AMARILLO, TX – Everyone in the Texas Panhandle has felt the effects of the economy’s downturn… job reductions, rising gas and food prices and uncertainty in the banking sector to name a few. At a press conference on February 21, Amarillo Gorillas owner Randy Sanders announced the latest hit – the loss of Amarillo’s professional hockey team, the Amarillo Gorillas.
“It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce today, the Amarillo Gorillas will not be playing in Amarillo next season,” Sanders opened pointedly, “Basically, the economic times caught up with us. Needless to say, lack of attendance. With lack of attendance, lack of corporate support in the community, it became economically unfeasible to continue running the team. We lost about half a million dollars last year, and lost the year before as well.”
As the Rattlers, Amarillo was one of the flagship teams in the Western Professional Hockey League which included New Mexico, Austin, El Paso, Central Texas and Waco in 1996.
The league grew quickly, swelling to 19 teams in 1999, and starting 14 teams during the final season of the WPHL during the 2000-01 season before merging with the Central Hockey League for the 2001-02 season.
The following season, a change in ownership necessitated a change in names, and the Amarillo Gorillas were born. Under the coaching of Joe Ferras, the Gorillas managed to do something the Rattlers had never accomplished – make the playoffs. They would continue to do so for the first four seasons under Ferras’ guidance.
Inconsistent play plagued the Gorillas following Ferras’ departure. The teams – brilliant at times – were often a disappointment to fans expecting playoff runs.
At some point, Sanders had to look at the business of hockey, that is, the cost of keeping a team in a city that did not favor fan support nor corporate underwriting. Coupled with player unionization, rising ticket prices and increases in concession prices, seats in “the Jungle” became more and more empty, as families could no longer spare an extra hundred bucks to watch a struggling hockey team.
Shortsighted corporate sponsors tended to look only at the empty blue seats rather than the long-term community benefits of promoting a professional sports teams in Amarillo, a team which was bringing $1.2 million into the community by it’s very presence. “We ran the gambit of trying to get investors into the organization, but were unable to secure any additional investors. We finally just ran out of time,” said Sanders. “It had been our original plan to have both the CHL and the NAHL playing at the Civic Center. Fortunately, the Civic Center has worked hard to secure an NAHL team for Amarillo next season. We were not so fortunate in obtaining additional investors in the Gorillas to continue operations here.”
Sanders said he would continue with the CHL, and is looking to secure a city to place the franchise. Sanders also said he would continue his relationship with Amarillo as the owner of an arena football team, the Amarillo Venom which, having won their division, will be playing for a championship later this season.
The North American Hockey League will be expanding teams into Amarillo, Corpus Christi and Rio Rancho, New Mexico this season, and is looking to name the Amarillo team from fan submissions. The NAHL is Tier II amateur hockey, and until this season hosted the United States Developmental Hockey Team.
For more information, visit amarillonahl.com.
Contact Rushe.Hudson@prohockeynews.com
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