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Talks continue on minor league hockey for Youngstown
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Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams
YOUNGSTOWN — City officials and the owner of the Mahoning Valley Phantoms are negotiating to bring minor league hockey back to the Chevrolet Centre.
The city and Bruce Zoldan, owner of the Phantoms junior hockey team, are talking with the owners of the Wheeling [W. Va.] Nailers, an ECHL franchise, about relocating to Youngstown.
“I’ve had multiple conversations with Wheeling and there’s very strong interest” in coming to Youngstown, Zoldan said.
“I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll have an ECHL team next season,” Mayor Jay Williams said.
There have also been preliminary discussions with the owners of the Dayton Bombers as well as with teams from lower leagues. But the conversations with the Nailers are more serious, Zoldan and Williams said.
If a deal is to be made it will have to be done quickly.
Brian McKenna, ECHL commissioner, said the deadline for Youngstown joining the league for the 2009-10 season is Jan. 21 when the league convenes its midseason meeting at Reading, Pa.
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Bruce Zoldan
“Right now, there is nothing firm in front of me,” McKenna said. “That doesn’t mean that something couldn’t be” by Jan. 21.
Regarding getting a deal done before the deadline, Williams said, “I don’t think it’s insurmountable. It won’t be easy, but it’s not insurmountable.”
Zoldan said he expects a decision as to whether he’d be involved in a partnership with the owners of a current hockey team would be made before Jan. 21.
For the complete story, read Thursday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com
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Comments
BRING IN THE ECHL!!!!!!
YES!!
This can be HUGE for Youngstown!
JOIN THE ECHL!!!
http://www.news-register.net/page/conten...
it's BS. i don't even think there will be a team next year either. hope i'm wrong, though.
Here we go again, the Mayor's office is going to rush a local businessman into hurriedly putting together a professional sports team before a deadline. Less than two weeks away! Does anyone remember the last time this happened and it didn't work? Then when there was to be no hockey, Mayor Williams blasted Herb Washington in the paper for not doing enough, not working with the city, etc. I am willing to bet that after an echl team doesnt work out this spring, that Mayor Williams will place all blame on Mr Zoldan, stating that he didn't work hard enough to get to the deadline, work with the city, etc. It is my opinion that (among other things) the second sentence of this article is precisely why this dream of an echl team next season will be just that, a dream. The city shouldn't be in negotiations for anything. I think if Mr. Zoldan wants to get anything done he needs to eliminate the city from talking to anyone. The minute you let the city in on any type of business deal, it gets loused up. My advice to Mr. Zoldan would be to make arrangements privately to own a franchise of an echl team, and when everything is damn near sewn up, then go to the city with your proposal, so that they don't louse up the business aspect of the process of bringing a team to the Valley. Unless you want the deal to fall through and the blame to fall on you from the mayor's office via the Vindicator, you just don't tell the city anything until you absolutely have to. It will make for good business.
As for the Nailers being serious about coming to Youngstown, I think that is a pretty far off deduction. The link above will pretty much put that rumor to rest. If anything, the brothers leave open the idea as if they were interested in relocating in 2009-2010, but since the wonderful folks from Youngstown let it be known that the Nailers were interested in relocating sooner, which they weren't, they have decided to shun any notion of coming to Youngstown in their local paper. Relocation of any sports team is a touchy process(see Art Modell), and it is best not to let anyone know until deals have been in place(especially when said team has already signed up for another season's dates in their current facility). Seeing as though the Nailers are already attempting to get more seats filled in the current arena, what makes you think they wanted to let out that they might be planning a move in the next year or two? This might be a stretch, but it seems to me that perhaps Youngstown thought by leaking a possible move that they would come sooner? Or maybe it is just another Youngstown media blunder? Whatever it is, this story has made the city look like buffons who don't know good business yet again, even if it is only to hockey fans and people from Wheeling.