A.G. Gancarski
FloridaPolitics.com has learned that the Bold Sports and Entertainment Group has been talking with senior staff of the Lenny Curry administration about bringing an ECHL — known before 2003 as the East Coast Hockey League — franchise to Jacksonville.
The ECHL is essentially a midlevel minor league for professional hockey.
Bob Ohrablo, representing the group, outlined conditions in an email.
“I’ll confirm that we are committed to invest up to $300,000 in hockey related capital improvements in the JVMA (this includes new dasher boards and glass). That is something no one in the League has done,” Ohrablo wrote of a condition that seems imposed by the city.
A potential sticking point: a refusal to offer an attendance guarantee:
“The investment in both the Arena and the requirements from the ECHL ($750,000 membership fee, $100,000 investment in League reserve fund and $400,000 in Letters of Credit for various items) will significantly demonstrate that we are committed to making this a success and meeting all of our expectations. When fully funded we will have at least $2.5 million available for the aforementioned expenses and to supply working capital. This shows not only a commitment on our part, but also that we will have sufficient capital for the Faceoff Jacksonville campaign and into the first two seasons as we build our attendance base.
“Based on when our season is played, we have very little overlap in terms of competing with the other teams in the Jacksonville sports market. We would pursue partnering with them to promote their seasons and vice versa. We are all playing in COJ/SMG venues (the more people attending all of our games, the better for each of us and COJ/SMG). I can assure you that any survey you conduct will show that we have work to do to create hockey fans, but with a strong group sales program, solid marketing efforts, fun and entertaining promotions, immersion into the community and family-affordable ticket prices, we can create fans of the team. My 30 years of experience shows that at the minor league level people buy tickets because of affordability and entertainment value. Surveys will not adequately demonstrate this.”
Indeed, hockey has been tried and failed here in the past, as the Jacksonville Barracudas franchise indicates.
Ohrablo’s group is pressing to launch sooner than the city seems to want, also.
“We would still like to debut in the 2016-17 season, however, based on your outline of the process are not confident that this is possible. We could look toward 2017-18, but that would cost us a few NHL affiliate opportunities that we are excited about. In addition, with only two expansion teams left before the ECHL caps team membership at 30, we might not have an opportunity to buy a new team from the League,” Ohrablo wrote.
Chief Finance Officer Mike Weinstein described the offer as “interesting.”
