AHL Pacific Division" nonsense. Coupled with a return of Peoria and a possible return of Oklahoma City if the AHL fails there, the ECHL might wind up becoming a more dominant league if they do things right.
Based on the article I linked earlier it definitely sounds like the ECHL/CHL "merger" is going to be a lot like the ECHL/WCHL "merger". Which is to say...not a merger at all. Most likely the ECHL will simply offer expansion franchises to the remaining CHL teams (of their choice), and those that are willing to pay will make the jump.