Steve Munn thinks one key element is left out of plans for the next arena — ice.
“Hockey is something you can take your whole family too,” said Munn, a former professional hockey player who spent a season with the Augusta Lynx and is part of a group leading the charge to bring the wintry sport back to the Garden City.
Other forms of entertainment that he likes don’t necessarily appeal to his teenage son. They definitely don’t have the same taste in music, but sports can bring different generations together, he said.
Munn believes that there’s enough interest in the sport to bring it back, and he said he’s been in talks with people in the hockey world as well as public officials.
About 1,500 people are currently part of a Facebook group called “Bring Hockey Back to Augusta.” The group has created a petition with about 600 signatures on it.
Tracy Conlon is one Augusta resident who would love to see the sport return.
“I firmly believe bringing hockey back to Augusta would offer more uses and help justify the JBA upgrade. It’s another sport to draw families and other spectators out of their homes and to downtown Augusta when other traditional Southern sports are off-season,” she said.
Munn said a home season would put about 35 dates on the calendar each year. Thirty-plus guaranteed dates that businesses in downtown could count on bringing traffic their way.
[adrotate banner=”55″]
Andrew Kaufmann’s group who operates the Jacksonville Icemen in Jacksonville, Fla., has shown interest in expanding its hockey operations. Its next stop is Savannah, which is currently building a new arena.
The next logical step would be Augusta, Munn said.
But the problem with the new arena is there’s no infrastructure for ice included in plans for the new $228 million state of the art facility.
According to Brad Usry, a member of the Augusta Richmond County Coliseum Authority, the board did discuss the matter at a retreat earlier this year but voted not to pursue hockey.
While authority members decided not to add ice to the proposed new facility, that does not mean it cannot be discussed in the future.
Munn disagrees with Usry on that point and said “if it doesn’t include ice…it’s never going to have ice.”
He said the infrastructure needed for ice can’t be retrofitted, so it would be another 40 years or whenever the next arena was built before hockey could ever return to Augusta.
Usry said that the cost of installing the ice rink would be upward of $9 million plus annual maintenance and utility bills of around $175,000. The Authority would also have to purchase at least one Zamboni ice maintenance machine, which can run into the low six figures in terms of initial costs and maintenance.
“Really, it’s the expense versus the return on investment, you have to take a look at that. You have x amount of Saturdays, Fridays and Saturdays, those are our prime nights for big concerts, so it would impact that as well,” Usry said.
Usry also pointed out that it is not just the cost of fitting in the ice infrastructure at the new arena, but a prospective team would still have to practice elsewhere and the closest facility to Augusta is in Irmo S.C., a suburb of Columbia.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
Munn doesn’t see that as a problem. He said Kaufmann’s group has plans to build an additional ice rink in Savannah when it creates a team there, and that could happen in Augusta too.
During the early heyday of the Augusta Lynx, the James Brown Arena sat largely unused, so there was little need to melt the ice floor to accommodate concerts. That situation has changed with the management of Spectra, which has been able to consistently bring in notable musical acts at both JBA and the Bell.
During the time between 2010 to 2013, equipment malfunction issues plagued the team in place, the Augusta Riverhawks, causing that team franchise to move to Macon where they continue to play under the name Macon Mayhem.
The authority did reach out to Kaufmann as part of the discussions; however, Usry says that Kaufmann has not returned with any form of a feasibility study.
Usry acknowledged that there are a lot of fans of the sport in Augusta and the Authority would like to revisit the idea in the future if circumstances change.
“There is a really passionate fan base out there, and I really appreciate that, but we need to see a feasibility study before we discuss bringing hockey back,” Usry said.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com. Scott Hudson is the Senior Reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
