Failed/Rejected/Proposed ECHL franchise relocations and expansions

[PCSPounder]

I’m trying to remember if Leasure had any involvement in the Idaho Steelheads. By the time he focused on Reno, he wanted a project much like the one in Boise, where the arena was built as part of a (I’ll say “loosely termed”) hotel complex. Not sure if he wanted help from the city of Reno, who would certainly laugh such a proposal out of the office. Obviously, that never materialized.

Things have definitely changed in Reno from those days, and rather drastically at that. There are probably now some properties that were considered premium in the late 90s & early 2000s, but one of those has gone downhill, another may have been razed while condos have sprung up just to the west of the downtown gambling district, and the old Fitzgerald’s is now a non-casino hotel with an active outdoor climbing wall (the notion of anything around there dropping its casino still blows my mind). Leaves me to wonder if a new attempt would fare better than the last one. Or does Reno have a room glut? That might be the issue.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

I’m trying to remember if Leasure had any involvement in the Idaho Steelheads. By the time he focused on Reno, he wanted a project much like the one in Boise, where the arena was built as part of a (I’ll say “loosely termed”) hotel complex. Not sure if he wanted help from the city of Reno, who would certainly laugh such a proposal out of the office. Obviously, that never materialized.

Things have definitely changed in Reno from those days, and rather drastically at that. There are probably now some properties that were considered premium in the late 90s & early 2000s, but one of those has gone downhill, another may have been razed while condos have sprung up just to the west of the downtown gambling district, and the old Fitzgerald’s is now a non-casino hotel with an active outdoor climbing wall (the notion of anything around there dropping its casino still blows my mind). Leaves me to wonder if a new attempt would fare better than the last one. Or does Reno have a room glut? That might be the issue.

I think it's gone now with the popularity of the Golden Knights and to a lesser extent the Silver Knights arrivals, tbth... making Henderson the destination rather than Reno....

 

[PCSPounder]

I think it's gone now with the popularity of the Golden Knights and to a lesser extent the Silver Knights arrivals, tbth... making Henderson the destination rather than Reno....

Las Vegas is Los Angeles’ backyard.

Reno is the Bay Area’s backyard, except Tahoe more so.

Reno and Vegas have a feud, not a shared TV market.

I ought to be charging for these lessons. Doesn’t hurt that I have a travel habit.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Las Vegas is Los Angeles’ backyard.

Reno is the Bay Area’s backyard, except Tahoe more so.

Reno and Vegas have a feud, not a shared TV market.

I ought to be charging for these lessons. Doesn’t hurt that I have a travel habit.

disagree, otherwise where's the Reno franchise, then....

 

[CrazyEddie20]

Would it be fair to say it was like a minor league hockey version of when that FF movie that was never intended to be released was made just for the studio to keep the rights?

The rights to to operate an ECHL team in Reno? It's not like there was a functioning rink, so it's not like he probably had any competition to put a team in Reno. By the time the WCHL teams joined the ECHL, the Renegades/Rage had been gone for six years. With no movement on the arena for the better part of 18 years, slicing annual dues checks to the league was, as mentioned above, probably a personal income tax play on Larry Leasure's part, but that's still just speculation. Eventually, he gave it up. Eventually, the movie enters the public domain.

 

[mk80]

The Columbia Inferno also stayed on the old expansion team page of the website for awhile after taking their hiatus. Eventually they dropped off when Reno did

 

[210]

Las Vegas is Los Angeles’ backyard.

Reno is the Bay Area’s backyard, except Tahoe more so.

Reno and Vegas have a feud, not a shared TV market.

I ought to be charging for these lessons. Doesn’t hurt that I have a travel habit.

I know lots of people who have gone to Vegas on vacation, myself included. I know lots of people who have gone to Reno on vacation, again, myself included. I don't know a single person who went on vacation where Henderson was their ultimate destination.

 

[PCSPounder]

I know lots of people who have gone to Vegas on vacation, myself included. I know lots of people who have gone to Reno on vacation, again, myself included. I don't know a single person who went on vacation where Henderson was their ultimate destination.

There was that one night where my family preferred to stay way off the Strip, just decompressing after a fun week on the Strip and SoCal. So maybe not the ultimate destination. But there’s this one diner where it’s best to know that their normal omelets are 6-egg behemoths.

All those new and already half-vacant strip malls (the credit default swap crash whacked a lot of speculative developments for a period of time) were an interesting sight, I guess.

I should mention that, probably, the biggest problem with the WCHL Reno team was that they rented the convention center and did not get many choice weekend dates.

 

[210]

But there’s this one diner where it’s best to know that their normal omelets are 6-egg behemoths.

Perhaps I spoke too soon...

 

[JMCx4]

... I don't know a single person who went on vacation where Henderson was their ultimate destination.

Me 'n' Mrs. JMC once went on a vacation with our ultimate destination being Bakersfield, CA. So I could see us heading for Henderson.

 

[tarheelhockey]

What a great thread.

