Hockey returning to Jacksonville?

[pierre]

Yes. Bring back the Lizard Kings.

They had some good commercials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAmuw449JE

[Kerry]

Now we just need a name... I'll start... Frozen Shrimp?... Skates?...  Huguenots?... 

First thing I thought - Frozen Jumbo Shrimp.

[TimmyB]

Now we just need a name... I'll start... Frozen Shrimp?... Skates?...  Huguenots?... 

First thing I thought - Frozen Jumbo Shrimp.

Ice Prawns, perhaps?

[urbaknight]

A close family member of mine worked for the Barracudas and I have intimate knowledge of their operations.  The one thing she really pointed out is just how incredibly hard it is to turn a profit, because the arena is expensive to rent out and the cost of putting up and taking down the ice every time there's a game are crazy.  The Barracudas consistently needed like over 5,000  people (maybe more) at each game just to break even.

I thought they had their won ice rink, Wasn't it the Colosseum? Or did they actually have to put up the rink each time?!?! Yikes! How is that even possible!

[KenFSU]

Glad the word is out! One of the guys is an old family friend, and a lot the same folks are behind the Solar Bears down in Orlando. If the ECHL is successful in Amway in a region with much competition for entertainment dollars than Jax, they should be able to make it work in a here in a city with a long history of supporting minor league and niche sports. They've got a lot working in their favor.

ECHL is a higher level of play than the Barracudas' league and the teams have higher ceiling for their budgets. Essentially AA compared to A. They also typically have affiliation agreements with the NHL and AHL which allays some of the costs of running the team. They should be able to afford the Arena better than the Barracudas were able to for that reason. The Barracudas (who I loved) would have been more successful if not for the arena costs. The current team appears to know how to avoid a lot of the rookie mistakes that cause a lot of good teams to go under.

Thanks for sharing Bill, this is really encouraging to hear.

I grew up with an ECHL team down in Fort Myers (The Florida Everblades), and the quality of play was incredible.

I really do believe that hockey in Jacksonville will work this time. The city's a different place than it was the last few times around, a lot of momentum is building around the sports complex, and in my opinion, hockey is different enough from our other minor league field sports (baseball, soccer, arena football, etc.) that it could potentially do really well. Plus, the late October through April season is absolutely perfect. Starts up well into the Jags season, and ends before the Jumbo Shrimp start to ramp up in the spring.

I do agree with a previous poster that a 15,000 seat arena isn't preferable (league average attendance is ~4,500), but if you curtain off the upper levels and squeeze everyone into the lower bowl surrounding the ice, you'd have a pretty good environment. 

[Tacachale]

A close family member of mine worked for the Barracudas and I have intimate knowledge of their operations.  The one thing she really pointed out is just how incredibly hard it is to turn a profit, because the arena is expensive to rent out and the cost of putting up and taking down the ice every time there's a game are crazy.  The Barracudas consistently needed like over 5,000  people (maybe more) at each game just to break even.

I thought they had their won ice rink, Wasn't it the Colosseum? Or did they actually have to put up the rink each time?!?! Yikes! How is that even possible!

They put ice up in the Arena. It's quite expensive to do, especially in a space like that, which has a lot of events that require the ice to be removed between many or most games. They did later move to Jax Ice of Phillips when Arena rent went up, but it's not big enough to make it last.

[TimmyB]

Glad the word is out! One of the guys is an old family friend, and a lot the same folks are behind the Solar Bears down in Orlando. If the ECHL is successful in Amway in a region with much competition for entertainment dollars than Jax, they should be able to make it work in a here in a city with a long history of supporting minor league and niche sports. They've got a lot working in their favor.

ECHL is a higher level of play than the Barracudas' league and the teams have higher ceiling for their budgets. Essentially AA compared to A. They also typically have affiliation agreements with the NHL and AHL which allays some of the costs of running the team. They should be able to afford the Arena better than the Barracudas were able to for that reason. The Barracudas (who I loved) would have been more successful if not for the arena costs. The current team appears to know how to avoid a lot of the rookie mistakes that cause a lot of good teams to go under.

Thanks for sharing Bill, this is really encouraging to hear.

I grew up with an ECHL team down in Fort Myers (The Florida Everblades), and the quality of play was incredible.

I really do believe that hockey in Jacksonville will work this time. The city's a different place than it was the last few times around, a lot of momentum is building around the sports complex, and in my opinion, hockey is different enough from our other minor league field sports (baseball, soccer, arena football, etc.) that it could potentially do really well. Plus, the late October through April season is absolutely perfect. Starts up well into the Jags season, and ends before the Jumbo Shrimp start to ramp up in the spring.

