Ice Hockey To Return To Escambia County — Maybe

May 1, 2009

The Escambia County Commission approved a deal in a special meeting Thursday to return hockey to the civic center — but there is one little catch.

For the agreement to continue, hockey organizers must sell 1,250 season tickets in a 90 day period beginning May 15. Without the advance season ticket sales, the commission says the deal is off.

Under the agreement approved unanimously by commissioners Thursday, the Southern Professional Hockey League will bring hockey back to the Pensacola Civic Center, which was known as the “Hanger” for 12 years while it hosted the Pensacola Ice Pilots.

The majority owner of the team would be former winger for the Philadelphia Flyers Tim Kerr. Kerr owned the Ice Pilots for two years before it was sold in 2005. Kerr says he will write a $1 million check to get the team started.

Each time less than 2,500 fans attend a game, the Civic Center will get $1. In addition, the franchise owner will pay $2,000 for each game, considerably less than the $3,500 paid by the Ice Pilots per game.

The return of ice hockey to the Pensacola Civic Center is not without a price tag for the county; it will cost about $250,000 to upgrade Civic Center equipment for ice hockey.

Comments

5 Responses to “Ice Hockey To Return To Escambia County — Maybe”

  1. waterwings on May 16th, 2009 11:35 am

    Any information on where season tickets are being sold?

  2. Chris Maloney on May 1st, 2009 12:18 pm

    How much are season tickets?

  3. psu1earl on May 1st, 2009 7:12 am

    Oh, BTW…I believe Kerr said he would pay the $250K back to the county over 3 or 4 years…even though those upgrades needed to be done regardless if hockey was to be there…the money is to replace things like the score board (USA vs UF basketball will need it too, etc..) and the ice making units (so how would we have Disney on ice without that?)…

  4. psu1earl on May 1st, 2009 7:08 am

    I plan on buying a few season tickets…the kids love going to watch…um…walk around with their friends? lol…I watch the games and the wife talks non-stop with hers friends! A little something for everyone…

  5. Chris Maloney on May 1st, 2009 3:03 am

    I’d buy season tickets just to have something different in town other than a bar.