 

[royals119]

The Columbia Inferno also stayed on the old expansion team page of the website for awhile after taking their hiatus. Eventually they dropped off when Reno did

Columbia at least had some hope of building a rink for a while. Never came to fruition, but there were meetings and hearings, and newspaper articles about a private project - as well as a sliver of hope that the university would change their mind and give them a lease at the arena they were building to replace the old one. AFAIK Reno never had anything in the works.

 

[210]

Me 'n' Mrs. JMC once went on a vacation with our ultimate destination being Bakersfield, CA. So I could see us heading for Henderson.

Well, I hear they have a great diner...

 

[PCSPounder]

As the type of guy who has done a 3-for-3 hockey fest on consecutive nights in Vegas, Bakersfield, and Phoenix and considered it a mid-life crisis trip, don’t think I’m not feeling this thread.

Which probably isn’t as crazy as consecutive hockey days in Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, and Anaheim, but likely crazier than Calgary, Swift Current, and Moose Jaw... the latter trio by bus.

 

[210]

As the type of guy who has done a 3-for-3 hockey fest on consecutive nights in Vegas, Bakersfield, and Phoenix and considered it a mid-life crisis trip, don’t think I’m not feeling this thread.

Which probably isn’t as crazy as consecutive hockey days in Colorado Springs, Albuquerque, and Anaheim, but likely crazier than Calgary, Swift Current, and Moose Jaw... the latter trio by bus.

I never did a 3 in 3 like that, but I did do a road 4 in 5 with the IceCats at the beginning of the 96-97 season that was Fredricton, off day, Saint John, and 2x St John's.

 

[PCSPounder]

I never did a 3 in 3 like that, but I did do a road 4 in 5 with the IceCats at the beginning of the 96-97 season that was Fredricton, off day, Saint John, and 2x St John's.

I fear I’m going to turn this into a competition; I was just trying to emphasize consecutive days on trips where...

(1) I followed up with spring training baseball and National Lacrosse League the day after the Coyotes game, then was in Albuquerque for NCAA women’s tournament the next night.

(2) There was college football the afternoon before C-Springs, but at least I scheduled no games in Vegas the night after Anaheim. BTW, I still chuckle that Tingley is a “coliseum.” Though I enjoyed at least the feeling of being serenaded on the way out of Gallup by one of the Navajo radio stations.

(3) The 3-in-3 in the prairie was followed by a travel day to Winnipeg, as the fun was to see a Zamboni puttering across Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan near the Manitoba border (surely was maintenance time on a Monday), the Jets on Tuesday, and flying to Rapid City early Wednesday for a game that night. Having said all that, I’m amazed what kind of history lesson that trip became.

I’m irredeemable, probably.

 

[210]

I fear I’m going to turn this into a competition...

You shouldn't, because you've already won...

 

[JMCx4]

I fear I’m going to turn this into a competition; I was just trying to emphasize consecutive days on trips ...

Best I've got is consecutive nights in Ft. Wayne, Toledo (with a post-game skate), Kalamazoo & Rosemont. And Mrs. JMC deserves all the credit for not divorcing me after I dragged her on that mid-winter trip.

 

[PCSPounder]

Meanwhile, back to topic. I was reminded of perhaps a reason why Larry Leasure stuck it out for at least the first few years.

After the Salt Lake Olympics, Denver and Reno both came out and said they would aim for 2018 or 2022 or so. With all the slapfests between the IOC and USOC, those efforts eventually fizzled. But Leasure was probably part of the Reno effort for obvious reasons. Alas.

 

[royals119]

Best I've got is consecutive nights in Ft. Wayne, Toledo (with a post-game skate), Kalamazoo & Rosemont. And Mrs. JMC deserves all the credit for not divorcing me after I dragged her on that mid-winter trip.

Best I have for back to back's is leaving PA on Friday morning for my nephew's pee wee game in Albany NY Friday afternoon, LNAH games Friday and Saturday (Trois River IIRC), then a Monarch's game in Manchester on Sunday and drove back to PA post game so I could be at work Monday morning. So four games in three days.

We did some long trips back in the day like Vegas, Stockton, Long Beach, Vegas and Reading, Jackson, Beaumont, Biloxi, Pensacola, Augusta, Reading, but those were over ten or 14 days. We used to do a lot of Reading, Wheeling, Cincy, Dayton, Reading or Reading Toledo, K-zoo, Wheeling, Reading type weekend trips.

 

[AHLFAN]

The best that I can do is three games in one day. Naval Academy game in the morning, Capitals in the afternoon and the ACHL Skipacks in the evening. Long day.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

wait until you are a part of an All Star weekend, folks..... or even part of that crew that does BC Trips.......

 

[210]

I've done both. Neither compares to some of the trips posted here.

 

[JMCx4]

I've done both. Neither compares to some of the trips posted here.

But how can you come to that conclusion, when this thread is not about road trips?

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

But how can you come to that conclusion, when this thread is not about road trips?

how many failed franchises have there truly been between the two leagues, though, Realistically speaking, the AHL is a lot different than the ECHL, EVEN NOW, as compared to years ago.

rarely, outside of Iowa.... has the AHL been forced to terminate a franchise..... whereas that's been commonplace between Manchester and Brampton the last half a dozen years.