Plymouth Whalers announce sale, move to Flint
By Michael Caples and Matt Mackinder –
PLYMOUTH – The Plymouth Whalers officially announced on Jan. 14 that they are moving to Flint.
The Ontario Hockey League franchise, which has called Compuware Arena in Plymouth home since it opened in 1996, is in the midst of celebrating its 25th season under the ownership of Michigan native Peter Karmanos.
The Whalers are formally announcing that Karmanos has entered into a purchase agreement to transfer ownership of the OHL franchise to Rolf Nilsen, the owner of IMS Hockey Corporation. The team will be moved to Flint, and play out of a renovated Perani Arena starting in the 2015-16 season, pending approval from the OHL.
“Peter Karmanos has owned an OHL team for 30 years and became the first to move a Canadian Hockey League franchise to the U.S.,” said Whalers governor and former coach/president/GM Mike Vellucci. “While today’s announcement potentially ends his OHL ownership tenure, he should be recognized for his contributions to the Ontario Hockey League, the Detroit metropolitan area and the sport of hockey.
“Mr. Karmanos has owned the team 25 years and it’s time. This building (Compuware Arena) is being sold to USA Hockey and Rolf’s wanting to move the team to Flint because they couldn’t play here, obviously, but it’s just time for Pete to sell the team and the fans have been loyal and supportive for all those years and we hope they continue to support us. We’re hoping to come up with a plan to bring in some old players and give the team the send-off it deserves – 25 years is a long time. I was thinking about it on the plan ride here that, ‘Wow, I’ve been here 23 years’ and have a lot invested in this building. I made the announcement today with a heavy heart.”
The next OHL Board of Governors meeting is scheduled for Feb. 2.
It was announced on Nov. 24 that USA Hockey is in the process of acquiring Compuware Arena from Karmanos, but it did not specify if the Whalers would be leaving the building. The expectation is that with the purchase of the two-sheet facility, USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program (currently based in Ann Arbor) would become the primary tenants.
The original press release also stressed that the Compuware AAA program would continue operation.
Meanwhile, IMS, a Florida-based manufacturing company, purchased Perani Arena in December, and they immediately announced interest in bringing a top junior league franchise to Flint. Originally considered to be pursing a USHL franchise, reports shifted to IMS USA having interest in bringing an OHL team to town.
You can read more about the purchase of Perani Arena and renovation plans here.
Nilsen and president Costa Papista were both in attendance. Papista was part of the team that brought the Saginaw Spirit to the Ontario Hockey League in 2002 from North Bay, Ont., and also helped get Wayne State University’s former NCAA Division I program off the ground in 1999. He played three seasons of OHL hockey from 1985-88.
“The timeline for all this was really based around the acquisition of the building,” Papista said. “It was actually about a years and a half ago that we approached Standard Insurance, Co., about buying the building. At that time, we couldn’t come to terms on a deal, but then things started to heat up again and we were able to get a deal done with the owner and we closed on the building on Dec. 30. All along, we knew that in order to successfully turn around the building that we needed an anchor tenant.
“We followed our interest to bring in the highest-quality hockey franchise as possible. We did have an expansion application in with the USHL, but at the same time, we were talking with other leagues to make sure all our bases were covered and then this opportunity with Plymouth kind of presented itself late in the game. We believe it’s a great solution for Plymouth and the OHL and we also think it’s a big win for Genesee County.”
Nilsen said that there will be an opportunity for fans to pick the name for the ‘new’ franchise in Flint – he acknowledged the possibility of bringing back the historic ‘Flint Generals’ name but that namesake is already used for Oshawa’s OHL franchise.
The new owner also said he has confidence in the new location for the team.
“I think Flint is a great place and hopefully, we can go there and bring hockey back to what it used to be (in Flint). I really think we have a chance to be successful.”
Saginaw Spirit co-owner Craig Goslin was also in attendance for the event, and said that he is excited about the potential of an OHL team even closer in location to his own program.
“This will certainly give us a close rivalry and I think rivalries in sports are so important and when you look at passionate sports fans, I think that’s what you’re going to see between Flint and Saginaw. They had a rivalry in the ‘70s and ‘80s and the passionate sports fans (in Saginaw and Flint) hated each other. Hopefully, we can rejuvenate that passion inside sports fans.
“You look at the median income for a household in Genesee County and it’s over $56,000. It’s a great community and certainly, what we did in Saginaw is what they’re looking to do in Flint, and we’re there to help them, in fact. It’s not rocket science and they can take some of the ideas we did, but we’d like to be there to help and support them.”