Monday Aug. 5, 2013, seemingly out of nowhere, the United States Hockey League (USHL) announced a new team in Madison, Wis.
This new club, officially dubbed the Madison Capitols, is set to begin play this fall, financed by Madtown Hockey, LLC, Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter and former Badger player Tom Sagissor.
For those who are close to the league, the question now becomes: Why expand to 17 teams? And with a top-tier NCAA team in its backyard, will attracting fans be a challege?
The USHL, for the uninitiated, is the United States’ only Tier I junior hockey league, which puts it on par with the Canadian Hockey League. However, unlike its Canadian counterpart, the USHL does not provide a stipend to its players, allowing them to retain their amateur status and play collegiate hockey.
This is not the first time the Capitols have made a home in Madison. The team existed from 1984-’95, and lives on as an AAA hockey program playing at the Capitol Ice Arena.
The resurrected Capitols will play their games at the Alliant Energy Center’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which can hold 10,231 people and was the former home of the Badger men’s hockey team from 1967-’98.
The biggest benefit of having an amateur league in Madison, for the Badgers, is the more than 20 potential recruits living and playing in Madison. With more than 250 USHL players holding scholarship offers during the 2011-’12 season to play Division I hockey, there will certainly be talent for the Badgers to mine.
“Having that USHL team in Madison gives the Wisconsin coaching staff an opportunity to evaluate players all the time,” said Andy Johnson, scout for the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Hockey Editor for Bucky’s 5th Quarter. “They can evaluate teams that are coming in so they don’t have to travel to Dubuque, Iowa or Waterloo or Indiana, they’ve got that tool in their backyard now.”
Ed Chamberlain, the Capitols’ President, previously served a similar role as the Vice President of the Iowa Wild, a member of the American Hockey League. In the team’s inaugural year he’s counting down the days until USHL hockey returns to Madison.
“Madison is a great city,” Chamberlain said. “I’ve been here for a while and I really like the city. It’s got a vibrant feel to it, the people are wonderful, it’s consistently ranked as one of the best places to live and ultimately that bodes well for anybody, whether it’s us or the Badgers.”
Badger men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves is excited about not having to travel to Waterloo and Green Bay to scout and recruit players. In the long run, it saves him and his staff valuable time and money.
“My boss will be happy because it’ll cut down on costs but it will be really convenient for us to see [the players] on a more regular basis,” Eaves said. “They’re right in our own backyard and we can get out very easily and very often, as long as we’re in town, to see them play.”
For the USHL, if they are looking to expand, Madison seems like a prime target for the location of an additional team.
All 16 teams find themselves fairly centrally located in the Midwest, expanding as far east as Youngstown, Ohio and as far west as Kearney, Neb. Madison falls just about exactly halfway between those two.
“We have some built-in rivalries with Dubuque and for sure Green Bay,” Chamberlain said. “Chicago’s not that far from us. Our longest trip is Youngstown, Ohio, but even going to Des Moines [Iowa] is only 4 ½ hours away … For the most part we have a nice location where we are sitting at.”
Furthermore, the USHL currently has franchises in cities as big as Indianapolis, with 834,852 people, and as small as Kearney, Neb., where 30,787 people call home.
Madison would clock in as the third largest city with a USHL franchise, Chicago notwithstanding, as the team is located in Bensenville, Ill.
Top-Five Largest Cities with USHL Franchises
Indianapolis, IN — 834,852
Lincoln, NE — 265,404
Madison, WI — 240,323
Urbandale [Des Moines], IA — 206,668
Sioux Falls, SD — 159,908
This large population, in conjunction with a great hockey culture and an arena in place makes Madison an ideal place to expand.
Starting in 1969 and up until 1993, the Badgers led the country in attendance every single year through a combination of the largest arena and the ability to fill it every single game. When the Kohl Center was built in 1998, the Badgers reclaimed the top spot in average attendance per game.
But over the last five years, the Badgers have seen their attendance figures drop precipitously. In the 2009-’10 season the Badgers went 28-11-4, finishing as the NCAA runner-up—a remarkable achievement. As a result, the Badgers sported one of their highest attendance figures in years.
The following year, the team went 21-16-4 and missed the NCAA tournament entirely. In the process, 1,822 fewer fans showed up to the Kohl Center each week.
This trend has many asking why, while answers are scarce. Is it declining performance on the ice or players leaving early for the NHL? The lack of alcohol sales at the Kohl Center is one explanation. Whatever it may be, adding another team to the city likely can not help this trend.
Chamberlain has his sights set on reasonable expectations for attendance in their formative years.
“Our goal is probably around the 3,500 to 4,000 range,” Chamberlain said. “I think when you look at the league average (2,649 in 2012-’13), the top teams are around 4,300 or so. If we can be in the top five, that would be pretty exciting for us.”
Top-Five Teams in average attendance for 2012-13 Season
Lincoln—3,949
Fargo—3,902
Sioux Falls—3,884
Omaha—3,587
Green Bay—3,315
With rapid turnover on all rosters, being an expansion team should not really hinder the Capitols for more than a year or two. Teams don’t have the luxury of building around a Dany Heatley or a Joe Pavelski, as they would in either the college or professional ranks.
“When Dubuque came into the league three years ago, they won the championship in their first year,” Chamberlain said. “We’re here to win. We’re not here to lose. We’re not here to say ‘oh, we’re an expansion team,’ we’re here to win right out of the chute.”
If continuity of the rosters is the problem, then the Capitols could run into the same problem the Badgers do. It is difficult to really form a connection with players if they move on a year after they arrive.
If players begin transitioning from the Capitols to the Badgers, however, it could create the perfect symbiotic relationship between both teams.
Last but not least, if alcohol sales are an answer, holding games at the beer-friendly Coliseum will certainly help the Capitols’ fan experience, as many often lament the lack of alcohol sales at the Kohl Center.
Despite their lamentations, Chamberlain does not feel that their ability to sell beer will be the main reason why people will show up to the Coliseum.
“We are going to be primarily family-oriented, that’s really our target market: youth hockey, schools, everything,” Chamberlain said. “We do have the right to sell beer here and I don’t see that being played up as a huge promotion for us.”
Another marketing tactic the Badgers have that the Capitols can’t boast is proximity. Whereas the Kohl Center is walking distance from just about anywhere students live, the Alliant Energy Center is a decent bus/cab ride/drive from campus. That being said, it was never a problem when the Badgers played their home games there.
“We definitely have some plans to be involved with the students,” Chamberlain said. “We have a lot of hockey fans over there, we’ll have a lot of great promotions. We’ll have lots of different packages that are geared toward students specifically.”
At the end of the day, Eaves and the Badgers believe the Capitols will be a net positive for the greater Madison community, and it will be interesting to see how this new hockey blood affects the Badgers’ already dwindling attendance figures.
“Overall, I think it’s a good thing and a positive thing for the community,” Johnson said. “The USHL is a very fun alternative.”
