Tim Kerr is telling the PNJ that his team may not be able to play hockey this season. Kerr is under the gun to sell sell 1,250 season tickets in a 90-day period that began May 15 so that he can get a sweetheart lease at the Civic Center.
When the Escambia County Commission agreed to invest $250,000 into Pensacola Civic Center to get it ready for ice hockey, Kerr said the he would write a $1 million check to get the team started.
Kerr owned the Pensacola Ice Pilots for two seasons and sold them after the team lost in the ECHL championship series. He lives in New Jersey.
The league in which the new team may some day play is the Southern Professional Hockey League which is several levels below the ECHL. It only has four teams: Columbus Cottonmouths, Fayetteville FireAntz, Huntsville Havoc and Knoxville Ice Bears, although it is trying to add teams here, Biloxi and Lafayette.
The SPHL website lists the Twin City Cyclones as a team, but when I visited that team’s website I found this notice from the owners:
The Twin City Cyclones would like to thank all 1,100 loyal fans that came to our hockey games as well as the handful of loyal corporate sponsors that tried their best to help us over the last two years. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough and we will be ceasing operations effective March 31, 2009.
This was a personal, difficult decision to make for me and the entire organization. My wife and I will miss all the great people we met and got to know in Winston-Salem over the past two years.
Two years ago we placed the number of fans in the seats at 2200 to 2300 for each game in order for the Cyclone franchise to remain in Winston-Salem. As most of you know this did not occur. We tried many advertising venues and spent over $100,000.00 in the past two years to try and draw more fans into the seats. Again we didn’t meet the 2200 to 2300 per game attendance mark. Our entire organization truly enjoyed the folks in Winston-Salem and will miss them. I wish to thank “Bucky†and his entire staff for their help and support over the last two years. The Annex at the LVJM Coliseum Annex was a fun place to play hockey.
It just came down to money lost. And please, if you are angry, do not take it out on the Annex complex. They also tried their best to make it work. All we needed was another $150.000.00 in corporate support and 1200 more fans in the seats for each game. I did not see this occurring in the future, especially with the recent economic downturn.
So until we meet again- keep the wind at your back, the sun on your face and may the good Lord hold you in the palm of his hand.
Thanks again, Bob Kerzner, Majority owner, Twin City Cyclones
Another team listed on the SPHL website, Richmond Renegades also ceased operations at the end of the 2008-2009 season.The team website no longer is active.
I did find this announcement by the Renegades ownership:
The Richmond Renegades offices formally closed today when we turned in our notice to the Richmond Coliseum stating we would not be picking up our option years. The SPHL league office was also notified.
For the past several weeks we have known it would be very difficult to raise the necessary capital to remain open and/or to find a buyer. We looked north and have been trying to keep hockey here by trying to bring the Philly Phantoms to Richmond. Many contacts have been made with the new ownership but they had already committed to Glens Falls, New York and made the move official yesterday. It now appears that for the first time in 20 years there will not be any hockey this winter in Richmond.
What has the County gotten us into? Why has the PNJ, particularly Mark O’Brien, been so supportive of this hockey deal?