What do you guys think about this expansion possibly in a few years? Future ECHL Expansion? - Game Changer Sports Network
ECHL to 30 Teams?
- Thread starter Fnysnipe77
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Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
Trois-Rivieres, QC: all but confirmed to be joining the league. The ECHL hasn't officially announced, but everyone else has. They aren't much of an expansion target anymore. They are more or less guaranteed to join the league.
Manchester, NH: will likely be tried at some point. Too many reliable sources have hinted at interest in the past and it is too much of a hockey market to not get some ownership group able to get a team. They will likely join the league within the next 5 years.
Elmira, NY: likely are very content in the FPHL. The ECHL Jackals were bleeding money for the second half of their existence, and it wasn't the arena's fault. The arena was a key issue, but they weren't going to last much longer regardless. Elmira thinks a lot like Columbus & Winston-Salem: it is smarter to make money in a lower-level league than fight to break even in a higher league. The chances of them joining the ECHL is very low.
Savannah, GA: pretty much guaranteed a team with the new arena. For both the size of the market and arena, it is likely ECHL. They will likely join the league within the next 5 years.
Iowa City/Coralville, IA: built an arena with the announced intention of it hosting an ECHL or USHL team, but haven't had any sort of talks that we've seen with Trois-Rivières despite the arena opening in September. That is a worrying sign. I think might have gone a bridge too far and might be out of their element simply by the number of full-time tenants they already have. And if they didn't have their act together before, COVID certainly isn't going to help it.
Reno, NV: Hockey at the Reno-Sparks Convention center is a non-starter.
Pro hockey coming to Reno? Don't expect it anytime soon
Fact check: Is Reno the biggest U.S. city without professional hockey?
Professional Reno Hockey Team Looks Unlikely - Arena Digest
ECHL hockey is not going to Reno.
Fort Worth, TX: Hockey at Dickies Arena is a non-starter. The Fort Worth Rodeo takes up the entire month of January. That is enough to kill it off. Add in the market is saturated with hockey as it is with NHL Dallas, ECHL Allen, and NAHL Lone Star all well under an hour away. Dickies Arena is not very well setup for hockey. Just because they can put an ice plant down doesn't mean it's a hockey arena. There has also been no interested ownership group. They tried garnering interest last year but it fell flat on its face. ECHL hockey is not going to Fort Worth.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
This part of the 2019 interview with Commish Ryan Crelin (the premise of the blogger's post) now reads differently in retrospect ...
A model which now features zero minor league play. I'd say the ECHL has achieved that goal.
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Atlantian
Registered User
Glad to hear it. Not too long ago I was called crazy on the board for suggesting ECHL hockey in savannah. It would fit great in the footprint of the current SE division with Jax and Charleston. The arena is average size for ECHL hockey and the city has a decent metro area to pull fans from. Looking forward to see what happens.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
They would be right to call you crazy for suggesting ECHL hockey in Savannah without this arena. And it is still not a guarantee with the arena. They are still a long way away from a team. They still do not have an interested ownership group and market interest is doubtful at best. But they still have a good chance simply because of location, demographics, and the arena.
The arena looks like it is going to be a 9-10,000 seater, that might actually be too big for the team. It certainly isn't nice when certain teams need to curtain off huge sections of the arena like Jacksonville and Orlando.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Well, if it makes you feel better ... You're STILL crazy!
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
"nice" isn't a necessity. Long-time minor pro hockey fans are used to arenas with curtained seating sections. It's not like the NHL, where widespread TV coverage showing whole tiers or multiple sections of the arena bowl covered in cloth would be a potebtial turnoff to fans & sponsors. As long as the lighting is adjusted properly to make those sections darkened, I rarely notice them any more when I visit such arenas ... unless me 'n' Mrs. JMC end up with cheap tickets in one of those sections ...
210
Registered User
Curtaining sections off can also make the rent cheaper because the facility needs fewer security people with fewer/smaller sections being used. Obviously something like that would need to be built into a lease, but the WorSharks and Railers both had/have those stipulations in theirs so odds are it isn't that rare of an occurrence.
Atlantian
Registered User
Once the arena was announced I saw it fit the ECHL standard for arena size and quality and I figured it’d be a good fit. With teams like Norfolk and Brampton in trouble, a possible new team in the south with great travel partners is something the league should keep a close eye on. (I only bring up Brampton because Norfolk can move to the north if the beast fold).
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Atlantian
Registered User
Greenville does have some curtains and Atlanta has started tarping some seats as well
210
Registered User
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
210
Registered User
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
With a little more zooming & squinting, and checking the ticket sellers' seating charts, I think I can add Jacksonville to my list above.
210
Registered User
You don't have to do either, they absolutely use curtains at the now-named VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena...
hurricanesfan123
Registered User
Newfoundland Growlers’ owner in talks to purchase Mile One Centre
in the video dean macdonald plans on adding another franchise in the united states next month will this be another echl expansion??
in the video dean macdonald plans on adding another franchise in the united states next month will this be another echl expansion??
why would it be... all that is is Deacon buying out along with the Edge from SJSE, who's been the operator of Mile One since they left the Coliseum there in NFLD
hurricanesfan123
Registered User
in the United States..... this might be a echl expansion to manchester or perhaps savannah if he really wants to start from scratch
hurricanesfan123
Registered User
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
I'll say one thing for you, you ARE persistent in your fantasies.or maybe an echl expansion to san Antonio
hurricanesfan123
Registered User
realistically this could be a savannah or manchester expansion after all he is a hockey man with deep pockets
nope, then why would he expand to Trois Rivieres with Montrealwhen there's no guarantee the Leafs would've gone along with it
there is no expansion talk in a pandemic... Manchester or not.... the commonality is SJSE, the same way it has always been in the days of the AHL and even during Newfoundland's inaugural season when SJSE tried to pull the lease on them, remember that....
the Growlers are going nowhere unless MacDonald sells both franchises because how was T-R brought up originally
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Under that sole condition of "realistically" his expansion target could be in just about any state or province in North America.
