RIO RANCHO, NM – After months of efforts to salvage the franchise, Dave Ellett, principal owner of the New Mexico Scorpions of the Central Hockey League, was forced to cease operations.
The rumors of the club’s demise began in December of 2008 with financial worries chief among them. Those financial issues were, in the end, too great to overcome. A mid-May deadline had been extended to the franchise by the CHL because two other clubs were in the middle of negotiating deals. One failed, in Rocky Mountain, and the other is near successful conclusion in Bossier-Shreveport.
Marketing problems, antagonism with city officials, lack of cooperation from arena management, and civic apathy toward the club conspired to doom the team. A new building, Santa Ana Star Center, was not enough to attract fans or the curious. Citizens of Rio Rancho avoided the team and arena in droves in part because the city never really embraced the arena or the team.
The refrain of “it’s too far away,” was all too familiar to the Scorpions’ front office. Frustrating the club even more was the success of certain entertainment acts including George Lopez and Jeff Dunham as well as WWE wrestling which sold old and in Lopez’ case multiple night sellouts in the same arena that was too far to get to.
The current franchise was the second iteration of the Scorpions moniker. Previous ownership ceased operations for the 2005-2006 CHL season and Ellett and colleagues purchased the franchise in the move to Rio Rancho from Albuquerque. Early success on the ice was not met with enthusiasm or excitement by the local population. Not that any other sports franchise in the metro area was any more successful. In fact, one could have argued the Scorpions were at least as successful as the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Pacific Coast League.
The third largest city in the state was unwilling or unable to support the hockey club. In the end it was apathy that killed the club.
And now it is difficult to imagine the Albuquerque metro area supporting a hockey franchise at any level. But at the same time it is not inconceivable that some ownership group somewhere thinks the Albuquerque area is perfect for hockey. And then a team will be placed here in some league and in another few years the fans will be disappointed again as they are deserted once more.
Albuquerque and Rio Rancho are professional hockey dead zones. The ground needs to lie fallow for a good number of seasons before the sport can take root. A rush to fill the void will fail. The area is poisoned for hockey.
And so many are to blame.
Contact lou.lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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