Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Professional sports, property management, entertainment |
Founded | March 12, 2024 |
Key people | Anson Carter Neil Leibman Peter Simon Aaron Zeigler |
Owner | Anson Carter |
Alpharetta Sports & Entertainment (ASE) is an American company based in Alpharetta, Georgia. This group was formed by former National Hockey League player Anson Carter, in order to bring an NHL team back to Atlanta for the first time since the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg in 2011.
In 2011, after years of ownership issues and bad management, the Atlanta Thrashers were bought by True North Sports and Entertainment and relocated to Winnipeg, becoming the second interation of the Winnipeg Jets. [1]
8 years after the Thrashers relocation, in 2019, former NHL player Anson Carter met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to begin talks on bringing the NHL back to Atlanta. However, in the past few years, rumors of Atlanta returning to the NHL began to heat up with the ECHL’s Atlanta Gladiators drawing over 10,000 fans for Thrashers Night. [2] A competing bid, led by metro Atlanta businessman Vernon Krause and based in Forsyth County, announced their intentions to get an NHL team in the area with a brand new arena, The Gathering at South Forsyth. [3]
On March 12, 2024, Carter officially announced the creation of Alpharetta Sports and Entertainment and that they had sent a request to the NHL to begin the expansion process. [4] With this announcement, ASE also promised to build an NHL arena on the North Point Mall location.
The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 season. They were members of the Southeast Division of the NHL's Eastern Conference, and played their home games at what is now known as State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta. The Thrashers qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs in the 2006–07 season, after winning the Southeast Division, but were swept in the first round by the New York Rangers.
The International Hockey League (IHL) was a minor professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1945 to 2001. The IHL served as the National Hockey League's alternate farm system to the American Hockey League (AHL). After 56 years of operation, financial instability led to the league's demise. Six of the surviving seven teams merged into the AHL in 2001.
The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL).
Anson Horace Carter is a Canadian former professional ice hockey right winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for eight teams from 1996 to 2007, most notably with the Boston Bruins, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks. He was last active as a player with HC Lugano in the Swiss Nationalliga A. After retiring from professional hockey, he joined NBC Sports as an analyst and is now currently an analyst for NHL on TNT and MSG Network.
The Atlanta Gladiators are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Duluth, Georgia. The Gladiators play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Gas South Arena, approximately 22 miles (35 km) northeast of Atlanta.
Canada Life Centre is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
Mary Brown's Centre is an indoor arena and entertainment venue located in downtown St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The arena opened in May 2001, replacing Memorial Stadium. At full capacity the arena can seat 7,000 people.
Kevin G. Doell is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Atlanta Thrashers.
Sports in Georgia include professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.
The National Hockey League (NHL) has undergone several rounds of expansion and other organizational changes during its history to reach its current thirty-two teams: twenty-five in the United States, and seven in Canada. The newest additions to the league are the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021. The league has also relocated several franchises, most recently in 2011 when the former Atlanta Thrashers became the second and current incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, playing their home games at Canada Life Centre.
True North Sports and Entertainment Limited is a Canadian company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that owns and operates Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League. The company also owns the Jets' minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League. Aside from hockey, TNSE is also involved in real estate with True North Square, and are active in bringing concerts and other acts to Winnipeg.
Mark Chipman, is a Canadian hockey executive, businessman, and lawyer. Chipman is best known as the chairman of True North Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is also the team's governor and currently a member of the National Hockey League Board of Governors' Executive Committee.
Sports in Atlanta has a rich history, including the oldest on-campus NCAA Division I football stadium, Bobby Dodd Stadium, built in 1913 by the students of Georgia Tech. Atlanta also played host to the second intercollegiate football game in the South, played between the A&M College of Alabama and the University of Georgia in Piedmont Park in 1892; this game is now called the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. The city hosts college football's annual Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the Peachtree Road Race, the world's largest 10 km race. Atlanta was the host city for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics, and Downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park was built for and commemorates the games.
The 2015–16 ECHL season was the 28th season of the ECHL. The regular season schedule ran from October 16, 2015 to April 9, 2016 with the Kelly Cup playoffs to follow. Twenty-eight teams in 21 states and one Canadian province each played a 72-game schedule. The league alignment was significantly altered before the season when the American Hockey League announced the formation of a Pacific Division on January 30, 2015 displacing the ECHL teams that had been in California markets.
The Evansville Thunderbolts are a minor league ice hockey team in the SPHL. The team plays at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. The team replaced the Evansville IceMen of the ECHL.
The Savannah Ghost Pirates are a professional minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL based in Savannah, Georgia. The team began play in the 2022–23 ECHL season with home games at Enmarket Arena.
Georgia has a very mixed history with ice hockey. The state has seen many expansion teams at multiple levels but few have been able to establish a foothold in the public consciousness.
The Gathering at South Forsyth is a proposed mixed-use development in the Atlanta metropolitan area to be located in Forsyth County, Georgia near the city of Alpharetta. The centerpiece of the development is an 18,000-seat arena, intended to bring a National Hockey League franchise back to the metro Atlanta area.