Adrian Dater
The Avalanche and the NHL get all the headlines about the 2020-21 season, like “when will it start?”, “will fans be in the stands?” and that’s because the NHL is the dominant hockey league in the world. But lost in the conversation of late is: “What about the American Hockey League?” Specifically, “what about the Colorado Eagles?”
Quite frankly, it’s not a good situation for the Eagles, the Avalanche’s American Hockey League affiliate. It’s not a good situation for any AHL franchise right now, in fact. The problem, of course, is the coronavirus.
I asked a high-level person associated with the Eagles about the upcoming season, whether it will happen on time – or in some manner of time that is relatively soon.
“No optimism at all,” was the reply.
Simply put, the Eagles can’t have a season if paying fans aren’t allowed in the Budweiser Events Center. The AHL needs revenue from ticket sales to be a viable entity. While much of their player payroll is paid by their parent NHL clubs, AHL owners still have a lot of costs they are responsible for, and without revenue from ticket sales, it’s a non-starter having a season. There is no real television money for most AHL teams, and that includes the Eagles. The NHL can maybe still get by into the next season with some kind of bubble environment that is without fans, but AHL teams just can’t do that.
There are still a bunch of unknowns about the next NHL season, and some of those unanswered questions affect the AHL. Will NHL rosters – much like they were for the most recent playoffs – be expanded for the regular season because of matters relating to the virus? If not, where will some of these players play?
This could become a real problem for the development of players still at the AHL level. If guys like Shane Bowers and Martin Kaut and Conor Timmins can’t or just aren’t ready for the NHL level on a full-time basis yet, where are they going to play? If the Eagles aren’t an option, where are they going to keep developing their skills? All three of those guys are still on entry-level contracts, so they will still be paid by the Avalanche no matter what.
Yet, I don’t know all the ins and outs of contract bylaws when it comes to AHL players if there isn’t an AHL season in 2020-21. I suspect there is still more to iron out when it comes to NHL teams and their responsibilities, contractually, for their AHL franchises in a time of a global pandemic. Because the shutdown of both leagues happened in March and their seasons had mostly been played out to that point, the thorny issues regarding AHL teams/costs/liabilities were able to be swept under the rug somewhat. But now we’re into October, and there is no real clear path forward for what to do with the AHL.
College sports can still muddle along with no fans in the stands, because players aren’t paid and many college sports have big TV contracts that subsidize most of the costs, at least for sports like football and basketball. Major pro sports leagues can still muddle along with no fans because of TV money.
But minor-pro teams such as the Colorado Eagles just can’t muddle along without fans. The Eagles have a strong, well-heeled owner in Martin Lind and a solid partnership with the Avalanche. They should still survive as an ongoing entity, even if an entire season is lost. But there will be steep financial losses for all involved if that happens. They can’t withstand those losses forever.
Covid-19 isn’t going to cancel major pro sports. But it’s a real threat to the minor-pro ones like the Colorado Eagles.