RIO RANCHO, NM – Recently hockey fans in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho found out their identity, when it was revealed the new ECHL team would be called the New Mexico Goatheads.
The name was chosen through a fan vote, between Cutthroats, Tarantula Hawks and Goatheads. General Manager Jared Johnson explained it was close, “It was extremely close, we had over 6,000 votes and each one was within 100 votes of each other. It was tough to decipher, we thought one was going to blow the others out of the water, but it didn’t and Goatheads ended up being the winner.”
Johnson explained the inspiration behind the logo, “There’s a little bit of everything and some nice Easter eggs in there. On the mouth there’s the Sandia Mountains which are synonymous with the area, the forehead has the actual goathead thorn, there’s the Zia which is the State flag on the horns and the fir on the chin signifies the desert and the heat. Obviously we wanted something cool and fierce and that’s what we got. We also have our secondary logo shaped like a goathead thorn and the State logo as well. The next step is designing the jerseys and making something cool out of that.’
This is Rio Rancho’s third hockey team and second professional hockey team, Mayor Gregg Hull says it’s a different city now and the support is there, “When the Scorpions were here, they were a little bit before their time. I think they would have been more successful if the city had grown. There were a lot of economic factors that slowed things down. Ultimately a lot of things happened, in 2008 we had the housing market collapse. Those economic factors played into the longevity of certain things. Rio Rancho only has around 60,000 residents, people felt like Rio Rancho’ was this long trek to come out here and watch a game.” Hull continued, “The arena also had the same name as the Santa Ana Star casino and some people were confused if they were going to an arena or the casino. Now it’s the Rio Rancho Events Center, we’re a population of nearly 120,000 now. Everything is a little different, also people learn to appreciate what they had after they lose it. Now that we’re getting it back, it’s our job to keep it here, it’s our job to support them and fill this arena. We need to show them that they invested in the right community and the right state.’
President of Rev Entertainment Sean Decker says they had to convince the city to get on board, “Full disclosure, I got a call from a friend who asked if I had looked at the Rio Rancho Events Center. If I’m being completely honest, I couldn’t have pointed to Rio Rancho on a map at that time. It was early last summer, I did a lot of research on the market and flew out here. The city was very thorough, it was really important to the city and their leadership that if they did hockey again, that they didn’t miss. Frankly, I had to interview for the job. Usually when you go to a city and tell them you want to spend all this money to bring a team people are like come on. Not here, it was very much proving our commitment to doing it the right way and I appreciated how diligent they were. From the time we got their blessing we were off and running, then we had to get the league approval and that was almost a year ago today. This is a major milestone with the team announcement.”
Decker believes Rio Rancho is ready for pro hockey and gives the Ice Wolves some credit for that, “When we looked at the market and saw how successful the Ice Wolves are, that was encouraging. If I’m being honest, for us, Rio Rancho is a different place than when this building was built. It’s going to be the second largest city in the State by 2026, we looked at the love of hockey and the Ice Wolves definitely played a big part in that. In the professional sports world today, there aren’t many States where you’re the only game in town. The fact we’re going to be the only pro hockey team in the State was compelling to us. It gives us an opportunity to build on something that had a strong tradition here that went away for a while and the demand is there.” Decker said, “We’re approaching 1,000 season ticket deposits, we’re well on our way with over a year until we start. Our expectation is to sell out every night and we have to do our job to get there. We have to be in the community and prove our commitment to this market. When you take it to the next step, we also have to throw a world class party. What we say we do is we’ll throw a great party and a hockey game will break out. If you’re a die hard hockey fan, we’re going to put a very competitive product on the ice, but if you just want to come here for something fun to do with your family, we’re going to cater to you too. We’re going to do something different every night so if you come to 10 games a year, you’re going to have 10 very different experiences.”
The next step is finding an NHL and AHL affiliate, Decker explained that it’s a thorough process, “The ECHL has 32 teams now with the last one in Augusta, GA being approved, as you start to think about it there are teams that have a storied tradition in a certain market. We’re not going to steal one of those away. Obviously we want the geography to make sense, it would make sense for our fans to have a team closer that they would want to cheer for. Ultimately we’ve started those conversations and talked to a number of NHL teams and I really think in the next 6 months we’ll be able to make an announcement. I don’t think there’s a true leader, for us our biggest desire is geography. It’s a two way street, it’s a dating game, they’ll need to want us as much as we want them. When they get here, we’ll need to make sure they don’t want to leave. They’ll want to play in front of a packed house, getting fans here is great and they’ll want to live in a great place and Rio Rancho has all of that to offer here.”
Photos courtesy of Zach Price and Diana Marion
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