ORLANDO, FL – Even though it was only a first step, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer couldn’t help but bring it up during his mayor’s update before the formalities had even been completed.
Monday afternoon, the Orlando City Council unanimously approved a proposed lease between the city and Orlando Pro Hockey Operations LP to bring an ECHL hockey team to the Amway Center next October. The passing of the lease was just the first move in establishing a team for the double-A league’s 25 anniversary season in 2012-2013. If the project comes to fruition, it will be the first pro hockey season played downtown since 2003-2004 and the first in Central Florida since January of 2007.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity to host professional hockey again here in the city of Orlando. We’ve got a nice history with the Solar Bears,” Dyer said. “The nice thing about hockey at that level, is that the price point on the tickets is something that a family of four can afford. I remember taking my kids to the Solar Bears games and it’s just going to be exciting to have it (again).”
The last team to call Orlando home was the Orlando Seals who played at the old Amway Arena from 2002-2003 in the rebirth of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League and 2003-2004 as part of the WHA2. The team and the city ran into issues during the summer of 2004 and before the franchise became part of the SPHL, it was sent packing from the Amway and ended up in Kissimmee where it was renamed the Florida Seals.
Prior to the Seals, the Orlando Solar Bears skated on the ice in the final years of the original IHL. The Bears, who were owned by RDV Sports (the owners of the NBA Magic and the IHL Grand Rapid Griffins), won the final IHL Turner Cup championship in 2001 before the league and the team went away. In an ironic twist, the ACHL Seals won its league championship giving the city two hockey titles in the space of three seasons.
For about a year, Orlando Pro Hockey Operations LP has been negotiating with the city and venues director Allen Johnson on the lease, which the ECHL requires before entertaining an application for a franchise. Both sides did due diligence on the other during that time, with the team looking at the feasibility of starting a team, while the city wanted to know if the ownership had the resources to meet the terms of the lease.
“In my experience, through my career with these minor league teams, is that I always want to see an owner and find out what his vision is. What I like about Joe and Bob and Jay, is that again, the long period of due diligence as well as a realistic approach to when success will be there,” Johnson said about the new potential owners.
“They don’t think that they’re going to be the new Bill Coffey of the world and make a gazillion dollars the first year. They’re realistic about how they’re going to develop the product. They know they have to build it and they’re starting a year early which gives them a good chance to have time so they’re not having to run yet they can still walk and crawl and build that up so there’s a time to be successful.”
Bob Ohrablo and Joseph Haleski, members of Orlando Pro Hockey Operations’ ownership group, were in Orlando for the lease approval. Ohrablo has an extensive history in minor league hockey, working for several IHL teams during the league’s initial incarnation, several AHL teams, the New York Golden Blades of the upstart WHA and the NHL’s Florida Panthers. His most recent job was as senior vice-president of sales and development for the AHL’s Connecticut Whale franchise, which is owned by former Hartford Whalers owner Howard Baldwin.
Ohrablo said that connections he made during his IHL days with staff people from the Solar Bears and seeing the Amway Center when Tampa hosted St. Louis last month played parts in crafting the plan to put a team in Orlando.
“I was with the IHL for a while in Phoenix and I got to know a lot of the Orlando people including Don Waddell and names from the past. I really thought that this would be a good market that hasn’t had a hockey team in a while. Then when we saw the Amway Center, we just said it needs it (a team),” he said. “We were so impressed with the crowd. We were so impressed with the number of Solar Bears jerseys we saw walking around the halls. We saw people who knew the sport. They knew when to cheer. It just reinforced our decision that it was right.”
Ohrablo’s hockey background across just about every level has allowed him to see what works in different areas. He said that there were numerous reasons why he and the rest of the ownership group felt that the ECHL and Orlando would be perfect for each other.
“There’s a few things. First of all there’s the stability of the ECHL. Next season – our first if we get the franchise – will be the 25th year of the ECHL. The second is the strength of that league as opposed to the AHL, which is where I’ve come from, in the southeast. Having the rivalry with Florida, having the rivalry with Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina, Gwinnett will be real nice. And I know their future expansion plans involve more southeastern teams so I think that was a big part of it,” he said. “Then there’s the stability of the rosters. It’s more stable in the ECHL than the AHL, where there are constant call-ups and send downs and things like that. We just want to make sure we put a product on the ice that fans are going to enjoy that’s going to be competitive and we thought the ECHL would give us the best opportunity.”
Haleski’s background is in financial markets and real estate. He is listed as the C.O.O. of Duquesne Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund sponsor based in Pittsburgh. He is also the treasurer of Lost Tree Corp., a company that deals in residential communities. Lost Tree has several communities along the east coast of Florida. He said that his reasons for wanting to place a team in Central Florida are more personal.
“I’ve always been interested in the Orlando area because I have family in the area. My parents live here, my two sisters, nieces and nephews so I have a very strong family tie to Orlando,” he said. “I think it’s just a great fit and the town needs to have hockey back. This is one of the bigger markets that doesn’t have a hockey team so I thought it was a great idea and wanted to be involved in it.”