I do agree with a previous poster that a 15,000 seat arena isn't preferable (league average attendance is ~4,500), but if you curtain off the upper levels and squeeze everyone into the lower bowl surrounding the ice, you'd have a pretty good environment.

I was just going to ask if that was possible, Ken.  I've never been in the Coliseum, so I didn't know.  The Breslin Center at MSU was built with that in mind, so they can simply drop the curtains on the upper bowl and have a crowd of 7 or 8K look like "capacity".  Hope this all works out!

[Tacachale]

Glad the word is out! One of the guys is an old family friend, and a lot the same folks are behind the Solar Bears down in Orlando. If the ECHL is successful in Amway in a region with much competition for entertainment dollars than Jax, they should be able to make it work in a here in a city with a long history of supporting minor league and niche sports. They've got a lot working in their favor.

ECHL is a higher level of play than the Barracudas' league and the teams have higher ceiling for their budgets. Essentially AA compared to A. They also typically have affiliation agreements with the NHL and AHL which allays some of the costs of running the team. They should be able to afford the Arena better than the Barracudas were able to for that reason. The Barracudas (who I loved) would have been more successful if not for the arena costs. The current team appears to know how to avoid a lot of the rookie mistakes that cause a lot of good teams to go under.

Thanks for sharing Bill, this is really encouraging to hear.

I grew up with an ECHL team down in Fort Myers (The Florida Everblades), and the quality of play was incredible.

I really do believe that hockey in Jacksonville will work this time. The city's a different place than it was the last few times around, a lot of momentum is building around the sports complex, and in my opinion, hockey is different enough from our other minor league field sports (baseball, soccer, arena football, etc.) that it could potentially do really well. Plus, the late October through April season is absolutely perfect. Starts up well into the Jags season, and ends before the Jumbo Shrimp start to ramp up in the spring.

I do agree with a previous poster that a 15,000 seat arena isn't preferable (league average attendance is ~4,500), but if you curtain off the upper levels and squeeze everyone into the lower bowl surrounding the ice, you'd have a pretty good environment.

I was just going to ask if that was possible, Ken.  I've never been in the Coliseum, so I didn't know.  The Breslin Center at MSU was built with that in mind, so they can simply drop the curtains on the upper bowl and have a crowd of 7 or 8K look like "capacity".  Hope this all works out!

Yeah, it's designed so that the upper floors can be curtained off. It works pretty well.

[Tacachale]

Glad the word is out! One of the guys is an old family friend, and a lot the same folks are behind the Solar Bears down in Orlando. If the ECHL is successful in Amway in a region with much competition for entertainment dollars than Jax, they should be able to make it work in a here in a city with a long history of supporting minor league and niche sports. They've got a lot working in their favor.

ECHL is a higher level of play than the Barracudas' league and the teams have higher ceiling for their budgets. Essentially AA compared to A. They also typically have affiliation agreements with the NHL and AHL which allays some of the costs of running the team. They should be able to afford the Arena better than the Barracudas were able to for that reason. The Barracudas (who I loved) would have been more successful if not for the arena costs. The current team appears to know how to avoid a lot of the rookie mistakes that cause a lot of good teams to go under.

Thanks for sharing Bill, this is really encouraging to hear.

I grew up with an ECHL team down in Fort Myers (The Florida Everblades), and the quality of play was incredible.

I really do believe that hockey in Jacksonville will work this time. The city's a different place than it was the last few times around, a lot of momentum is building around the sports complex, and in my opinion, hockey is different enough from our other minor league field sports (baseball, soccer, arena football, etc.) that it could potentially do really well. Plus, the late October through April season is absolutely perfect. Starts up well into the Jags season, and ends before the Jumbo Shrimp start to ramp up in the spring.

I do agree with a previous poster that a 15,000 seat arena isn't preferable (league average attendance is ~4,500), but if you curtain off the upper levels and squeeze everyone into the lower bowl surrounding the ice, you'd have a pretty good environment.

Yeah, there's a lot in their favor. One thing that has doomed hockey in the past is lack of venues for the level of the game (this is the same problem with soccer right now, incidentally). The Lizard Kings were hamstrung by the Coliseum, which was expensive to maintain and at the end of its useful life. Then the 'Cudas had a hard time making a profit over the Arena rent at their level (though they made a good go at it). I really think ECHL hockey, in the Arena, can be a success.

[jaxjags]

Yes, I think the ECHL is a much higher and respected league. I believe if team is well run and level of play good, it can work better this time around. A lot more people here today than 2006. Also I believe many times the ice is just covered for other events. I know this is true at larger arenas with NHL and NBA. They remove insulated cover, install boards and resurface the ice.

