New ECHL Franchise Coming in 2021-22 (Coralville, IA)
- Thread starter Adam Michaels
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Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
@JMCx4 I should have waited just a few more days before making the Iowa comment, eh?
I guess this is what Dean MacDonald was talking about when he said he was interested in adding an American ECHL team which fits the triple-tier model that Newfoundland works and Trois-Rivières will also.
Will the league let him have ownership in 3 different teams? Not that they would ever vote "No" on expansion. I know there have been owners having multiple teams in the E, but has there ever been somebody to own three at once?
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
The Steven Bros. brought Tulsa & Wichita & Allen over in the CHL absorption.
I could imagine the E' setting an expectation that DS&E divest either Coralville or Trois-Rivières (or maybe Newfoundland?) in the coming years, at Dean MacDonald's discretion. The League was fine with Jack Gulati owning Reading & Allen for a few years.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Quad City area fans are discussing the possibility that MacDonald bought the old Mallards ECHL franchise. And, of course, they want the old team name resurrected.
Quad City withdrew its membership. It no longer existed to be purchased.
Board of Governors approves changes for 2018-19 Season
CrazyEddie20
Hey RuZZia - Cut Your Losses and Go Home.
As has been discussed at length over the years, past ECHL President Rick Adams owned Johnstown, Texas and Long Beach at the same time. There is no rule barring owning multiple memberships, however, the individual memberships likely would not be allowed to make personnel transactions with each other.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
For anyone else who scratched their head at this location (like I did), Coralville is just a suburb of Iowa City.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
There are no rules against it, he wouldn't even be the first person to do it. They would never vote no for him because he won't enter a team in a market without such severe restrictions. There needs to be a NHL team which is popular in the area of the potential ECHL market, that NHL must own their AHL team, want to work with an ECHL team which is independently owned, by him, and have a lot of contracted players while maintaining very close business ties.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
This is an example of how the terminology is confusing to me. Previous ECHL teams "relinquished" their franchises, which I assumed meant the League took it back & could resell it to an investor/group. So I thought a "withdrawal" of a membership entailed the team owners retaining the franchise as a financial asset to be sold later (presumably with League approval).
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
I assumed EVERYBODY knew it was on the way to Cedar Rapids.
Centrum Hockey
Registered User
- Aug 2, 2018
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Its probably why he did not go for Manchester Boston is rather indifferent towards minor league hockey.
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Centrum Hockey
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A echl team can be put into dormancy as long as someone is paying the franchise dues and the bog approves of it.This is an example of how the terminology is confusing to me. Previous ECHL teams "relinquished" their franchises, which I assumed meant the League took it back & could resell it to an investor/group. So I thought a "withdrawal" of a membership entailed the team owners retaining the franchise as a financial asset to be sold later (presumably with League approval).
hurricanesfan123
Registered User
well also from what i understand dean wouldn't control Manchester arena like he is in trois riveries, coralville and mile one.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
mk80
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- Jul 30, 2012
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It's also only about 20 minutes from Cedar Rapids which is another large population center in the area. It will be interesting to see how both the USHL RoughRiders and the new ECHL team work in drawing fans from their overlapping territory.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Not much overlap between USHL (or juniors at large) & ECHL fan bases. The JMCs are a rare exception ... but we're weird that-a-way.
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GindyDraws
I will not disable my Adblock, HF
And even more news sites using the league name that has been long dead for nearly 15 years.
They might as well just bring it back. Nobody who doesn't follow them will ever accept ECHL stands for nothing.
They might as well just bring it back. Nobody who doesn't follow them will ever accept ECHL stands for nothing.
mk80
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I agree on levels of juniors below the USHL, but I think in those markets both are probably in a similar ballpark as far as ticket pricing. The Roughriders do have a good fan base at least to my understanding, but with Cedar rapids being the larger population center in that area, there's no doubt the new ECHL franchise will want to draw fans from that area as well.
I even catch myself slipping up and calling it the East Coast from time to time.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
As silly as it may seem, many writers (staff & free lance contributors) for major digital media sites still get paid for their work by the word just like the print media industry did in the 19th Century. So "East Coast Hockey League" would pay them 4 times more than "ECHL" would. Even for those writers who are paid according to content volume (another common payment measure), using the former league name is to their benefit. So it's not hard to believe that practices such as this have become habit among media writers and accepted by editors, no matter how pay-per-piece is determined. And as long as the League is being mentioned, why should they care what name or assumed acronym is being used to their benefit? As the old idiom goes: "Call me anything you want, just don’t call me late to supper." The writer and the League sit at this table together.