The three-year lease calls for the team to host a minimum of 36 home games at the Amway Center at a cost to the team of $22,000 per game in year one and $25,000 per game in years two and three for use of the lower bowl. If the team needs to use the upper seating area, it will cost an additional $10,000 each time.
Over a 36-game season, the rent in the first year equates to $792,000 and $900,000 in years two and three. The amount is a daunting number to look at, but Haleski said that it is now their job to make the money to pay the bill.
“We need to put fans in the stands. We’re going to do that. We’re going to work very hard at that and I think we can be very successful at it,” he said. “I’m going to leave that up to Bob. I mean that’s his specialty. He’s run hockey teams before. That’s not my area but I’m totally 100 percent backing what he’s going to do.”
When asked about how the lease stack up to other ECHL leases, Ohrablo said that comparing the Orlando lease to any others is like comparing apples to oranges, mainly because of the Amway Center.
“It’s hard to match up our agreement here with any other agreement because it’s hard to match up this building with any other building,” he said, referring to the $400 million state-of-the-art Amway. “There’s so many opportunities in this market, in this building, to produce revenue and be successful that other buildings don’t have. So yes, we’re paying a little bit more, but at the same time there’s a lot more opportunities here.”
With the rental costs being higher, one would think that ticket prices would skyrocket to defray the expense. Ohrablo assured everyone that keeping many of the tickets in the “fan-friendly” range of $12-$20 for single game attendance – with a goal of averaging 4,000-6,000 fans every night – was a major goal.
“The way the building is laid out, it allows us to address that because we want to make sure we keep it family affordable and we’re not the highest priced team in the league,” Ohrablo said. “There’s so much premium seating here that you can charge a little bit more for it. It’s a different market – you’re not going after the families for those seats. You’ve got the loge boxes and the suites and things like that so we’ll be able to have a little higher ticket price in terms of certain areas of the building and that will allow us to have family pricing in other areas.”
From the city perspective, Johnson said that he felt that the terms of the lease were a “win-win” situation for everyone.
“I always approach any deal I do that if I win and they lose I lose. If they win and I lose I still lost. If we all lose we all lose. Any deal that we’ve tried to do since I’ve been here in our tenure and with direction from the mayor is let’s do what we need to do to make sure that we’re successful but also make sure that our other tenants are successful. I think we’ve done that with our Magic (NBA) agreement and with our Predator (AFL) agreement,” he said. “Now with this agreement, I think they (OPHO) have a chance to start off where they want to using the lower bowl configuration and then the nights they want to grow to the full arena allow that to occur. That’s why the pricing was done in that tiered way. I think we have a contract that covers us for our basic costs because having ice down for nine months of the year is a lot more expensive than we’ve experienced in the past. I think this gives us a chance for us to be successful to recoup our costs, make a little bit of money on our side and it gives them a chance to at least build upon their base and in the long term for them to be successful.”
With the Amway Center having the NBA as its primary tenant, getting the highly profitable weekend (Friday and Saturday) date for the hockey team might be an issue. Johnson said that contrary to that belief, there should be plenty of good dates available and that even the idea of a basketball-hockey doubleheader is not out of the question.
“Fortunately, the Magic, especially Alex Martins the president of the team, has been very supportive of the hockey venture. He’s met with the owners and has developed a relationship with them so that number one helps. Number two, the NBA is what it is. The schedule is 90-some dates off your books until some time in late July or August 1st then we’ll have to book from there. What I’ve seen in the last couple of years since – the Amway schedule from last season and this season for the Magic – is there are still a lot of Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays that are available,” Johnson said. “I don’t know that getting a prime date is going to be that big of an issue. It’s certainly going to have to work around the Magic schedule but I believe we’ll have enough success and enough dates available that we’ll be able to accommodate most of the requests if it’s weekends that they want or pick a particular night. We’ve even talked about doubleheaders. That’s a possibility. The building has the capability to do that. Obviously it’s a changeover situation but if we have to do that the Magic have said well let’s do a doubleheader.”
Ohrablo added that the help of the Magic and the city regarding scheduling is very much appreciated by the potential new kids on the block.
“The Magic have been great through this whole process as has the city and Allen. They understand what we need for dates in terms of dates and we’re comfortable enough to know that everyone will work together to get us those dates that we need,” he said. “I think there’s plenty of date to go around for everybody.”
The economic value of having another team playing in the Amway Center is not lost on Mayor Dyer nor any of the county commissioners who voted to accept the lease. Of course, Dyer couldn’t resist noting that the building certainly will be the envy of the rest of the ECHL.
“This new team is going to be playing in the best facility in the country so some of the major league teams are probably going to be jealous of them being able to play in the Amway Center,” Dyer said.
It’s a jealousy that the city and Orlando Pro Hockey Operations hope they can take to the bank. Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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