PLYMOUTH, MI -- The deal is done to transfer ownership of the Plymouth Whalers to IMS USA Inc., the new owners of Flint's Perani Arena, but one last hurdle remains in gaining approval from the Ontario Hockey League.

The OHL Board of Governors, comprised of heads of the 20 league franchises, is scheduled to meet Feb. 2 in Toronto. Its approval would put a final stamp on a hockey team in Flint and allow it to begin play in the 2015-16 season.

Then, the team will hold a contest in February in an effort to come up with a catchy name.

"We have to do our very best job of convincing the league that Genesee County and Flint can support this franchise," said Costa Papista, president of IMS USA. "That we have good schools, we have good billet families, all the player safety issues that are critical to the league.

"This league is all about player development, so it's on us to demonstrate that the community can and will support it."

To do that, Papista has already put the wheels in motion of recruiting business leaders from Genesee County for a panel to help support the project. He says support from the city of Flint and Genesee County, with a population north of 400,000, will prove key in the success of the new team.

"Flint is a great place," said Rolf Nilsen, the team's new owner and IMS USA technical director. "We hope to invest in hockey in Flint and bring it back to what it used to be and be better. I want to put Flint on the map for hockey."

Papista and Nilsen were shy Wednesday of speculating on their chances of getting league approval, but this isn't Papista's first go-around with helping launch an OHL franchise.

Papista, among his other hockey projects, helped launch the Saginaw Spirit in 2002 with current team president and co-owner Craig Goslin. The team moved from North Bay, Ont., and the challenge then, he said, was integrating the team into the community.

More than a decade later, and the Spirit is still in business, and averaging more than 3,000 per game.

"Hopefully, it does get approved," Goslin said of the IMS deal in Flint. "This will be a great thing for Genesee County, for Flint, and certainly for Saginaw as well. We may lose an occasional season ticket holder or a few sponsors, but it's not about that."

Goslin says the Spirit budget is approximately $2 million per year, and Papista estimates the economic impact of a team like the Whalers could be five to seven times that in the Flint area.

"We love the game, whether it's major league hockey, minor league hockey or youth hockey," said Tim Herman, CEO of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce. "Moving the Whalers to the region is a great step in making Perani more of a regional sports and entertainment venue. It has quite the potential to add significant economic value."

Peter Karmanos, also the owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, said he made the decision to sell the Plymouth Whalers to IMS USA based on his familiarity with Papista and the business track record of Nilsen.

IMS USA, which rescinded a bid for a United States Hockey League team, purchased Perani Arena on Dec. 30 and has since spruced up the hockey offices and has plans to renovate the bathrooms, the exterior sign off I-69 and parking lot.

"It's clean, but what it needs is some TLC. It needs some cosmetic improvements. Those are priorities on our list prior to September, to when we hopefully will be launching our OHL franchise.

"We really have to do a good job of demonstrating that we're ready for this. It will be in their hands."

A spokesman for the OHL could not immediately be reached for comment.

__________________________________________________

Aaron McMann covers sports for The Flint Journal. Contact him: amcmann@mlive.com; on Twitter @AaronMcMann.