ALBUQUERQUE – Rumors surfaced this week alluding to the suburb of Rio Rancho hosting an ECHL franchise beginning in the 2023-24 season.
The Albuquerque metro area has not hosted a professional franchise since the folding of the New Mexico Scorpions in 2009. The team iced their games from the Rio Rancho Events Center (current name).
A Junior club played for a season in the arena, but had little success due in part, to scant attendance.
Joe Cordova has been reported as the general manager for the club, whose ownership group, RJ Sports LLC, is based in Georgia.
Cordova was interviewed in a local newspaper and said he and RJ Sports are confident the team will take the ice in October 2023.
For those unaware of Rio Rancho, it is a suburb of Albuquerque, and is the new home of fried chicken. You cannot swing a dead scorpion without hitting a fried chicken vendor, or one under construction.
The Scorpions relocated to Rio Rancho after a tenure in Tingley Coliseum on the state fairgrounds in Albuquerque. That franchise started in 1996 in the Western Professional Hockey and was a success over the first two years. Interest waned quickly and the cavernous arena was hosting friends and family nights.
Cordova told the local newspaper that he and the ownership group believe there is a lot of pent-up energy in the area.
The trick in the metro area is not getting the early interest, it’s maintaining the interest over a three to five-year period to build a foundation.
The city’s event center sits in what is affectionately, though inaccurately, referred to as City Center. It is more a geographic term than a metaphorical moniker. The advantage this new club will have is the population in Rio Rancho. As the Scorpions folded, they were in a city of 60,000 residents. An estimated 104,000 now live in Rio Rancho. Albuquerque reports a population of over 550,000 (2020 Census).
It seems what is really needed is an ownership group with deep pockets, resilience, patience, commitment, and deep pockets.
A bridge reconstruction firm would be appropriate as well. It’s been 13 years since the Scorpions left, but nothing really washes off the stench of a bad relationship.
It will be fun to see the Toledo Walleye, the Savannah Ghost Pirates, Greenville Swamp Rabbits, and the current Kelly Cup Champs Florida Everbaldes come through town. We recommend a few dozen places for fried chicken.
Cordova has said that a final decision is coming soon, and press conference will be scheduled to release the team name, logo, and colors.
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