The Road to D1: An inside look at Texas A&M's expanding hockey program

Cool story. It would be awesome to add hockey. Where do they practice? Houston?

We have a rink. Spirit Ice Arena.

Wow. I did not know. Learn something new everyday. Saved everyone a google search with the link below:

http://www.spiriticearena.com/

Old Army Ice Rink coming soon!

A&M will have to sponsor another women's team too because of Title 9. I'm a fan of the idea but that's a big hurdle to cross.

It's come along way already! Keep it up!

Sub4 said:

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A&M will have to sponsor another women's team too because of Title 9. I'm a fan of the idea but that's a big hurdle to cross.

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Bring on gymnastics and keep all the talent that leaves the state to LSU, Bama, Georgia, Florida, OU, etc.

Hockey is the s*** I hope we go D-1.

I think it will be cool if they can move up to division 1, but NCAA will be a long shot. Women's gymnastics might be the next women's sport and if they add a men's, it's more likely to be soccer before hockey.

Unfortunately there is not even a remote chance they will become a varsity sport at A&M.

Men's soccer would be much more likely (and is still very ) - at least there are 2 SEC schools with and several teams in the state and region. The closest hockey D1 I believe is Denver. It would be a scheduling nightmare.

Harry Dunne said:

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Unfortunately there is not even a remote chance they will become a varsity sport at A&M.

Men's soccer would be much more likely (and is still very ) - at least there are 2 SEC schools with and several teams in the state and region. The closest hockey D1 I believe is Denver. It would be a scheduling nightmare.

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Harry, I wouldn't say "it's not even a possibility". While it is a longshot, it most definitely is a possibility.
It has worked for U of Alabama - Huntsville and Arizona State.
The main thing is funding, and A&M has very wealthy alumni. In fact, I personally know of at least two that are very much into hockey and would love to see a D1 program here.

Not even a remote chance.

Would need:

1. To build a new and very expensive facility.
2. To add another women's varsity sport with an equal amount of scholarships (probably gymnastics, since that's the only SEC sport we don't compete in).
3. To add a huge budget for both sports because of facility, equpiment, travel etc.

You're probably looking at $5M per year to support both programs, not just one time, but every year.

No one in College Station gives a rip about hockey. Houston couldn't even support their minor league team properly. Even if you find some carpetbagger fatcat willing to cut a check for $5M, the athletic department isn't going to sign on for a lifetime of supporting 2 more money-guzzling sports that they don't need.

It's a business and only a couple of the branches make money. That $5M is going to continue to go to them so that they can continue to subsidize the other sports.

Just for the record, I love hockey and I'd love to see us have a D1 team. Just not going to happen.

No one want's to watch boring soccer in Texas. Waste of money.

Harry Dunne said:

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Not even a remote chance.

Would need:

1. To build a new and very expensive facility.
2. To add another women's varsity sport with an equal amount of scholarships (probably gymnastics, since that's the only SEC sport we don't compete in).
3. To add a huge budget for both sports because of facility, equpiment, travel etc.

You're probably looking at $5M per year to support both programs, not just one time, but every year.

No one in College Station gives a rip about hockey. Houston couldn't even support their minor league team properly. Even if you find some carpetbagger fatcat willing to cut a check for $5M, the athletic department isn't going to sign on for a lifetime of supporting 2 more money-guzzling sports that they don't need.

It's a business and only a couple of the branches make money. That $5M is going to continue to go to them so that they can continue to subsidize the other sports.

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You just showed how little you know about the business of hockey. First of all, it is not an 'apples-to-apples' comparison.

Second of all, Houston supported their team, The Aeros, just fine. They were perennially in the top 10 in attendance. All the while being in a 'major league' sports town, getting little to no media coverage. the reason they left had nothing to do with support. The former owner of the Rockets, Les Alexander, had a personal vendetta against the Aeros that he held onto for years. When the Toyota Center was built the Houston Sports Authority gave Les the master lease to the arena. The Aeros terms converted over from their prior lease at the Compaq Center, and as soon as their lease expired, this was Les' opportunity to 'stick it to them'. His new lease proposal was not financially viable at all. The Aeros looked at other venues, but nothing was viable. The league, the AHL itself, looked into it, and even looked into subsidizing part of the rent. They did not want to lose the Houston market. However, after looking into it, they knew it wasn't a long term answer, with what Les wanted. I know this was a little 'long winded' and I could go into a whole lot more. When you say that Houston couldn't even support their team, you could be no further from the truth. These are the facts, I will not debate this with you.

wasntme said:

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You just showed how little you know about the business of hockey. First of all, it is not an 'apples-to-apples' comparison.

