It's stereotyped as the sport of the simple man, combining speed-skating skills with street-fighting smarts.
Its popularity grows with the in-line skating fad.And its $10 tickets look cheap compared with the price of admission to an NBA game.
But does this mean there's a niche in Salt Lake City for professional hockey?
"Yes," say some. "Maybe," say others.
The International Hockey League, expanding by leaps and bounds since the late 1980s, thinks so, reacting favorably enough to a proposal floated last week to bring the league's Denver Grizzlies to suburban West Valley City. The IHL likes to place franchises in markets of 1 million or more residents and in home arenas with at least 10,000 seats, requirements met by the West Valley proposal.
That there is a question at all of whether a professional but minor-league hockey team can exist in a sports market with a couple of million people stems from the tumultuous history of the Golden Eagles. The team played in Salt Lake City for 15 years - often struggling to break even - before moving last year to suburban Detroit, where overnight it tripled its attendance and become a profitable enterprise.
The franchise's success in Michigan made people wonder why they couldn't do it here, though some said Salt Lake City's hockey hiatus would be short-lived.
"We all thought that was a market we would go back into given the right situation," Tim Bryant, an IHL spokesman, said this week as publicity swirled around a deal in the works between Grizzlies owner David Elmore and the government of Utah's second-biggest city.
West Valley City in an out-of-the-blue announcement nine days ago said it was ready to build a $34.5 million hockey palace for the Grizzlies in the heart of Salt Lake suburbia at 3500 South and I-215. But the news was greeted with immediate skepticism about arena revenue projections that seemed optimistic. Doubts about whether the proposal was financially viable were piggy-backed onto the fundamental issue of whether Salt Lake City is even a hockey town.
"I would say the fan base is extremely limited," said Larry Miller, the man who angered many hockey boosters last year when he sold the Golden Eagles to their new owners in Detroit. Miller had perennially lost money on the team, trying unsuccessfully to draw crowds into the Delta Center, a cavernous rink better suited for big-time basketball and designed primarily for Utah Jazz home games.
That the Golden Eagles failed is indisputable, though what happened to them might not necessarily befall a newcomer.
"We were treated like the red-headed stepchild of the Utah Jazz," said Mark Forbes, who was general manager of the Golden Eagles during their last season in Salt Lake City.
Forbes - and others - said it was a mistake to try to run the team through the same offices that administered the Jazz.
"There was too much intermingling of duties," he said.
Forbes, president and commissioner today of the Colonial Hockey League in the upper Midwest, said he supported Miller in his decision to unload the team, however, though he insisted this week that hockey can flourish in the Salt Lake area under the proper circumstances.
"Salt Lake City is one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation . . . if marketed properly (a team in a new arena) could average 8,000 to 9,000 per night," said Forbes.
Those familiar with the league say teams need to average draws of at least 7,500 to make money. The Golden Eagles during their waning days in Utah attracted only about 5,400 people to home games, and were especially weak in season-ticket revenues, selling only 427 their final year, according to Miller.
The franchise suffered not just at the box office. The Golden Eagles just before their move to Detroit suffered the worst win-loss record in their history and one of the most horrible in the annals of the IHL.
"People will not support a loser," said Art Teece, who owned the Golden Eagles for 10 years before selling to Miller in 1989.
Teece said a new arena occupied by a winning team like the Grizzlies - the reigning IHL champs - would lure a commitment from thousands of fans.
"I would be willing to bet money within the first two weeks to 30 days (the Grizzlies) would sell in the neighborhood of 5,000 season tickets," said Teece, who said advance sales are vital to covering startup costs.
Teece said those who doubt hockey is palatable to the locals need only think back to the early 1980s. During that era, the Golden Eagles played in the intimate and hockey-friendly Salt Palace, leading the league in attendance and some years outdrawing the Jazz, who had recently limped into town from New Orleans.
"The media have said Salt Lake is not a good hockey town," said Teece. "That's not so."
Hard-core hockey fans share this view.
"As far as where it's located, I'll go to hockey wherever it's located," said Mike Holmes, president of the Utah High School Hockey Association, an organization that caters to increasing legions of young hockey players in the Salt Lake area. "There's a tremendous potential for another pro sports team (in Salt Lake)," agreed Chuck Schell, a marketing executive with the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development who spent 11 years in various posts with the Golden Eagles, eventually working his way up the ladder to general manager.
