Pro hockey coming to Reno? Don't expect it anytime soon

You can keep the squid on ice.

And put the octopus back in the freezer.

Pro hockey is not coming to Reno anytime soon.

There had been an agreement to bring a minor-league professional hockey team to Northern Nevada as soon as next season, the fall of 2018, after the Reno City Council approved a 10-year agreement with the Reno Puck Club in 2016.

Read more: Council approves agreement with Reno Puck Club

Read more: Reno Puck Club makes pitch to council

The council voted 6-1 last December to approve the term sheet and to direct staff to negotiate with the Reno Puck Club, but some of that staff is no longer working for the city and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitor’s Authority is trying to get out of the business of managing the area’s facilities, including the Reno Events Center, where a hockey team would play.

While adding pro hockey to the roster of other minor-league teams in Northern Nevada isn't imminent, Reno mayor Hillary Schieve said the door hasn't been closed on hockey returning to Reno.

“While we were excited about the prospect of adding a minor-league hockey team to that list in 2018, we also want to make sure that we set the team up for success during their time in Reno," Schieve said. "Although negotiations have stalled for the time being, our Council will continue to look for ways to support the effort of bringing more professional sports teams to our great city.”

At the time of the city council vote, the Reno Puck Club was expected to renovate the Reno Events Center to include an 85-foot by 200-foot ice rink, new locker rooms, a new elevator and repairs to stadium seating for approximately $5.7 million.

Securing the funding to make the Reno Events Center hockey-ready remains the biggest hurdle. Selling naming rights to the Reno Events Center was one pitch to help raise the money.

The Reno city council approved two consultant studies for hockey.

On Oct. 7, 2015, there was an $18,200 agreement with Worth Group Architecture to provide an analysis and understanding of estimated costs to remodel the Reno Events Center to accommodate minor league hockey.

On May 11, 2016, there was an $11,900 agreement with EKAY Economic Consultants for a study to determine the feasibility of a proposed ice rink at the Reno Events Center.

Ken Lehner, a partner with the Reno Puck Club, said the city is the biggest U.S. market that doesn't have pro hockey.

Lehner owns a minor-league baseball team in the Can-Am League and is working on bringing a hockey team to Reno along with Larry Leasure, who owns the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) minor-league team in Boise, the Idaho Steelheads. Lehner would like to bring an ECHL team, essentially a Double-A team, to Reno.

RSCVA not in the hockey business

The license agreement the RSCVA had with Reno Puck Club expired in June 2017. No proposal was ever re-submitted to the RSCVA by the Reno Puck Club.

Phil DeLone, president and CEO of the RSCVA, said nothing is happening to bring a pro hockey team to Reno, as far as the RSCVA is concerned.

Any agreement to bring hockey to Reno would go through the city.

DeLone wrote in an email to the RGJ that hockey teams require ice, and that building a rink is expensive and does not have a good return on the investment.

“Few wish to undertake the expensive upfront investment on a project that might not deliver the financial returns and the long-term fan-base to purchase tickets people are hopeful for,” DeLone wrote. “I am aware the City of Reno has had past discussions with at least one possible ice hockey developer, however those discussions may have stalled or floundered in part due to the multi-million dollar start-up investment required, displacement of other business and the absence, thus far, of the delivery of a detailed, written long-term business plan and accompanying financial forecast by the interested party.”

Lehner said the lack of a proposal is twofold: due to the RSCVA's changing leadership and to the organization getting out of the facility management business.

“With the new timeline established by the RSCVA, it is highly unlikely that there will be hockey for next season,” Lehner said.

The Reno Puck Club lobbied the RSCVA board last year to turn over management of the downtown Reno Events Center to the limited liability company so it can bring a hockey team to Reno.

“The RSCVA is responsible for booking the Reno Events Center and they do not want to be in the arena management business," said Lehner, adding a lease for a hockey team is more complicated than booking the Reno Events Center for a one-night rental, such as a concert. "They do not want to do a deal for a hockey team right now."

Who pays?

There also has been much discussion about who would pay for the conversion of the Reno Events Center, which houses the NBA G-League's Reno Bighorns, to have ice all winter. Lehner said most multi-use facilities with ice are able to convert to other surfaces fairly quickly, such as basketball courts.

The Reno Puck Club would manage the facility if it brings hockey to Northern Nevada, but would not run the other facilities the city owns, such as the National Bowling Stadium, Reno Livestock Events Center and the Convention Center.

The ECHL winter meetings are in mid-January and any proposal to bring a team to Northern Nevada would have to be complete by then.

Lehner said the Reno Puck Club will not apply for a franchise with the ECHL in January because he does not know who the landlord will be, meaning the earliest a team could be placed in Reno would be the 2019-20 season.

Lehner said the Reno Events Center could be converted to having an ice rink in about three months, over the summer, if an agreement can be reached. He said the building would be a good fit for hockey. It can seat about 5,100 people and has 11 suites.

“There’s enough momentum and interest for hockey to come to Reno,” Lehner said. “The Reno management facilities issue has to be resolved.”

Reno had hockey before

Reno used to have a minor-league hockey team, the Reno Renegades, and the Reno Rage, which played at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center outside of downtown from 1995-98. A hockey team has not returned to town since then, although Reno has added a Triple-A baseball team (the Reno Aces), a G-League basketball team (the Reno Bighorns) and a USL soccer team (Reno1868 FC) in the last decade.

Lehner said an ECHL team will need to average a crowd of 3,000 people per game to break even. The average ECHL attendance this season is 4,151.

The Reno Aces average attendance for the past season was 4,894, slightly down from the previous season, which team officials attributed to the long, wet winter, followed by record-setting heat last summer.

The Reno Events Center, in downtown Reno, was built in 2004. It is used for concerts, athletic events, conventions and meetings in addition to Reno Bighorns home games, but sits empty about 300 days per year.