ECHL: Bradenton could get ECHL team

Instead of having to consider teams from Augusta, Ga., or Florence, S.C., as rivals, the Everblades might be able look no farther than to Bradenton and Sarasota.

A press conference has been scheduled for Tuesday to announce plans for a new arena in Lakewood Ranch that will be home to an expansion minor league hockey team. Lakewood Ranch developer Schroeder-Manatee Ranch Inc., and representatives of DVA Sports, which owns the Columbus (Ga.) Cottonmouths, will be present.

"We're very much in favor of this happening and hope they get a building built and get a team there," said Everblades team president/general manager Craig Brush by phone Thursday night from San Diego, where the team is in the middle of their first-ever West Coast trip.

Brush said he has had conversations with the Columbus ownership group for some time as they were considering what to do with their rights to the Bradenton-Sarasota market. He said the owners took notes on their visits to TECO Arena and asked Brush questions regarding how he was able to make a franchise succeed in the Southwest Florida Market.

ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna told the Bradenton Herald on Wednesday that DVA Sports had put down a deposit and an application for a new team in the area, and said it definitely would be on an expansion basis and would not involve a team moving.

"There's been a lot of speculation about Sarasota," Sal Diaz-Verson, co-owner of the Cottonmouths, told the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in April at the end of last season. "We're going to try to keep hockey here in Columbus, though and probably expand in Florida. It's a great market."

Brush said the potential of an exciting rivalry developing between the two markets is a strong one considering how close they are in proximity. He said the Bradenton-Sarasota market is very similar to the Fort Myers-Naples market in terms of a strong hockey fan base.

In Florida's inaugural season, the team played the Miami Matadors 10 times, five in each city, and Brush said the spike in attendance at TECO Arena during those games was significant. He said not only would having a team that close save the Everblades money, it also would cut down on the wear and tear that comes with long road trips.

"I foresee 500 of our fans making the trek to Bradenton-Sarasota to go to our games," Brush said. "And if they were able to get a similar amount of season tickets sold, they could bring 500 of their fans down here. That's a strong ownership group and I think they have the wherewithal to make this happen."

As a member of the ECHL Board of Governors, Brush said getting approval for the expansion team shouldn't be a problem. He said the league already considers the market to be a palatable one, and it would just be a matter of selling enough corporate sponsorships and enough season tickets.