THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090681
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
The American Hockey League made its first foray into East Coast Hockey League territory Wednesday, and AHL commissioner Dave Andrews vows it won't be the last.
``We expect to keep expanding into the South and to bring back some of your old rivals into the American Hockey League,'' Andrews told a cheering crowd of about 1,000 Wednesday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
``We planted the flag here. We plan to build around it. ... We plan to build our next two or three franchises in this area.''
The crowd came to celebrate the Greensboro Monarchs' move up from the ECHL to the AHL. Not only is the team changing leagues, it's also changing names - to the Carolina Monarchs.
``The road to the National Hockey League goes through Greensboro. It does not go through Charlotte or Raleigh,'' Monarchs president Bill Black said gleefully. ``We're the Carolina Monarchs instead of the Greensboro Monarchs because we want everyone to know that we have the No. 1 hockey team in the state.''
Andrews hopes that won't be the case for long. He said the AHL is interested in expanding to ``several markets'' in both North Carolina and Virginia, an apparent reference to Hampton Roads, Richmond, Raleigh and Charlotte.
``We're coming to the South,'' he told reporters, city officials and executives from the Monarchs and the Florida Panthers, Carolina's new NHL parent club, at a news conference earlier Wednesday. ``We want a Southern Division.''
The AHL, one step below the NHL, nearly acquired a Southern Division three months ago.
Seven franchises from the ECHL, considered a mid-level developmental league, comtemplated jumping to the AHL.
However, negotiations broke down over the cost of moving up - $1 million per team, in addition to the loss of the ECHL franchises. Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro all said they would leave, but all but Greensboro had a change of heart.
Blake Cullen, president of the Hampton Roads Admirals, helped lead the opposition, saying it was ``crazy'' to expect owners to throw away franchises worth millions, and then pay $1 million to play in a league not as profitable as the ECHL. Andrews said the AHL won't try to push ECHL owners out of their markets.
``One of the things we will not do is sit down on somebody else in another league and try to drive them out of business,'' he said. ``That's not the way we do things.''
But that doesn't mean he won't try to persuade ECHL teams to follow Greensboro's example. Though Greensboro officials approached Andrews first about potential expansion into ECHL cities, once contact was made, he worked diligently behind the scenes to bring it about.
Andrews said there will be a natural shift of some of the larger ECHL markets to the AHL and of smaller AHL markets to other leagues.
And he plans to prime the expansion pump as hard as he can.
``I have assured Bill Black that we will make every effort in the next year to attract, entice, cajole and move at least two more cities into this league from this region,'' Andrews said. ``We want to expand into bigger markets and in the growth area of hockey, which is the South.''
And the South means the ECHL. Hampton Roads, Charlotte, Raleigh, Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Birmingham, Ala., and Nashville, Tenn., are big Southern markets with ECHL teams. The South Carolina franchise, located in the Charleston area, is one of minor league hockey's top draws.
Andrews said he'd welcome most of those cities ``with open arms'' if they wanted to move into the AHL.
Black acknowledged that the move up was a gamble for Greensboro. His ownership group was forced to cast aside an ECHL franchise worth at least $2 million and to pay $1 million for the AHL franchise.
Costs will rise and the Monarchs will lose control of their coaches and players, all of whom will be provided by Florida. Longtime coach Jeff Brubaker is not expected to be rehired.
Moreover, the team won't have any rivals south of Baltimore, ticket prices are going up about $2 apiece, and a franchise in the fledgling Southern Hockey League has moved into nearby Winston-Salem.
But Black says others in the ECHL eventually will join Carolina.
``Baltimore will be in the league next year and Lexington (Ky.) the next,'' he said. ``I think it's a matter of time before the Raleighs and Charlottes and Hampton Roads follow.
``Now that we're in the AHL, their fans are going to want it, too.'' by CNB