GindyDraws
Registered User
With the recent news of the Flames moving the Stockton Heat to Calgary, which was one of the teams that spurned both the creation of the AHL's Pacific Division but also the elimination of the ECHL's West Coast presence, I do have to wonder if it is at all possible for the ECHL to consider going back to places like Stockton and Bakersfield and potentially try again with similarly sized markets with Fresno (which had the Falcons, who struggled with arena issues before folding mid-season) or Oakland (the Oakland Arena's gonna need tenants, though I don't know if the Oakland Arena still has a functioning ice plant). This could alleviate the travel issues that have been put upon Idaho and Utah for years since the shift, but it would financially strain teams that are in the eastern part of the country should odd scheduling force them westward, though the solution would easily be to just have the California teams play Idaho and Utah a lot, and maybe throw in Allen and Tulsa once in a while.
I don't see it happening, but that hasn't stopped people from trying, and realistically, the ECHL is the only league that would make sense from a financial standpoint.
I don't see it happening, but that hasn't stopped people from trying, and realistically, the ECHL is the only league that would make sense from a financial standpoint.