ORLANDO, Fla. – Three years ago during the opening weekend of the fifth anniversary year of the Southern Professional Hockey League, then-commissioner Jim Combs was asked where he thought the league would be by the time its tenth year started. He responded by saying that he would be pleased if the league was up to 10-12 teams by that point.
As the league now heads toward its eighth season, the low end of the goal is just one franchise away with the addition of the Mississippi RiverKings earlier this week. For now-SPHL President Jim Combs, it is the fruition of a dream combined with a twinge of frustration and maybe a little bit of luck.
“I’ve always tried to position ourselves to get to that 10-12 number and really 12 is about the perfect number. There’s actually a couple of cities that I’m disappointed that they don’t have teams yet because I’ve had some ownership 
groups that are interested and cities that are interested,” Combs said. “Would I have guessed that Mississippi would come into our league? No I wouldn’t have guessed that but you’ve got to set yourself for when people want to come. I think we have.”
When Combs says that he would have never guessed that the RiverKings would join the SPHL, it is something of an understatement. That is until one takes a look at the underlying reason for the shift – money.
It is no secret that playing in the double-A level Central Hockey League has advantages like call-ups that can move players closer to the NHL. There is however a cost in that the budget model is higher than single-A hockey (weekly salary caps are said to be in the range of $11,000 per week) and teams have to deal with a players union (which may or may not be a financial issue depending on who you talk to). Probably the worst item of all may be the travel budget which in the current economy is choking the life out of teams that have long distances to go while having trouble bringing in sufficient revenue at home.
This year alone, the CHL is seeing the loss of several teams including Mississippi as well as the 2011 Miron Cup champion Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. The RiverKings were an especially difficult pill to swallow since they were one of three original CHL teams and would have been entering their 20th season in the league in October.
“Bossier had to shut down because the economic model at the double-A level is extremely expensive. The numbers are upside-down,” Combs said. “Mississippi reached out (to the SPHL). They needed to find something that was financially feasible to go forward.”
(As a primer for those not familiar with the SPHL, the league has a weekly salary cap of $5,600 per week for 18 players and has teams with operating budgets that are in the area of $1 million – half of what the CHL and ECHL run. It also does not have a union representing its players.)
When the CHL had its annual meeting in Arizona June 9-11, it asked for commitments from teams for next season. That was apparently when a deal was struck by the Maddox Foundation, which operates the RiverKings, to leave the CHL. From there, they contacted Combs and the deal to join the SPHL was consummated quickly.
“It was a situation that the RiverKings had to work with the CHL to get a release. They couldn’t do anything until they had a release,” Combs said. “They knew they weren’t going to participate next season in the CHL so they had to wait until all the paperwork was done properly before they could come to us or do anything officially. Once that happened, they were able to secure everything on our side of it.”
Given the fact that the SPHL had set May 15 as the “drop dead date” for teams to commit to playing in October or for new franchises to join, the addition of the RiverKings almost a month after that date was a surprise. Combs said the fact that the Mississippi franchise had all of the necessary pieces (active fan base, full staff, marketing plan, building with available dates, etc.) in place allowed the move to happen.
“It makes it easier. Literally the building dates, the team, everything they have is already in place. It’s not a start-up operation,” he said. “These aren’t people that have never had or have never been in hockey before. They have a team. They’ve been established. This will be their 20th season. They know how to do hockey there. They know to run it well. They just needed some place to have the ability to make the numbers work out. I know they have a lot of support in Memphis (Southaven) but the double-A level travel and the bills are just overwhelmingly expensive.”
In all honesty, most people thought that the Mudbugs would be the first team to jump to the SPHL. Owner Tommy Scott was losing money and wanted to stem the losses while still maintaining a franchise. Scott did contact Combs in February to get information on the league but Combs said he has not talked to Scott since.
With the relative ease that Mississippi had in gaining its release from any potential commitments asked of it by the CHL, it raised a question as to whether or not Bossier could negotiate a similar deal, reverse its plan to go dark, reorganize its ownership and finances and join the SPHL. Combs put that notion to rest very quickly, explaining that there was much more to the Mudbugs‘ situation than met the eye.
“Bossier is done. I’m not privy to what it was, if there was money involved, if there was time served involved, as to why or how the Central Hockey League team (Mississippi) was let go by the CHL. It’s a situation where there are a lot of moving parts because the Central Hockey League is not necessarily the Central Hockey League,” he said. “They are three hockey leagues working under joint operating agreements under the CHL moniker – you have the CHL, the IHL (International Hockey League) and you have the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL). Bossier is actually a WPHL team so they have to deal with the WPHL to get a release.”
Last season, the SPHL fielded eight teams, an even number that assured fans that no team would be sitting home alone on a weekend night. It was widely thought that an expansion would include two teams to move the SPHL to an even ten teams. Combs said that although that would make life easier, the league prefers not to wait when it has an opportunity to bring a new franchise in.
“Certainly even numbers would go (better) in an expansion but the way teams work, we take them as we get them,” he said. “Two years ago we had an expansion of three that took us to seven instead of six. Well, we can’t tell a team to sit out. It would actually work out better if the RiverKings sat out a year but at the end of the day they want to continue hockey in their community. They want to continue to be a part of the Southaven / Memphis area. They want to be a part of the area’s sports (community) and they want to continue it so they approached us. They went to the Board of Governors, everybody had a discussion and we moved forward with the situation.”
Since the RiverKings roster is considered CHL, all of their players became free agents, creating the need for an expansion draft of sorts. Combs said that the team has already been given a list of unprotected SPHL players and will have the opportunity to pick six. He said that he expected that process to be done very soon and the results will be announced possibly as soon as the end of this week.
Another issue that has been raised is the idea of having two team both named Mississippi – the reigning champion Surge in Biloxi and the RiverKings in Southaven. Combs said that as far as the league is concerned, it will be up to the teams as to whether or not to alter their names.
“That’ll be up to either one of those clubs if they want to change their name or make it something different,” he said. “I think RiverKings is pretty recognizable over the Surge.”
With the volatility of the landscape of minor league hockey appearing that it will continue, Combs said that he thinks the best course for the long term health and well being of the SPHL is the one it is currently on.
“I think we’re going to be right here in our footprint. We’re not going too far. We’re going to try to get to that 12 teams to be perfect. We’re going to stay independent. We’re not going to have affiliations. We’re going to do any of that type of stuff,” he said. “We’re still going to stay doing what we’re doing and trying to continue to be successful and try to make sure all of our owners and teams are successful in getting fans in and making it exciting in their communities.”
Considering the potential of more stormy seas ahead, it looks like Jim Combs and the SPHL may just have the smoothest sailing of all.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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