[Steve]

A close family member of mine worked for the Barracudas and I have intimate knowledge of their operations.  The one thing she really pointed out is just how incredibly hard it is to turn a profit, because the arena is expensive to rent out and the cost of putting up and taking down the ice every time there's a game are crazy.  The Barracudas consistently needed like over 5,000  people (maybe more) at each game just to break even.

I thought they had their won ice rink, Wasn't it the Colosseum? Or did they actually have to put up the rink each time?!?! Yikes! How is that even possible!

At the Arena, the Hockey boards don't typically move during things like concerts, etc. In addition, I think they have a way where if let's say you have a  Saturday night concert and hockey on Friday and Sunday, they can put a thermal layer over the ice where the floor seats are. I'm sure it wouldn't work for the weight of the stage, but the stage is normally at the end where the removal seats are.

[Spitfire]

https://www.jacksonvilleicemen.com/blog/2017/2/7/pro-hockey-comes-to-jacksonville-1

Jacksonville, FL – City of Jacksonville officials joined ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna to welcome the Jacksonville IceMen to the City and League.  Joined by IceMen ownership, including CEO Ron Geary; Team President Bob Ohrablo and Jacksonville based Frank Ruperto, the group announced that this fall, the Jacksonville IceMen will begin play at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. 

The team will play a 36-game regular season home schedule against South Division teams from Atlanta, Cincinnati, Naples/Fort Myers, Orlando, and Greenville and Charleston, SC, as well as the rest of the 28-team ECHL, which extends from Jacksonville to Anchorage, Alaska.

"The City of Jacksonville is thrilled to welcome the Jacksonville IceMen to our sports and entertainment landscape," said Mayor Lenny Curry. "Jacksonville is a great sports city and we are excited about the opportunity to bring professional hockey to our Veterans Memorial Arena."

The ECHL serves as a development league for the National Hockey League.

"On behalf of the ECHL Board of Governors, we are pleased to welcome the Jacksonville IceMen to the ECHL," proclaimed Brian McKenna, the ECHL's Commissioner.  "The continuing growth of Jacksonville, along with the experienced and enthusiastic ownership group, the wonderful venue and support of the city officials, creates a very positive outlook for the future of pro hockey in Jacksonville."

"Jacksonville is a natural fit for professional hockey," said Ron Geary, who has owned the IceMen team for the past eight years in Evansville, Indiana.  "We looked at the enthusiastic support current teams receive here and are excited to join them in providing Jacksonville fans with solid family-priced sports entertainment."

"We are honored to bring professional hockey back to Jacksonville," added Bob Ohrablo.  "We are committed to insuring that everyone who attends IceMen games will enjoy a competitive team and plenty of entertainment surrounding our games – all at family affordable prices. In addition we will insure that the IceMen organization becomes a solid corporate citizen in Jacksonville."

The IceMen are supported by a Jacksonville IceMen Advisory Group that includes community leaders such as:

John Delaney (former Mayor, President-UNF)
Toney Sleiman (Principle, Sleiman Enterprises)
Frank Ruperto (Jacksonville IceMen partner and CFO/SVP Rayonier Advanced Materials)
Mike Moses (Michaelson Group Real Estate)
Tony Mahfoud (Eisman & Russo)
Gilles Richard (Jax Ice and Sportsplex)
Dr. Ted Wetzork (Kernan Chiropratic Centre)
Bill Adams (Gunster)
Elaine Brown (Mayor, City of Neptune)
Eric Andeer (Morgan and Morgan)
"There are many people that have helped make this happen," added Ohrablo.  "They include our owner/members, special advisors to the organization Terry Delahunty and Gerald Higgins and we are very fortunate to have former Barracuda defensemen and general manager, Gilles Richard ."

The IceMen will shortly unveil its Faceoff Jacksonville which will be a series of exciting events leading up to Opening Night in October 2017.  More information on season memberships is available at www.jacksonvilleicemen.com. 

[RatTownRyan]

Glad to see this move along quickly. The Jacksonville Icemen are official. Pretty generic name but at least its not crustacean related.

[TimmyB]

Glad to see this move along quickly. The Jacksonville Icemen are official. Pretty generic name but at least its not crustacean related.

They totally missed out on this "marketing opportunity"!     "Hey, fans, stop by our gift store, The Prawn Shop, to purchase all of your ChilledShrimp merchandise!"

[pierre]

Glad to see this move along quickly. The Jacksonville Icemen are official. Pretty generic name but at least its not crustacean related.

Yes. Very generic but they are just keeping the name from the prior city.

They are not currently aligned to an NHL team. But hopeful they will be.