There isn’t a long and storied history of professional hockey in Orlando, Fla., but that doesn’t mean there’s no history at all. Hockey has been played in the city at a relatively high level, but it’s never really seen long-term success. Now, the ECHL is bringing the game back.
ECHL Expanding To Orlando Despite City’s Tough Hockey Past
The league announced on Tuesday that they’ve approved membership of a new franchise that will call Orlando’s Amway Arena home, and the team will begin play in October 2012. They’ll become the ECHL’s 22nd team.
Hockey last found a home in Orlando thanks to the Florida Seals. Founded in 2002, the Seals played games in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League, the WHA2 and the Southern Professional Hockey League for four seasons until 2007, when the club ceased operations.
They were forced out of their Orlando home, TD Waterhouse Center -- known today as Amway Arena -- in 2005 after a dispute between the team and the city, which operated the arena, over attendance at games. Their lease was revoked and the team didn’t play the 2004-05 season, ultimately moving south to Kissimmee for a season before they were forced out of an arena there as well.
The Seals were predated in Orlando by the Orlando Solar Bears, founded in 1994. The Solar Bears played in the International Hockey League prior to that league folding in 2001, and while some teams were scooped up by the American Hockey League after the IHL’s dissolution, the Solar Bears were left to fade into oblivion.
It was a shame, too, because the Solar Bears were a very solid IHL franchise. Attendance dwindled considerably as the team aged over its six-year life span -- in fact, the average was cut in half from the inaugural season to their final season -- but the team was still drawing about 5,000 fans per game at that point.
That’s a number that wasn’t very good for the IHL, but would put them in good company in the ECHL today.
The city embraced an IHL club over a decade ago, but they've clearly rejected lower semi-pro leagues like the SPHL and ACHL. The ECHL sort of falls in the middle here. It's also worth noting that the Tampa Bay Lightning played a preseason game at Amway in September in front of about 11,000 fans, so there's certainly interest in the game there.
There is a hockey legacy in Orlando, and there’s a natural rival in the Florida Everblades of the ECHL. Who knows exactly how this will work out? It could really go either way.
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