OurSports Central Independent and Minor League Sports Forums

In the local SD paper on March 20, there was an article stating that the Anaheim Ducks talked to the owners of the SD Sports Arena about moving the Portland AHL franchise to San Diego, probably for the '09-'10 season. Apparently, the Ducks have voiced concerns of having their top affiliate so far away, and have been trying to gain support for having the west-coast based NHL teams about having "western alternatives" for their top minor league teams. Obviously, this would create a logistical nightmare for the AHL, and probably other minor leagues as well. I'm sure the Ducks wouldn't want the only AHL team west of Texas. And why would any team want to play in the dump that is the San Diego Sports Arena? Don't get me wrong, I would love to see hockey come back here, but I don't see how it would work for the franchise or the league. Anyone else heard anything on this? My apologies..this should have posted in the AHL or general hockey threads...not the ECHL thread...although this could potentially affect several west-coast ECHL franchises.

Actually, this does seem more like an AHL topic... EXCEPT it has the potential to affect some ECHL markets.

I'm reposting an Edmonton article here.

http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/teams/edm ... bb23e3&p=1

BTW, rams80 is probably right- it'll take a perfect storm for a west coast division to take hold, because it would probably need at least 5 teams moving at the same time. Heck, San Jose, Phoenix, Kings, Ducks, and Vancouver would need to virtually act at once, and one of Calgary, Edmonton, or Colorado might need to situate a team west of their current domain.

Furthermore, if you'll allow me to speculate:

San Jose - Fresno? Stockton?
Vancouver - Victoria, and not even a hint of another choice here
LA Kings - um, Ontario? Bakersfield? Fresno?
Anaheim - very good question. Bakersfield? Ontario? Fresno? Some suburb of San Diego?
Phoenix - Tucson, provided their arena actually gets built.

The PHPA is in no position to determine the four regional leagues for the AA level. The CHL and IHL have some PHPA players but that's only because they were in the ECHL at one time. The CHL and the IHL are not PHPA leagues so what the PHPA says doesn't affect them usually.

Could baseball have the minor league system they have without their anti-trust exemption? I've been told in the past that the answer is no. The act of developing a minor league system would appear to be construed as restraint of trade, from my understanding.

Of course, I'm not sure the courts have been enforcing anti-trust for 15 years now.

Thanks for the link to the article--it looks like it won't happen for awhile, though.

I posted this last year, before the economy went into the tank. I had questioned last year whether hockey would come back to San Diego in some form. Now, I am wondering if the economy is going to force minor leagues to start consolidating. I haven't paid much attention to the ECHL lately with the demise of the Gulls, but I have just seen where Augusta and Fresno recently folded. Are other franchises that are in financial trouble going to move, or are they going to fold as well? That being said, are some leagues going to combine, and go to more regional play to cut costs?

Would love to see Hockey back in San Diego -- sadly - we are losing the Roadrunners in Phoenix

Colonel

Supposibly i've heard that San Diego is looking to get hockey back to some degree. Our head Coach Steve Martinson who used to coach the Gulls was telling me of rumors about them trying to get hockey back there. I asked him if he'd go back if they did get a team, he chuckled and said "I don't know, it's expensive to live there"(Where as here in Elmira its dirt cheap.)

A few months ago, the East Coast Hockey League granted preliminary approval for the Charlotte (N.C.) Checkers to relocate to the San Diego Sports Arena in time for the 2010-11 season. But the deal fell apart over desired improvements presented under tight time constraints to the arena’s majority partner, AEG.

The problem here is that the AHL has no U.S. team west of Texas, and the league requires “remote” franchises to subsidize the travel costs of visiting teams. To make AHL hockey more feasible in San Diego, then, would require an extensive league expansion or the coordinated migration of multiple affiliates.

I was happy with the GULLS