Macon may get another minor league hockey team

MACON, Ga. - Macon may be getting another minor league hockey team, a month after the Macon Whoopee of the East Coast Hockey League left this central Georgia city for Lexington, Ky.<br> <br> Mayor Jack Ellis and Florida businessman David T. Adams met Tuesday to discuss putting a Macon team in the fledgling Atlantic Coast Hockey League,<br> <br> Adams said he has paid the league&#39;s $100,000 franchise fee, has a coach selected and is putting together a front office staff to begin as soon as possible.<br> <br> Any new contract between a hockey team and the city would have to be approved by the City Council and the Macon Coliseum Authority.<br> <br> &#34;We both have a mutual interest in having hockey here,&#34; Ellis said. &#34;(Adams) wants to have a team here, and we want to have a hockey team here. But we&#39;re still in the early stages.&#34;<br> <br> Adams said he will hire former NHL defenseman Brian Curran as coach should the deal be completed.<br> <br> The Atlantic Coast Hockey League, which will begin play this fall, has four teams in Florida - Orlando, Jacksonville, Tallahassee and St. Petersburg - plus franchises in Fayetteville, N.C., and Knoxville, Tenn. In addition to Macon, Birmingham, Ala., is another possibility.<br> <br> The Whoopee played its first five years in the Central Hockey League, but last year moved to the ECHL. The franchise averaged just 2,791 tickets sold per game, 26th in the 29-team league.<br> <br>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/8/191664