Palm Springs AHL team

The Palm Springs AHL team is a professional ice hockey expansion team based in Palm Springs, California, that plans to begin play in the 2022–23 American Hockey League (AHL) season. The team will be an owned-and-operated affiliate of the Seattle Kraken, which plans to begin play during the 2021–22 National Hockey League season. The team has announced it will build a new arena in the Coachella Valley.

Palm Springs AHL team
CityPalm Springs, California
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
Founded2022
Home arenaPalm Springs AHL team arena
Owner(s)Seattle Hockey Partners (David Bonderman, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Tod Leiweke)
MediaThe Desert Sun
AffiliatesSeattle Kraken (NHL)

History

The NHL Board of Governors voted unanimously to approve Seattle's National Hockey League expansion team on December 4, 2018, to begin play in the 2021–22 season. The new ownership group then began making plans for acquiring a minor league affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). By early 2019, they had narrowed it down to promoting the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads in Boise or a true expansion team in Palm Springs, California. On June 26, 2019, it was reported the Seattle ownership group had chosen Palm Springs as the site for Seattle's AHL affiliate.[1] A $250 million, 10,000-seat arena with an adjoining training facility will be built by Oak View Group (OVG) on land in downtown Palm Springs. Originally the arena was going to be built on land purchased from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.[2] The expansion franchise was approved by the AHL board of governors on September 30, 2019, with plans to begin play in the 2021–22 season.[3] However, the launch of the team was delayed as the approval and construction of the new arena was cancelled as negotiations with the tribe came to a halt.[4] In 2020, OVG announced that a new location in the Coachella Valley had been selected, but would not be completed until 2022 at the earliest.[5]

References
  1. Baker, Geoff (June 26, 2019). "NHL Seattle chooses Palm Springs as site for new AHL farm team". The Seattle Times.
  2. "Seattle NHL franchise to have AHL affiliate in Palm Springs". USA Today. Associated Press. June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  3. "AHL expanding to Palm Springs in 2021–22". American Hockey League. September 30, 2019.
  4. "Seattle Kraken delays AHL franchise by 1 year". ESPN. September 16, 2020.
  5. "Seattle Kraken AHL franchise to begin play in 2022". Cascadia Sports Network. September 16, 2020.
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