Schell's confidence is so high in the market that he said the proposed 10,000-seat arena might prove too small to supply ticket demand: "12,500 is what I'd like to see."
The arena as envisioned would be among the smallest in the 19-city IHL, behind only Peoria and Fort Wayne. But it would also be the only rink built exclusively for an IHL franchise, relying to a dangerous degree on hockey revenues, a fact that fuels questions about its feasibility.
One contentious point in West Valley City's proposal is its estimate that an arena in the area would raise $1.4 million a year from suite rentals.
"That's too high," said Joe Buzas, owner of the Salt Lake Buzz, a triple-A baseball team that since its arrival last year from Portland has done spectacularly well, in no small part because it plays at the brand-new Franklin Quest Field, one of the most scenic and well-built minor-league stadiums in the country.
Though their numbers are off somewhat this year from 1994, the Buzz last season set Pioneer League attendance records and drew more fans than any farm-team franchise in America except for the venerable Buffalo (N.Y.) Bison.
Buzas - because of his success - understands as well as anyone the sports-marketing potential the Salt Lake are harbors but said all he could fetch for suites in the Buzz's spiffy ballpark was $20,000, where some went for as little as $16,000 and total suite revenues are $400,000. He pointed out, too, that the Buzz play a 72-home-game season that is twice as long as the IHL schedule, which typically features 41 home games per club.
Buzas said West Valley's estimates that a hockey club in a new arena would generate $260,000 a year in concession revenue and $350,000 in advertising were in the ballpark but that it had gone overboard in guessing that almost a half-million dollars would be raised each season for parking.
"That's ridiculous unless they charge $10 a car," said Buzas.
A West Valley hockey arena would presumably have more parking than the 800 paid slots around Franklin Quest Field. Still, Buzas said the $3 parking fee charged baseball fans only raised about $140,000 last year.
Another piece of the Grizzly proposal that raises eyebrows is the budget lines that call for $7 million in private cash donations and $2 million in in-kind gifts, figures Miller said are pie-in-the-sky.
Miller, who led a fund-raising consortium in 1993 to build the $25 Franklin Quest Field, noted that effort garnered a relatively small sum of $2.7 million.
"And I think we had a pretty good group doing it," said Miller. "I don't know who they're going to fund-raise to get $9 million."
Miller, who has been the target of substantial criticism for selling the Golden Eagles, has said repeatedly he was taking too big a loss on the team to keep it. He said this week that local hockey might do well in a new arena but that it is unlikely to be launched unless boosters can find a wealthy benefactor.
"If they have somebody in their hip pocket, more power to them," said Miller.
Political obstacles have been raised to the Grizzly-West Valley deal too.
Key to its consummation is a $7 million contribution from the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee, which has to construct an Olympics-quality ice arena anyway in time for the 2002 Winter Games, which will be hosted by Utah. Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini is pushing for such a facility to be built within her city's boundaries.
But West Valley City is a hockey marketer's dream, said Marc Amicone, another former Golden Eagles general manager.
"The majority of our fan base was from West Valley, Sandy, Riverton . . . (the proposed location) is right in the middle of what I would consider a hockey fan base," said Amicone, who works currently as marketing and promotions director for the University of Utah's athletic programs.
"They have the space out there," said hockey enthusiast John Kaiser, president of the Cottonwood Hockey League and a player in the Salt Lake Amateur Hockey Association. "If you build anywhere near the university, space is tight as it is. With a 10,000 seat arena you've got to have space for parking."
Amicone said the question that looms largest for him is whether there are enough potential paying fans in the Salt Lake area.
"The advertising and corporate support is there," he said, explaining how professional sports today depend significantly on corporate advertising but must also have steady attendance.
Elmore no doubt senses the moneymaking potential in Utah. The Grizzly owner, who has numerous minor-league sports holdings, in the early 1980s sought to move a Triple-A baseball team to Salt Lake City, but a dispute over territorial rights prompted him to put it in Colorado Springs instead.
The IHL, minor though it may be, is now big business, requiring expansion owners to pay an $8 million fee to join, a pricetag that has not thwarted newcomers. The Orlando Solar Bears and the San Fransisco Spiders will be added to this season's schedule, Grand Rapids has been awarded a franchise for the following year (boosting league membership to 20), and the IHL has said it wants to add eight more teams within the next few years.
