Flames AHL affiliate seeking new lease in Stockton
By Ryan Pike
4 years agoAfter a lot of speculation about the team’s future in the market, it sure sounds like the Calgary Flames’ American Hockey League affiliate might be staying in Stockton, California for the long haul.
Reporting from Stockton’s local newspaper, The Record, indicates that the Heat (owned by the Flames) are currently in discussions with the City of Stockton on a new lease.
Heat chief executive officer Brian Petrovek said Tuesday that the American Hockey League franchise informed city officials earlier this month that it would not pick up a five-year option on its contract at Stockton Arena, but instead would like a one-year extension while a long-term deal is negotiated.“Our primary objective is to work with the city to figure this thing out,” Petrovek said. “That’s our preference.”The extension would keep the Heat in Stockton through the 2020-21 season. The contract called for the team to notify the city by Oct. 4, the first game of this season, whether it would pick up the option. Petrovek said the Heat met its obligation.
In the frenzied activity that led to the AHL setting up its westward expansion in 2015, the Heat signed a five-year lease with a five-year option built in. But as The Record reports, the feeling is that a lot of the language in the original lease is a bit outdated (some terms were reportedly more applicable to the ECHL’s Thunder than the AHL club’s situation) and so the Heat are hoping to get it tidied up a bit, which their proposed one-year extension would allow them to do. Upgrades to the team’s practice rink are a main focus of the recent chats.
The AHL currently has five teams in California – the Heat (Flames), Bakersfield Condors (Oilers), Ontario Reign (Kings), San Diego Gulls (Ducks) and San Jose Barracuda (Sharks) – with a sixth starting operation in 2021-22 in Palm Springs. The Colorado Eagles (Avalanche) and Tucson Roadrunners (Coyotes) round out the AHL’s West Division, with the idea being that these western teams would primarily play each other to minimize travel and maximize travel time.
Stockton isn’t a perfect AHL town necessarily, as they actually draw about half as many fans as their ECHL team in Kansas City and call-ups are generally required to drive 90 minutes to San Francisco to grab flights to NHL markets. That said, the willingness of the Heat and the City of Stockton to seriously discuss a new lease likely speaks to how much each side values the positives. It doesn’t need to be a perfect fit to be a good one.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
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