Its not true that they would lose hockey If not for the flames. The owners of the echl franchise where under no mandatory obligation To sell it would have been more difficult to run a ECHL franchise in northern California without Bakersfield and Ontario in the league but there was nothing stopping them from telling the flames to go away.
nope, you do realize that was a trade, Centrum, the same thing happened to the Sharks becoming the Barracuda, and the Reign/Monarchs flip.... both are owned and operated just like the Heat have have been since 1993 no matter what market they've been in.... remember it used to be a 50/50 split in Saint John, until the local ownership went belly-up 2 years after the Championship, just like Manchester did in 2014/15, before it became publically known(and all fanbases were warned even then that the Pacific Division was coming, whether it was then, or by the end of the decade). the Same MO happened in Omaha, and it killed QC because of the established Mallards, very much the same way Anaheim tried to dominate the Cincinnati market after being in Washington's backyard in Baltimore.... it's a wonder the Cyclones are still an active franchise today, after all that's transpired there.
Don't get me started on the Oilers affiliation franchise history, either, that's just as bad as Calgary's is... the insane 5 way affiliation because they chose not to exercise their franchise and placing a team in another's city backyard, like they did the current Coca Cola Coliseum, then the abrupt relocation to then Rexall Place after the 2004 AHL Master Schedule was released once the Toronto thing backfired...Anaheim's no saint in this either, mind you, forcing Norfolk to be bought to be placed in San Diego, and then begging the Oilers to be part of a 3 way deal over the rights of the ECHL Condors because they elected to not exercise being an owner/operator, it wasn't until the AHL Forced the Oilers TO activate the franchise now playing as the Condors, which had been placed in OKC the previous 5 years or lose the rights irrevocably.