AHL no hockey upgrade for OKC in term of cities
The Oklahoma City Blazers have suspended operations and say they won’t field a franchise in the Central Hockey League next season, with an eye towards getting an American Hockey League franchise for 2010-11. Sounds fishy to me, how the AHL will be financially feasible if you can’t make a go of it in the CHL. But maybe it will work.
Anyway, one thing that has sort of disturbed me in recent years is that while OKC’s status among sports cities has risen, with first the Hornets and then the Thunder to where Oklahoma City is a thriving major-league city, its minor-league hockey team was in a league playing franchises based in Amarillo, Texas; Rapid City, S.D.; Shreveport, La.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Odessa, Texas; and Hidalgo, Texas (Rio Grande Valley).
The CHL did have some traditionally strong minor-league markets like Tulsa; Albuquerque, N.M.; Wichita, Kan.; and Austin, Texas, and was even in some suburbs of major-league markets: Allen, Texas (Dallas); Prescott Valley, Ariz. (Phoenix); Southaven, Miss. (Memphis); Independence, Mo. (Kansas City); Broomfield, Colo. (Denver); and Richland Hills, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth).
But here’s the stunner. The American Hockey League is split much the same way. A bunch of major-league markets, some traditional AAA minor-league markets and a bunch of smaller towns.
The major-league markets in the AHL: San Antonio, Cleveland, Toronto, Milwaukee, Houston, Boston (Lowell, Mass.).
The AAA markets: Austin; Providence, R.I.; Norfolk, Va.; Des Moines, Iowa; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Hamilton, Ontario; Rochester, N.Y.; Hartford, Conn.
If that was the league, that’s good company to be in. But the AHL also has a bunch of franchises in cities that are the eastern version of Amarillo and Corpus Christi. Binghamton, N.Y.; Hershey, Pa.; Peoria, Ill.; Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Rockford, Ill.; Glens Falls, N.Y.
If you’re going to play hockey against Wilkes-Barre or Glens Falls, you might as well be playing against Odessa or Shreveport. At least Oklahoma City fans will know where those cities are.
The AHL is better hockey, no doubt about it. But in terms of city status, it’s no step up.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
Hershey is a suburb of Harrisburg and has minor league hockey attendance for several years. They have a long, storied, history (80+ years) in the AHL.
Wilkes-Barre-Scranton is also a AAA market – they have the AAA affiliate of the NY Yankees.
The master of poor research and journalistic knowledge strikes again.
Hate to pile on, but Syracuse is also a AAA-town. Glen Falls has been home to an Adirondack team in the AHL for years off and on and are adopting the Philadelphia team that lost their arena this year, and Peoria was a long time AAA international hockey league team.
To counter even the lower end of this spectrum of teams, you offer up Austin – who isn’t in the league any more, Albuquerque – who just folded up their team, Phoenix – whose NHL team is in dire straits and whose CHL team is now on an island, and Tulsa – who is a AA city in every sense of the word. None of these even come close to competing with the former NHL cities and major league towns that make up much of the AHL. Your premise is flawed, as is your scanty evidence to support it.
As for the business model question – it all changes with affiliation with that NHL club. It’s the same reason the Redhawks are much better off as the Rangers farm club than in the independent leagues. There is a vested interest from a top league team in ensure they have a good market to send their prospects, which can serve as an economic buffer and added political clout.
Boy,
Think you had better stay on the football beat….you don’t know your many of your east of MS river towns well….Hershey is a mainstay town and the Hershey Bears a mainstay minor league hockey town — greater than OKC — and OKC has has minor league hockey for almost 50 years (with our little post oil boom stint in 82 the only break) until now….
Don’t compare the product — you are like the bigger US cities saying OKC is minor….and it HAS an NBA team….well those smaller cities you are talking about SUPPORT AHL HOCKEY AND THAT IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT — I hope you work to get AHL hockey in OKC which is what it desreves instead of questioning the AHL and CHL leagues — what??? Cover sports please and let the business pages cover sports operations…..
Give Berry a break…he’s probably like most of the hockey fans in OKC and doens’t know much about the sport. They just think it’s cool to watch someone skate on ice and fight. I am looking forward to a AAA team. I’m tired of watching mid to late 20’s players (good hockey players are late teens…early 20’s) send tape to tape passes and watch them clang off the recipents stick. So suck it Berry….AAA hockey is here….and would have been here 15 years ago if it hadn’t been for your buddy Ron Norick.
The Texas Stars will actually play in Cedar Park, TX, a small city of about 60,000 which consistently is rated as one of the highest quality of life cities in the U.S. An Austin suburb, yes, but separate and distinct. That said, we look forward to a nice four-cornered rivalry between Houston, San Antonio, Cedar Park, and OKC!