Second of all, Houston supported their team, The Aeros, just fine. They were perennially in the top 10 in attendance. All the while being in a 'major league' sports town, getting little to no media coverage. the reason they left had nothing to do with support. The former owner of the Rockets, Les Alexander, had a personal vendetta against the Aeros that he held onto for years. When the Toyota Center was built the Houston Sports Authority gave Les the master lease to the arena. The Aeros terms converted over from their prior lease at the Compaq Center, and as soon as their lease expired, this was Les' opportunity to 'stick it to them'. His new lease proposal was not financially viable at all. The Aeros looked at other venues, but nothing was viable. The league, the AHL itself, looked into it, and even looked into subsidizing part of the rent. They did not want to lose the Houston market. However, after looking into it, they knew it wasn't a long term answer, with what Les wanted. I know this was a little 'long winded' and I could go into a whole lot more. When you say that Houston couldn't even support their team, you could be no further from the truth. These are the facts, I will not debate this with you.

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"And that's the bottom line, because wasntme SAID SO!". Classic!!! I actually enjoyed reading the above and learning about how it went down. More like one person's perspective (doubt Les Alexander is on the record as "sticking it to them"!) than stone cold facts, but it does seem plausible.

But anyway you're right, I don't know about the business of hockey, but I do know about the business of Texas A&M athletics...and it is a business. Our highly successful tennis programs are the only teams in the conference without indoor facilities and our outdoor facilities are fine, but have not been the cream of the crop for some time. If the athletic department is willing to be at the bottom of the barrel facilities-wise in tennis, the choice has been made to spend that money in football and other sports/areas where it can help the "business" grow...and the truth is that tennis and all minor sports only exist at the level that they do because they are subsidized by football.

Like I said, I like hockey. I would enjoy watching Aggie hockey. At the same time I understand that it would be an awful business move and that's why it won't happen.

Harry, sorry didn't mean to come off sounding crass. It was just that so many people come into forums and want to debate whether they no the facts or not. Again, I don't know you and shouldn't have come off sounding that way.
Another tidbit, that is not completely related but just something that I wanted to share with you. Did you know during the late 90's early 00's there were more professional hockey teams in the state of Texas than anywhere else in the country. If you didn't, look up the WPHL (Western Professional Hockey League) and the CHL (Central Hockey League.
Oklahoma City ( I know they're not in Texas, but they are close, lol) led ALL minor league hockey in the USA in attendance for several years.
It is great that you are a hockey fan and you support the A&M club team.
I personally don't think it will happen, not in the foreseeable future anyway. However, I wouldn't say, "it definitely won't happen". It is a longshot, but I've seen crazier things happen.

It's sad Mizzou, Arkansas, and Kentucky can afford a gymnastics team but A&M can't.

Wasntme all good and interesting info - I didn't know about that. Why did all of those teams go under?

Kentky, arky/miz/uk don't have equestrian (seems bizarre Kentucky doesn't).

Oh, yeah! Huntsville Channel Cats!

Harry Dunne said:

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Wasntme all good and interesting info - I didn't know about that. Why did all of those teams go under?

Kentky, arky/miz/uk don't have equestrian (seems bizarre Kentucky doesn't).

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Harry, I could write a book as to why, lol.

There are several reasons:

1) I think it was a novelty and something 'new' for many of the markets that the league went into. After several years, that went away and so did the fans.

2) When the teams were new they were well marketed and attendance was good, if not great any many markets. The teams thought they didn't have to spend as much and in subsequent years attendance suffered.

3) It became a 'money grab' for the league. The WPHL opened another company "Global Entertainment". Global Entertainment was an arena building company. They would go into these new markets and convince the city leaders that they needed an arena. With an arena would come a hockey team, followed by other revenue streams, such as, arena football, concerts, etc. Many of these new markets were unable to support a team after several years.

It was a case of too much too soon. If the league would have stayed in markets such as San Antonio, Corpus, Austin, Oklahoma City, El Paso, Shreveport, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, they league would have prospered and survived. Places like Belton, Waco, Monroe LA, and Alexandria LA could not support a team, and then the league suffers as a whole.

For what it was AA level Minor Pro Hockey, it was definitely fun and entertaining.

I feel that if a new league ( or even a new division in a current minor league) would form with the likes of teams such as, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Lafayette, New Orleans, Memphis - it would work again!