The owner of the Plymouth Whalers is looking at Chatham as a possible destination to re-locate his team.
Craig Custance, senior NHL writer for ESPN The Magazine, said on Twitter that he spoke with Whalers owner Peter Karmanos who said he’s targeting a small Canadian city for relocation.
“Hopefully, Chatham,” Karmanos said.
Spoke with Peter Karmanos who said he’s targeting small Canadian city for relocation of Plymouth Whalers: “Hopefully, Chatham.”
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) December 8, 2014
The notion of an OHL team moving to Chatham is not a new one.
A closed session report from March 17 was released, stating that council directed administration about a “potential property acquisition by the municipality in the community of Chatham in regard to an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) sized arena.”
Don Shropshire, CAO for the municipality, was tight lipped about the issue following a March 25 council meeting.
“We haven’t had any reports on this in over a year,” he said in March. “The only thing that council was informed about was there were still some people that were kicking the tires that were interested in our community. There are still people that think this is a great hockey town. There are people that are just looking.”
A staff report from last year stated that a brand new arena suitable for the needs of an OHL franchise, would cost between $45 million to $50 million.
Custance also tweeted that Karmanos said it has always been a struggle to make money in Plymouth.
“It was continually a battle to break even there, no matter how good we did as a team,” Karmanos said.
Flint, Michigan has also been rumoured as a possible destination for the Whalers, and a major sports facility announcement is scheduled to take place in Flint this morning.
However, reports indicate it would involve a team from the United States Hockey League moving to Flint, not the OHL.
The deadline for an OHL team to re-locate is December 31.
Watch for more on this story.
