The Fayetteville FireAntz will head into the final weekend of the Southern Professional Hockey League's regular season with new owners.

A former Fort Bragg soldier, Chuck Norris, and a partner, Jeff Longo, have purchased the franchise from the seven-person ownership group that has fielded FireAntz teams since 2002.

Norris, who owns multiple businesses in the Charlotte area and property in Fayetteville, and Longo, who will serve as team president, took over management of the team in mid-March. Longo, in confirming the sale, said that the new owners have also "agreed in principle" with Spectra Venue Management on a five-year lease to continue playing in the Crown Coliseum with a five-year option. The length of that term mirrors Spectra's recently renewed contract with Cumberland County to run the facility.

"There's no other place for this team to be for us as owners other than Fayetteville," Longo added. "We’re looking to do a long-term commitment to the city and to the coliseum."

The new owners take over a team that has clinched a playoff berth for the second year in a row while struggling at the box office.

The Fayetteville franchise was one of the founding members of the SPHL in the 2004-05 season. The current edition of the team has clinched home ice for a first-round playoffs series and is in a tight battle for first-place in the 10-team league as its hosts Huntsville on Friday and Saturday.

But despite qualifying for the playoffs, the FireAntz have suffered a drastic decline in attendance in recent years. Fayetteville is averaging 1,617 per home game, which is last in the SPHL and some 3,000 per game less than Huntsville, which leads the league in attendance. In contrast to current numbers, the FireAntz averaged a franchise-record 3,931 in 2007-08.

"Attendance doesn’t fall off overnight, and it doesn’t suddenly get back to 5-6,000 people overnight," Longo said, "so we know we’ve got to work at this over a number of years."

Fayetteville businessman Howard Bullard, the majority stockholder among the team's seven owners, said the sale had become a necessity.

"We really got into this thing not wanting to be in minor-league sports, but wanting to see hockey stay in our community," said Bullard, citing the 2001-02 season when the city was without a team after four seasons with one. "... We had that big Crown Coliseum out there where people were enjoying hockey, and we just decided that we needed to step up and do something for the community. We didn't get into it thinking we were going to make money or be a great, lucrative business. We did it because we felt like it was a civic duty we had.

"We felt like if we could step in and keep hockey in Fayetteville, then we were doing the community a service, and we feel like we've provided a service to the community for 15 years. But for the past, I'll say, year and a half, we felt like it was time for someone else to come in and do a better job."

Norris, a native of the Farmington, Michigan, area, said he "grew into a man" during his 1989-93 stint at Fort Bragg. After his military contract expired, he opted to stay in Fayetteville until 2009, during which time he was a builder and developer of new homes in Cumberland, Harnett and Hoke counties, as well as a FireAntz fan.

Norris and Longo both want to help the rekindle an interest in the team, which has set the league standard for single-game crowds. According to the SPHL media guide, the FireAntz have hosted eight of the nine largest crowds in league history, topped by a near-capacity throng of 9,446 on Nov. 16, 2007.

"The more and more we looked at the opportunity," Longo said, "we realized there’s been success in that market before, and a lot of the conditions are right for it to be successful again."

Bullard said that the FireAntz's owners have "made some money and lost some money" during their tenure, and for the 13 years prior to the last two, he said they were "probably somewhere in the break-even range."

But, he added, "For the last two, because our attendance is down and the effort and the energy of the ownership group had kind of dwindled, we experienced larger losses. That was one of the deciding moments for us. We're not rendering the proper service for hockey in Fayetteville, and we needed to get somebody who will do it the right way."

Revitalizing attendance is Longo's biggest challenge, but he comes to the job with an extensive background in hockey marketing and operations.

The former Rutgers goaltender worked for the San Diego Gulls for five seasons prior to serving as president of the Charlotte Checkers from 2003-08. He spent the following two years as vice-president of marketing for the NHL's New Jersey Devils before returning to Charlotte. An associate professor at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, Longo is also the Program Director of Sports, Events and Entertainment at the school.

He already has some strategies in place, including a 12-month payment plan for season-ticket holders, who will also enjoy a 10 percent discount on food and beverages at the Crown during games. This weekend's specials include $1 hot dogs Friday, and $5 admission for the military Saturday along with $1 beer.

Sports editor Thomas Pope can be reached at popet@fayobserver.com or 486-3520.