Cleveland is moving to Worcester at end of year

[wildthing2022000]

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060101/NEWS/601010593/1009

Registration is required for the article but the jist of it is that due to poor attendence San Jose is moving the team from Cleveland to Worcester. The move won't be officially announced for a couple of days.

[preeths]

Will be interesting to see who, if anyone, will attempt another team in Cleveland. Are there any other suitable arenas that might have less expensive rents?

[nksports]

I think ever since Richfield Coliseum was torn down, there isn't any place cheaper. The market's big enough for the NHL (although history is against Cleveland there). For the minors, maybe a team needs to go on the road for a few months, wait for Lake Erie to freeze and put some bleachers out on the lake.

[wildthing2022000]

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060107/NEWS/601070380/1116

Hockey rebirth foreseen at DCU

Sharks may swarm city

By Dave Nordman Telegram & Gazette SPORTS EDITOR


WORCESTER— A press conference has been scheduled for Monday afternoon, reportedly to announce the return of pro hockey to the city.

While city and DCU Center officials aren’t saying, the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League are expected to announce that they will move their American Hockey League franchise from Cleveland to Worcester for the 2006-07 season.

The 3 p.m. press conference at the DCU Center box office on Foster Street will be followed by a community celebration-rally at Union Station at 7 p.m.

“I can’t say anything other than there is a press conference,” Sandy Dunn, general manger of the DCU Center, said last night.

City manager Michael V. O’Brien could not be reached for comment, but his office did issue a press release calling Monday’s press conference a “major development for the return of hockey to Worcester.”

As expected, the announcement coincides with San Jose’s game against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday in Boston.

San Jose owns its own AHL franchise, which it moved from Lexington, Ky., to Cleveland after the 2000-01 season. At that time, the AHL team’s nickname was changed from the Thoroughblades to the Barons, the nickname of Cleveland’s former AHL and NHL teams.

According to sources, Worcester’s new AHL team will be called the Worcester Sharks, or some variation of that. The Internet domain name worcestersharks.com already has been registered and has the same domain server, americaneagle.com, which developed the San Jose Sharks’ Web site.

It is not known if an announcement about a nickname will be made Monday.

Some hockey fans had hoped the new AHL team would be called the IceCats, who called the DCU Center home for 11 years before being sold and moved to Peoria, Ill., at the end of last season. It appears the IceCats’ mascots, Scratch and Pounce — without dorsal fins — will remain on display at the Worcester Historical Museum.

San Jose’s decision to move its AHL team to Worcester overlaps with a season-ticket drive, which began on Nov. 2 and was extended through the end of next week. It was believed that 3,000 pledges would virtually guarantee an AHL team here next season, but it appears fewer than 2,000 will be enough to get the job done.

San Jose also will benefit from a modified lease arrangement with the DCU Center, which will allow for lower operating costs and increased revenue potential.

Officials hope an official announcement will result in a rush on season ticket purchases. Information about how to buy partial season tickets and individual game tickets also is expected to be made available on Monday.

It is believed that 3,000 season tickets will translate into an average attendance of more than 5,000, which would rank about 10th in the 27-team AHL. The league average is 5,007 this season.

The IceCats averaged just more than 4,000 fans for 40 home games last season, down from a high of almost 7,000 during the late 1990s. Cleveland is next to last in AHL attendance, averaging 3,029 fans per game.

[wildthing2022000]

http://www.ahlboards.com/forum/showthread.php?p=43193#post43193

Barons leaving Cleveland
Team will move to Worcester, Mass.
Monday, January 09, 2006
Dennis Manoloff
Plain Dealer Reporter
Virtually from the moment the franchise relocated from Kentucky in 2001, Barons President Michael Lehr periodically was asked by nervous fans when the American Hockey League team would leave Cleveland. He finally can give a definitive answer.

Lehr confirmed late Sunday night that the Barons are moving to Worcester, Mass., where they will begin play next season with a new nickname. The Barons, top affiliate of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, are in the last of a five-year lease to play at The Q. The Sharks ownership group signed a 10-year deal with Worcester.

"Many markets made attractive pitches to us," Lehr said. "Worcester's was the best. From the business standpoint, it made the most sense for us to take it."

The official announcement will be made at a news conference today at 3 p.m. in Worcester, with a community rally to follow. Worcester had an AHL team for 11 seasons before the franchise was sold and moved to Peoria, Ill., at the end of last season.

"We think Cleveland is a great market with a great arena," Sharks President Greg Jamison said. "At this point, however, it's not a good fit for us. There's no animosity here. Both sides understand each other's situation."

Jamison said the Sharks have lost "millions" since they moved the AHL club to Cleveland. The Barons have ranked among the league's worst in attendance.

"We had great success on the hockey side, in terms of developing players," he said. "We just couldn't come close to matching it on the business side."

As the Worcester deal was being finalized, Sharks brass met with top management at The Q. Lehr said the meeting was for informational purposes, not negotiating. Lehr and Jamison said officials at The Q did not attempt to top Worcester's offer.