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JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
If Mr. MacDonald is smart - as he sure seems to be - he would do better to focus on the Quad Cities market (approx. 60 miles to the east on I-80. with a traditional fan base that came from AA & briefly A-level pro hockey which is ripe for picking and not engaged by the local SPHL product) rather than trying to raid the Cedar Rapids-Waterloo market (whose fan bases have been very supportive year-over-year of the USHL & its NHL prospects pools since 1999 and 1980, respectively).
And don't dismiss the potential for a substantial hockey fan base in & around Iowa City itself, with a population of over 170,000 residents at the last census and growing (with the near 'burb of North Liberty leading that growth). It's not a metropolis by any means, but the Iowa City metro is an increasingly strong economic engine in Eastern Iowa with a spiffy new arena that will soon enough bring a new sports entertainment product to town. I reckon the "Eastern Iowa Wild" will have little problem selling enough of its 5,100 fixed seats & suites for their first season to build momentum for establishing a sustainable pro ice hockey market in that part of the state.
Barclay Donaldson
Registered User
I am not sure they fit his model. The biggest part of his model is a having an affiliation with a NHL that is popular in the area, interested in using a three tier model, and easy to access with call-ups. Which organization fits that model?
Chicago would be ideal geographically, but they have had an affiliation with Indy Fuel since 2014, have publicly said they are very happy with the arrangement, and have extended it at every opportunity. I can imagine the Blackhawks are a popular team in the region, so an affiliation could do well.
St. Louis is the only other realistic geographically. Their <<checkered>> AHL history would suggest their don't care much about their AHL affiliate let alone an ECHL affiliate. I cannot speak to the Blues popularity in the region.
royals119
Registered User
Used to be the BOG approval was given freely. You could just hold onto your franchise as long as you wanted to pay the fees. They changed their practice several years ago, and now they do usually require that the franchise owner is actively working to bring their franchise back to operations. Although there does seem to be a bit of favoritism in how active you have to be, in favor or long time operators, or those who came in via the absorption of the old WCHL teams. They generally won't just let you sit on a franchise you are only looking to sell though. This keeps the value of the active franchises higher, since there aren't several available at potentially low prices all the time - plus the league can sell expansion franchises at a higher price if no other teams are for sale, which benefits all the owners.
JMCx4
Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Points of rebuttal, focused on my primary point of wooing Quad Cities hockey fans to support the new Coralville ECHL franchise:
- The JMCs have been to over 2 dozen Quad City Mallards & Quad City Storm home games over the last 9 seasons. Fans in CHI Blackhawks gear are far less frequently seen in their Downtown Moline arena than on fans in the other I-74 cities of Peoria & Bloomington, the latter two being long-term target markets for the ChiHawks' brand. I suspect the split of the Quad Cities between Illinois & Iowa presents split sports allegiances at the major league level, which diminishes the support of Illinois major league teams in the QC metro area. Major league baseball & football fans of my acquaintance around the Quad Cities (admittedly a small sample) follow the Twins & Vikings rather than the Cubs/White Sox & Bears. The QC River Bandits Class A baseball team who play on the riverfront in Davenport, IA (the largest of the Quad Cities) are a Houston Astros affiliate, which would contribute no further allegiances to Chicago-area sports.
- The QC Mallards had affiliations with the Iowa Wild during their CHL days (2013-2014) *and* during their ECHL days (2015-2017). The only other Mallards AHL affiliation during their AA history was between the ECHL club & the Chicago Wolves (2017-2018). I'll leave it to others to depart on the usual tangent of Wolves vs. Blackhawks loyalties.
- During our Quad Cities game visits, Mrs. JMC's traditional Blues jersey has been the only such team gear in sight at their arena. And more to the point her jersey has drawn no positive NOR negative comments from the local fan base, which is rare in our hockey travels across North America. I take this non-response to indicate a very low recognition of the STL Blues brand in the QC area. For a minor pro hockey team fan base, history shows that particular form of ignorance is a GOOD thing.
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