The growing value of franchises is an indication of the organization's prosperity, said Bryant, noting that as recently as 1988 the Indianapolis Ice paid just $250,000 to enter the league.
The sale of IHL-licensed merchandise is another sign of vibrance, growing from $3 million in 1992-93 to $20 million last year. Attendance jumped by a similarly startling number in 1994-95, up 63 percent over the previous year.
Bryant said Utah's opportunity to rejoin the fray couldn't have occurred in a more propitious way.
"It's come along at a time when hockey is at its peak," he said.
Deseret News staff writer Brooke Adams contributed to this story.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
International Hockey League
19 cities in the International Hockey League
Salt Lake City Grizzlies*
Arena: West Valley (proposed)
Seats: 10,000
Avg. '94 attendance: N/A
Population: 2.1 million
National market rank: 37th
Los Angeles Ice Dogs**
Arena: L.A. Sports Arena
Seats: 14,700
Avg. '94 attendance: N/A
Population: 15.4 million
National market rank: 2nd
Chicago wolves
Arena: Rosemont Horizon
Seats: 16,535
Avg. '94 attendance: 11,512
Population: 8.8 million
National market rank: 3rd
San Francisco Spiders***
Arena: Cow Palace
Seats: 11,000
Avg. '94 attendance: N/A
Population: 6.3 million
National market rank: 5th
Detroit Vipers****
Arena: Palace of Auburn Hills
Seats: 20,182
Avg. '94 attendance: 14,263
Population: 4.7 million
National market rank: 9th
Atlanta Kings
Arena: The Omni
Seats: 14,919
Avg. '94 attendance: 8,503
Population: 4.3 million
National market rank: 10th
Houston Aeros
Arena: The Summit
Seats: 15,242
Avg. '94 attendance: 11,689
Population: 4.5 million
National market rank: 11th
Cleveland Lumberjacks
Arena: Gund Arena
Seats: 19,941
Avg. '94 attendance: 8,542
Population: 3.9 million
National market rank: 13th
Minnesota Moose
Arena: St. Paul Civic Center
Seats: 15,994
Avg. '94 attendance: 6,515
Population: 3.8 million
National market rank: 14th
Phoenix Roadrunners
Arena: Veterans Mem. Coliseum
Seats: 13,747
Avg. '94 attendance: 6,515
Population: 3.8 million
National market rank: 19th
Orlando *** Solar Bears
Arena: Orlando Arena
Seats: 15,732
Avg. '94 attendance: N/A
Population: 2.5 million
National market rank: 22nd
Indianapolis Ice
Arena: Market Square Arena
Seats: 15,993
Avg. '94 attendance: 5,426
Population: 2.5 million
National market rank: 24th
Milwaukee Admirals
Arena: Bradley Center
Seats: 17,845
Avg. '94 attendance: 8,542
Population: 2.1 million
National market rank: 29th
Cincinnati Cyclones
Arena: Cincinnati Gardens
Seats: 10,326
Avg. '94 attendance: 8,281
Population: 2.1 million
National market rank: 30th
Kansas City Blades
Arena: Kemper Arena
Seats: 15,771
Avg. '94 attendance: 6,787
Population: 2.1 million
National market rank: 31st
Michigan K-Wings (Kalamazoo/Grand Rapinds)
Arena: Wings Stadium
Seats: 5,113
Avg. '94 attendance: 4,217
Population: 1.8 million
National market rank: 38th
Las Vegas Thunder
Arena: Thomas & Mack Arena
Seats: 12,347
Avg. '94 attendance: 7,877
Population: 967,000
National market rank: 72nd
Fort Wayne Komets
Arena: Memorial Coliseum
Seats: 8,003
Avg. '94 attendance: 7,438
Population: 656,000
National market rank: 104th
Peoria Rivermen
Arena: Carver Arena
Seats: 9,470
Avg. '94 attendance: 5,823
Population: 560,000
National market rank: 114th
*Assuming the team relocates from Denver under a proposal unveiled earlier this month. The franchise last season drew an average of 12.094 fans to the 16,215-seat McNichols Arena in Denver. The last season in which Salt Lake hosted professional hockey (1993-94), the average draw to Delta Center home games was 4,800.
**Relocating from San Diego
***Expansion franchises that debut next season.
****Formerly the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (before 1994-95)
Source: International Hockey League