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Albany
Say what you will about the New Jersey Devils’ relocation of their American Hockey League franchise from Albany to Binghamton, there is one factor that rises above all others.
There is absolutely no financial risk to the Devils.
“How would you feel about it?” Devils president Hugh Weber said Tuesday when asked if that was the primary reason to leave.
Weber came to town Tuesday to deliver the news to the Albany Devils’ front-office staff and to confirm the story first reported last week by the Times Union. When the AHL season ends, the Albany Devils will become the Binghamton Devils.
For the first time since 1993, Times Union Center will have no professional hockey tenant.
“That deal, I don’t blame Albany County, or Albany, for that matter (for not taking it),” said Doug McClaine, the arena’s assistant general manager. “Kudos to Binghamton for being able to come up with that, because not having a stake in the team and absorbing all the risk, that’s a huge financial undertaking.”
The move became official at an early afternoon news conference in Binghamton. The AHL sent out a press release shortly thereafter, stating that its board of governors “has unanimously approved the relocation of the franchise owned by the New Jersey Devils” to Binghamton.
AHL in the Capital Region
1979-1999: Adirondack Red Wings, Glens Falls Civic Center
1990-1993: Capital District Islanders, RPI’s Houston Field, Troy
1993-2010: Albany River Rats, Times Union Center*, Albany
2009-2014: Adirondack Phantoms, Glens Falls Civic Center
2014-2-15: Adirondack Flames, Glens Falls Civic Center
2010-2017: Albany Devils, Times Union Center, Albany
* — previously known as Knickerbocker Arena and Pepsi Arena
The current staff of the Binghamton Senators will run the operation. Their current team is moving to Belleville, Ontario, at season’s end, an announcement that was made in September.
Tom Mitchell, executive vice president of the B-Sens, promised the community that the AHL would return in 2017-18.
“I didn’t have much doubt,” Mitchell said at the news conference in Binghamton, “although I thought maybe in that press conference in the arena I stuck my head way out there.”
Binghamton’s per-game attendance over the past 12 seasons has been higher than Albany’s, but by only 6 percent. The B-Sens’ home building, the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena, has a seating capacity for hockey of 4,679, about one-third that of Times Union Center.
None of that matters to New Gorabet Jersey. The city of Binghamton and Broome County inherit the operating costs. Weber said the AHL team’s losses in Albany were “multi-seven-figure.”
“That’s one of the reasons the Devils are leaving here,” said McClaine, speaking on behalf of the arena because building GM Bob Belber is out of town. “I don’t know how they’re doing it, but I wish them the best of luck.”
Weber said the team’s primary attraction to Albany when the Devils landed here seven years ago was its proximity to Newark. It made it easy to shuttle players between the NHL and AHL.
“Albany was always a great option for us making sure that we were having the infrastructure around them and getting them to the big club,” Weber said. “At the same time, what we hoped to achieve, in addition to the investment we were making with the players, is to try and get the business expense and the revenues to balance out. Instead, it was a pretty big drain, and has been for a long time.”
“It’s a long relationship of minor league hockey in the market, so to lose a core tenant, 40 dates, is a huge disappointment,” McClaine said. “There’s no bitterness. We understand it’s a business decision at this point. Once the AHL expanded to the West Coast like it did, you definitely knew there was more competition out there for the East Coast buildings.”
McClaine said the arena is seeking another sports tenant, but nothing likely would happen before 2018. Weber said he would try to assist Times Union Center in that venture.
“If you look at the attendance that Siena gets, we believe that this is a really viable market,” Weber said. “The business leadership here is good. There were a couple of variables, unfortunately, why the equation didn’t work at this moment right now.”
pdougherty@timesunion.com • 518-454-5416 • @Pete_Dougherty
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