ORLANDO, Fla.,None — A new sports team could be coming to Orlando. After the success the Amway Center had hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning, the city just gave the green light to a minor league hockey team.
When the Tampa Bay Lightning played at the Amway Center last month, 11,000 hockey fans showed up.
Hockey player William Kilmer grew up going to hockey games up north.
"I'm psyched, this town needs hockey!" Kilmer said.
The Orlando Pro Hockey Operation is piecing the unnamed team together. It would be part of the East Coast Hockey League, the AA minors with 20 teams, including one in south Florida.
Orlando hasn't had a hockey team since the Orlando Seals and Solar Bears left six years ago.
The new team's owners expect to sell about 6,000 tickets early on, ranging between $12 and $20. So in a year, they could make $4 million.
We asked Bob Ohravla of Orlando Pro Hockey operations if that is enough for the team to be financially solvable in this area.
"With sponsorship and other sources of income, yes, yes," Ohravla said.
But the team will have to pay $22,000 per game just to use the lower bowl. Anything above that is an extra $10,000 per game.
That's at least $792,000 per year, and nearly as much as the $1 million the Magic pay to lease space.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said this is also an opportunity to generate taxes through money spent downtown, and this team puts the Amway Center on track to stay booked year around.
"The more nights a year that we have at the Amway Center, more nights we're bringing thousands of people downtown," Dyer said.
Just to compare: tickets to a magic game can run anywhere from $5 to more than $300.
The team still needs approval from the East Coast Hockey League, but expect to start playing next October.