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Potential Atlanta NHL Expansion Team Thread

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BMN said:
I'll give the Gladiators full marks because they committed to this: if you go to their website right now, the audio stream is listed as "Atlanta Thrashers vs. Greenville Swamp Rabbits" and the pbp man is fully referring to them as the Thrashers as though that's their ordinary name.
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If you didn't hear, their Twitter/X account actually got suspended today for wrongful "impersonation." So, they aren't able to actually cover their own fully sanctioned Thrashers tribute night. Some mod at X was overly aggressive on the occasion of the team's biggest promotion of the season.
 
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nhlfan79 said:
If you didn't hear, their Twitter/X account actually got suspended today for wrongful "impersonation." So, they aren't able to actually cover their own fully sanctioned Thrashers tribute night. Some mod at X was overly aggressive on the occasion of the team's biggest promotion of the season.
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The account is still suspended, which is pretty wild. I'm willing to bet the "mod" in question is Elon's AI.
 
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nhlfan79 said:
If you didn't hear, their Twitter/X account actually got suspended today for wrongful "impersonation." So, they aren't able to actually cover their own fully sanctioned Thrashers tribute night. Some mod at X was overly aggressive on the occasion of the team's biggest promotion of the season.
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I don’t know that or the fact the Gladiators just got shut out on Thrashers Night is the most Thrasher thing ever. 🤦‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️
 
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Mike Jones said:
Well, I still think arenas are an ugly use of tax dollars because they can't be accessed by most people because of sheer cost. It's best to invest in infrastructure we can all use. Let the rich people pay for their toys.
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I agree with this as long as we're thinking beyond sports. I took my wife to the Atlanta Orchestra over Christmas, and tickets were just short of $300/each (great seats, though). Tons of tax $$ funnels to the orchestra and their auditorium. All I could think of was how that should have been a couple of 50-yard line seats to a Falcons game, or third-row dugout seats at a Braves game instead.
 
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Apparently, it was a sellout which is nice to see.
 
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AtlantaWhaler said:
Looks like the result sucks...how was the crowd?
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Hot at the start but it eventually subsided and stayed flat, minus that hip toss takedown. That was amazing.

The problem this year is that they didn't incorporate anything from the Thrashers like they did last year. They did the "Unleash the Fury" thing (and managed to screw that up royally) but that was basically it. Last year's Thrashers night was basically non-stop nostalgia and callbacks and it kept the crowd energized throughout. I mean, how can you have a Thrashers night and not include this in the 3rd period like they did practically every home game:

 
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dj4aces said:
If this is any indicator, the NHL does indeed own the trademark.
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They do. At last year's game, before the gates opened, the guy that organized Thrashers night gave sort of an impromptu speech at the main gate to everyone in line. Basically said he worked with the NHL for over a year to make the night happen and said the NHL had agreed to do it another year (last night) and said they were going for the powder blues next year (last night).

dj4aces said:
I haven't the slightest idea. The article I linked a page or two back said ECHL. I suppose that all depends on the prospective owners and what they want, as well as the two leagues and whether they're in a position to expand. It should be noted that the ECHL is an affiliate league, and only has 28 active teams presently, with expansion teams in Tahoe and Bloomington, and a stated goal to expand to 32 "to match the NHL", it would make sense to look at Athens when the NHL expands to Atlanta..
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Before Anson and Alex purchased the team, there were 2 "potential plays" for the Gladiators franchise, if you want to call it that. 1) Jerry James wanted to take them with him to Arizona because he claimed to have an investor lined up. 2) Public funding for the Classic Center in Athens had already been secured by late 2021 with construction beginning in 2022 and part of the "sell" was to host a full time hockey franchise in addition to UGA hockey games. Most interpreted that as ECHL hockey. There were plenty of "Gladiators are moving to Athens!" rumors but I don't think that was ever broached by anyone. But, it does appear that sell was honest because it looks like they're getting a franchise, likely SPHL.

Anson and Alex need to turn it around, and quick though. They just signed a 3 year lease agreement and year 1 is looking like a disaster in terms of attendance/revenue and next year sounds like its going to be even worse (mass exodus of season ticket holders unrelated to the on ice product). I don't know how deep their pockets are but I don't know anyone that would take 3 years of losses and say "Yeah, let me commit to more".
 
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I imagine some much-needed repairs to Gas South Arena would go a very long way towards smaller things like season ticket retention. I think the last thing Alex and Anson want is for the Glads to suffer, so it'd be interesting to know what their plans are for addressing the various off-ice needs.

In other news, Pagnotta tweeted this out on Friday. I'm a little curious what the "continued progress" is exactly, but the post seems to have attracted the usual remarks from the usual sort of people.
 
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dj4aces said:
The only serious mentions of hockey I found in Chattanooga are of the inline skating variety.

Near as I can tell, the closest minor league teams to Chattanooga are currently the Knoxville Ice Bears (SPHL) and our Gladiators (ECHL).