Also hate to pile on, but note… 2/3-rds of the AHL (20 teams) are in 1mil+ metro areas: NYC, Chicago, Boston(4), Toronto(2), Houston, Vancouver, Cleveland, San Antonio, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Austin, Grand Rapids, Hartford, Albany(2), and Rochester… With all but Albany and Rochester having higher populations than OKC. CHL can only say that with 4 team: Dallas(2), KC, and Memphis (Tulsa just misses 1mil).
OKC will play most of their games in their division, meaning it’s going up against the heavy hitters of the AHL: Chicago, Houston, Milwaukee, and San Antonio. They’ll be in good company.
[...] chum Berry Tramel has also posted his own thoughts on his blog yesterday. You can go here for that one. As for my story in today’s edition, here ya go. And as for the NewsOK poll, it is now 76 [...]
Here’s how the AHL is more finacially viable than a CHL team:
1. Coaches/Players are paid by the mother team
2. The lease will be paid (or supplemented) by the parent team.
Express Sports will only have to pay for a league fee and other small fees associated with local operstions.
Basically it’s like living in a house where mom and dad are paying the rent and you have to pay for utilities.
Barry has his head so far up Clay and Sam’s butt that he can’t even take the time to research the AHL. you are a waste of air Tramel!
Barry,
Are you talking out of your head or your rear end again? I don’t think you know what you are talking about here again. It’s OKC’s time to be in a hockey league were you can see hockey players, that one day hoist the Stanley Cup above their head. Getting an AHL franchise isn’t easy, like going out an buying a troubled NBA franchise. Then too up and move it to where ever your heart desired. Most of the AHL teams are owned by their parent NHL teams. Such as the Maple Leafs own the Toronto Marlies. It where they want them, and it’s they think they can do the best. But then you have the Current AHL Champions the Hersey Bears, who are the AHL team of the Washington Capitals. The Bears are not owned by the Capitals, and pay an affiliation fee to the capitals every season. The AHL is the next best thing to having an NHL team here in OKC. So to you and the other sports media personalities here in OKC. Stop trying to ruin something that hockey fans in OKC want to have here. It may not be an upgrade to you, but it’s an upgrade for us fans.
As far as financial feasibility, the AHL would help Express Sports. It’s the same reason Triple-A baseball works in the city. The RedHawks don’t pay the players’ salaries, the Texas Rangers do. I believe it works the same in the NHL. Express wouldn’t be paying the players’ salaries in the AHL. The Edmonton Oilers would be. In the CHL, the teams are responsible for paying salaries.
The big addition in expenditures will be travel. In the CHL, the Blazers could bus to every game. Not so in the AHL.
As far as cities, the vast majority of AHL franchise are in proven hockey markets. Whether or not Binghamton and Hershey are comparable to Corpus and Odessa is beside the point. Binghamton and Hershey are hockey markets with a supportive fanbase and strong followings.
Jeez, some of you goofy Okies need to relax. What Mr. Tramel is saying isn’t far from the truth. Let’s enjoy AHL hockey (if we even get it) while it lasts as it’s likely to split town just as quickly as we’ve seen in Des Moines, Quad City, and Omaha. Minor league hockey is about as unstable as it gets.
AHL Hockey has been more stable then most other leagues. When was the last time an AHL team was shut down to money problems? The CHL and ECHL have lost more teams in the last year. There were several teams in the ECHL that folded in the middle of a hockey season. Mr. Tramel doesn’t have the qualification to speak about hockey. Since he hasn’t ever attended a hockey game in OKC. He needs to go back to covering the Sooners, Cowboys, and the Thunder. And leave the commentating on hockey left to Bob Przybylo. Who does a well enough job since he took on the hockey beat.
somebody doesn’t no much about the hockey world…so shut up. I used to respect barry,but if you don’t know what your talking about,keep the snide comments to yourself! i grew up going to the Peoria rivermen & still remember the inaugural game of the chicago wolves. then i moved to OKC & thought what the hell kind of hockey is this????….come on AHL!!
Another Trammel column that misses the point. The difference between AHL and CHL markets is not just in their size, but in the fact that the smaller AHL markets tend to be in areas which have a rich hockey tradition. Amarillo and Bighamton may be of similar size, but to say that they are comperable markets for minor league hockey is like saying that Binghamton is just as much a rodeo town as Amarillo.
You know, OKC must have some stupid people if they don’t know where Syracuse, New York is, or Hershey, Pennsylvania. Those are two well known cities. Granted, Glens Falls, New York, Peoria, Illinois, etc. are not that well known, so I see what you are talking about, but you better know where Syracuse and Hershey are. And, Oklahoma City is the same size as Cleveland, Milwaukee, Houston, etc. They have a great fan base just like the Monsters do in my home town of Cleveland. The AHL would fit in Oklahoma City perfectly.
Wilkes-Barre is a major city. I know because I contributed a ton of money to them in the form of my college student loans!