Cavaliers President Len Komoroski said in a statement: "We wish the Sharks organization all the best and thank them for the years of hockey they helped make possible in Cleveland. We still believe in the future of pro hockey at The Q, though, and will immediately begin working toward that potential."

Komoroski is a former president of the Lumberjacks, who moved to Cleveland from Muskegon, Mich., in 1992 and made Northeast Ohio home until 2001. Another member of the Cavaliers front office, Kerry Bubolz, also is a former top executive with the Lumberjacks, who ceased operations as the International Hockey League dissolved.

One AHL executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he would be surprised if the Cavaliers ownership did not replace the Barons in short order.

"[Owner] Dan Gilbert is not going to want 40-plus dates to leave his building," the source said. "It's much easier to sell suites when you've got multiple sports. From what I know about Gilbert, he likes hockey, and he's got people like Komoroski and Bubolz who've done it before. They definitely have people in place to make pro hockey viable, although I think the NHL is unrealistic, for a lot of reasons."

The NHL bypassed Cleveland in the late 1990s when it awarded an expansion franchise to Columbus.

As is the case seemingly every year, AHL franchises are available. The Lowell Lock Monsters are for sale. Cincinnati, Edmonton and Utah reportedly have dormant franchises.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

dmanoloff@plaind.com, 216-999-4677




© 2006 The Plain Dealer
© 2006 cleveland.com All Rights Reserved.

[wildthing2022000]

http://www.worcesterhockey.com/
http://www.sharksahl.com/#

Where have I've seen this logo before?

[Minor League Man]

The Barons should get the same deal that the Browns got.
All the Barons' records stay with the Barons, and there should be a new Cleveland Barons soon.
BTW, I typed a question on the WorSharks website asking if anything was being done to put another team in Cleveland, but got no answer.

[rams80]

The Barons should get the same deal that the Browns got.
All the Barons' records stay with the Barons, and there should be a new Cleveland Barons soon.
BTW, I typed a question on the WorSharks website asking if anything was being done to put another team in Cleveland, but got no answer.

Avoiding the fact that the "Cleveland Plan" was one of the stupidest things in the history of professional sports IMO, there are a couple of flaws with your plan.
1) The team moved because of awful attendance, how would giving them a new one make it up.
2) Due to the AHL bylaw that states every team must have a NHL affiliate and that there are 30 franchises in existance, you can't place an expansion team there, and you can't force the NHL to necessarily set up an affiliate there.

Of the franchises available, Edmonton's is dormant (but they are looking at setting up shop in Moline, the former Utah franchise is lying dormant and for sale at a overpriced rate, and Lowell is currently for sale.

[bradlehman]

Having lived in Worcester on two different occassions for 15 years I can say without hesitation the Centrum is a pit. Why once again the AHL has put another team in a thoroughly crappy town and building is beyond me. Also how do the southern and western NHL logistically cope with having to send players back and forth into the northeast? Thankfully the AHL has finally gotten out of the Maritimes. Lovely to visit, but hard to get to. Any thoughts on westward AHL expansion?

[rams80]

Having lived in Worcester on two different occassions for 15 years I can say without hesitation the Centrum is a pit. Why once again the AHL has put another team in a thoroughly crappy town and building is beyond me. Also how do the southern and western NHL logistically cope with having to send players back and forth into the northeast? Thankfully the AHL has finally gotten out of the Maritimes. Lovely to visit, but hard to get to. Any thoughts on westward AHL expansion?

Depends, how far west are you talking (San Antonio and Winnipeg look to be the western limit for the future.

[patmc16]

Avoiding the fact that the "Cleveland Plan" was one of the stupidest things in the history of professional sports IMO

Why avoid the truth (other than the NFL not being a topic for OSC or a hockey thread)? I don't care what the NFL or anyone else says. The Baltimore Ravens entered the NFL as a franchise in 1950. The Cleveland Browns entered as an expansion franchise in 1999.

Back to the thread:
If Cleveland is to have another hockey team anytime in the near future, I'm guessing it won't be in the AHL, which makes the leaving the records behind argument moot. I could see them in the UHL. The only problems is where would they play? Gund, or whatever they are calling it these days, is way, way too big for the U. They would need about a 5k arena. Does one exist the the Cleveland area?

[bradlehman]

Then again, it might be the AHL. Read below.......




» More From The Plain Dealer

AHL
Gilbert's purchase likely to be approved upon AHL vote
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Dennis Manoloff
Plain Dealer Reporter

The AHL's Board of Governors will vote Tuesday via conference call whether to approve the sale of the Utah Grizzlies to Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, two sources close to the negotiations said.

"It's going to get approved," one source said.

The relocated Utah franchise, currently dormant, would replace the Barons, AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks. The Barons are moving to Worcester, Mass., after this season. They are in the last of a five-season lease to play in Gund Arena/The Q.

[chdahs]

by unanimous vote----hope they don't fail a la Cincinnati