While the city wouldn't be a bad place to put an AHL team, they'd definitely need a building that can support a team. The only arena I can find listed in Chattanooga is McKenzie Arena at the University of Tennessee's Chattanooga campus, and it seats ~10k for basketball.
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I live outside of Chattanooga, and I'm utterly baffled as to why this town has absolutely zero hockey infrastructure. None. There isn't even an ice rink here; depending on which side of town you live in, if you want to play ice hockey (vs inline, purists), you've got to drive to Kennesaw, Knoxville, or Huntsville. I did this for years when it was still playing beer league, but that got to be far too taxing.

Chattanooga has an excellent outdoor/adventure sports infrastructure. Case in point, the Erlanger Marathon was yesterday and had close to 2000 total participants from across the country, and was very well attended by local spectators. But in the winter time, there is nothing much to do as a community/ civic entity. An SPHL franchise is a perfect entertainment product due to lack of competition, nearby teams in Huntsville and Knoxville, and lack of in-season competition.

Sadly, there is no arena here. Mckenzie is a dump, and has no ice plant. Plus it's wholly-owned by UTC. There's a massive push by local government to build another stadium for the Lookouts, our AA baseball team, but truthfully a new arena would be far more beneficial for the community as a whole, because of the nature of events it could/ would host.

Rant off. Tl;dr: Chattanooga is a perfect location for SPHL or ECHL, but lacks the necessary infrastructure.
 
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RoyalAir said:
Sadly, there is no arena here. Mckenzie is a dump, and has no ice plant. Plus it's wholly-owned by UTC. There's a massive push by local government to build another stadium for the Lookouts, our AA baseball team, but truthfully a new arena would be far more beneficial for the community as a whole, because of the nature of events it could/ would host.
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When I was looking at pictures of the arena, it "being a dump" 's the impression I got of it. Sorely in need of a new building. But I think a team there -- even if it's just a SPHL team -- would take off nicely.
 
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Well if we're talking driving distance to Atlanta, Knoxville has an arena and an SPHL franchise. I've done day trips to Knoxville plenty. You leave at 9 AM, you're there for lunch and a few hours of whatever, then you're back home by 5-6.

I still think Duluth and Savannah are the key players here. Enmarket is a gorgeous facility and the fans are rabid. Duluth/GSA/Gladiators could be worked out in short order - I mean the Glads used to have no problem pulling 5-6,000 a game, which is fine by AHL standards.
 
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sneakytitz said:
I still think Duluth and Savannah are the key players here. Enmarket is a gorgeous facility and the fans are rabid. Duluth/GSA/Gladiators could be worked out in short order - I mean the Glads used to have no problem pulling 5-6,000 a game, which is fine by AHL standards.
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Right on the money. I did the math, based on the average per-team attendance listed at HockeyDB for this season, and the current average is 5616. San Jose is last with an average of 1,928, while Cleveland is first with an average of 10,183 this season.

As a point of reference, the Gladiators average is currently 4,244 per game this season.
 
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sneakytitz said:
Well if we're talking driving distance to Atlanta, Knoxville has an arena and an SPHL franchise. I've done day trips to Knoxville plenty. You leave at 9 AM, you're there for lunch and a few hours of whatever, then you're back home by 5-6.

I still think Duluth and Savannah are the key players here. Enmarket is a gorgeous facility and the fans are rabid. Duluth/GSA/Gladiators could be worked out in short order - I mean the Glads used to have no problem pulling 5-6,000 a game, which is fine by AHL standards.
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Savannah is a great call. Growing city flush with corporate cash (home to the country's 4th busiest port). Georgia Southern U only 45 minutes away, too. Big enrollment, there.
 
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dj4aces said:
When I was looking at pictures of the arena, it "being a dump" 's the impression I got of it. Sorely in need of a new building. But I think a team there -- even if it's just a SPHL team -- would take off nicely.
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It would. Nashville has sizable STH packages across the state, but has more or less failed to tap into Chattanooga. Knoxville and Crossville, for example, and even Huntsville, have large contingencies of Preds supporters. Chattanooga really doesn't, in large part because it's a hockey no-man's-land.

It's a ripe area, for sure. I've thought about this a lot, and a new arena and an SPHL team would crush here. But alas, it's not going to happen anytime soon, if ever.
 
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RoyalAir said:
It's a ripe area, for sure. I've thought about this a lot, and a new arena and an SPHL team would crush here. But alas, it's not going to happen anytime soon, if ever.
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I think it could. Matter of fact, I think if interested parties in Chattanooga exist, and started now, they could easily have a building in place and a SPHL franchise by 2030.
 
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RoyalAir said:
I live outside of Chattanooga, and I'm utterly baffled as to why this town has absolutely zero hockey infrastructure. None. There isn't even an ice rink here; depending on which side of town you live in, if you want to play ice hockey (vs inline, purists), you've got to drive to Kennesaw, Knoxville, or Huntsville. I did this for years when it was still playing beer league, but that got to be far too taxing.
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Sounds like a business opportunity for someone. Build a 2-3 ice sheet building, with one being able to seat, I dunno, 1-2000. It wouldn't be cheap but miles away from the cost of a NHL-sized arena. Start investing in kids hockey, adult rec hockey and figure skating.

As I type that though - that's going to be hard to build from scratch - at least all the community organizations like youth and rec hockey...
 
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