The Springfield Falcons are about to fly west for good. The latest departure of a northeast American Hockey League team will leave Massachusetts without an AHL team for the first time since the 1950s.
Springfield was there at the beginning of the AHL in 1936. Except for a few years in the 1950’s the city has always had a team in the top minor league of professional hockey. But that long association may have ended for good with the announcement this week that the NHL Arizona Coyotes have a deal to buy the Falcons and plan to move the franchise to Tucson beginning with the 2016-17 AHL season.
Falcons owner Charlie Pompea told The Republican he decided to sell the team he had owned since 2010 because he concluded Springfield could not support a pro hockey team. The Falcons were dead last in AHL attendance this season.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, a Falcons season ticket-holder, said Pompea’s decision to sell the team was disappointing, but not surprising.
" Our goal now is to see if professional hockey can continue to stay in the city of Springfield," said Sarno.
Sarno said he would reach out to the president of the AHL, which has its league office in Springfield, and to the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, which owns the MassMutual Center where the Falcons were the top tenant.
Despite the sparse attendance at the games, Sarno said there was a positive economic impact in downtown Springfield when the Falcons played a home game.
" It is important that we plug these holes. There are over 40 dates. You are looking at jobs. You are looking at vendor supply and materials spin-off. You are looking at impacts on our restaurants and pouring establishments," Sarno said.
The city’s economic development director, Kevin Kennedy, said it is hard to put a finger on why the Falcons failed.
" Entertainment has changed dramatically especially in the last ten years," observed Kennedy. "Everything is changing in the entertainment world and you just have to adjust."
Pete Dougherty, veteran hockey reporter with the Albany Times Union, said the pending move of the Falcons to Arizona continues a trend that has seen AHL franchises from places like Glens Falls, Worcester, and Manchester relocated closer to the West Coast home of the parent NHL team.
" Overall I would say it has probably been successful for those teams, not only in terms of attendance, but just having the ability to move players back-and-forth in a short period of time rather than having them fly across the country to go from the AHL team to the NHL team," said Dougherty.
And the prospects for Springfield getting another AHL franchise?
" To be honest, I don't think it is very good because of the movement toward the west." said Dougherty. " Manchester was a very successful franchise in terms of attendance and it still got moved. (Manchester) took an ECHL ( East Coast Hockey League) team, Glens Falls took an ECHL team. It is the double-A of hockey, a step below the AHL. I would think that might have to be in Springfield's future."
There are no reports that any AHL teams are currently for sale. Sixteen of the 30 AHL franchises are owned by an NHL team, making the odds even longer for Springfield to remain an AHL city.
