THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140435
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
The Hampton Roads Admirals and four other ECHL clubs were formally invited to join the American Hockey League on Monday, but the invitation apparently carries a hefty price tag.
Sources say the AHL is asking the five teams to pay a six-figure franchise fee, and that appears be a major sticking point. The five clubs would be surrendering ECHL franchises worth upwards of $2 million apiece and have told the AHL that they can't afford to pay a franchise fee.
Hampton Roads Admirals president Blake Cullen and owners of the Richmond, Charlotte, Greensboro and South Carolina franchises spent most of Monday in the Charlotte Airport Sheraton Hotel with AHL president Dave Andrews, trying to hammer out an agreement. It was the first face-to-face meetings between the owners and the AHL, which first approached the ECHL franchises about moving up late last month.
The AHL is the primary developmental outlet for the NHL and is one of minor league hockey's two top leagues, along with the International Hockey League.
The morning session ended with the sides far apart. Sources say the sides were closer following an afternoon session that ended at 6, but not nearly enough for an agreement.
Owners of the ECHL clubs are to speak by phone over the next day or two to prepare a counterproposal to be presented to Andrews before the week is out.
Cullen declined comment on most questions.
``They gave us their proposal under which we could possibly be admitted to the AHL,'' he said. ``We've got to do this quickly if we're interested.''
Reached at his Charlotte hotel, Andrews also declined to answer most questions.
``It's a long way from being done,'' he said.
Though the AHL's asking fee for expansion franchises is $1 million, it has been reported that the league would reduce or waive the fee for the ECHL teams. The AHL is seeking the five franchises to provide more outlets for NHL teams, which provide players to all 16 AHL teams, and to extend the league's base into large markets and the populous Southeast.
Hampton Roads and Charlotte would be the AHL's largest markets, and three of the five ECHL clubs outdraw all but Providence, R.I., in the AHL.
However, The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reports that a majority of the 16 AHL clubs insist on the ECHL teams paying a franchise fee. They are worried that the worth of their franchises would fall if five new clubs were admitted without charge.
The newspaper reports that the fee probably has been reduced from $1 million and would be paid out over time.
In spite of the fee, Charlotte appears set to go to the AHL. The team is under pressure to move up, Charlotte president Carl Scheer has said, because the IHL is threatening to put an expansion franchise there.
Greensboro is likely to follow Charlotte's lead, sources say, while Hampton Roads and Richmond apparently will act in tandem. South Carolina remains the most skeptical of the five and is likely to remain in the ECHL unless the AHL's stance on franchise fees softens considerably. by CNB