Better hockey might mean more business in Ontario

The Ontario Reign’s pending move to the American Hockey league will be a step up in caliber-of-play from the current team. That could mean bigger crowds and more spending, but the problems inherent in marketing minor league sports will remain, according to one expert.

Before the start of hockey season last October, Frank Van Heule bought a sponsorship package with the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles Kings affiliate that plays its home games at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

Van Heule, owner of the New York Grill in Ontario, won’t say how much he paid for the sponsorship, but he will say he’s satisfied with its results.

At every Reign home game, the New York Grill is flashed repeatedly on the electronic ring that surrounds the arena. Also, photos of the restaurant’s dining room appear intermittently on the scoreboard when play stops, and Van Heule receives complimentary tickets for his patrons whenever they’re available.

All in all, a solid investment for Van Heule, who is sole owner of the restaurant near Ontario Mills.

“I’m a businessman,” Van Heule said. “I’m always looking for ways to improve my business. Buying a sponsorship seemed like a good idea, so I decided to try it.”

Van Heule will renew his sponsorship next season, and there’s reason to believe he might get an even better return on his investment the second time around. Starting next fall, the Ontario Reign will be part of the American Hockey League, a 30-team founded in 1936 that plays a brand of hockey similar to Triple A baseball.

By comparison, the current Reign squad is more of developmental league comparable to Double-A or even Single-A baseball, said Darren Abbott, the team’s general manager.

While the team will still be called the Reign, its roster will be filled with players who are ready to play in the NHL, or who have already played there and are waiting to be called back to the big club.

Like other local business people, Van Heule believes having a higher caliber team will create some major marketing opportunities in the Inland Empire. Having a lower minor league franchise is one thing, but to have a team that is virtually NHL caliber and is an affiliate of an organization that has won two Stanley Cup championships in the last three years is another thing entirely, he said.

“People are excited about it,” Van Heule said. “There’s a feeling that the team will be more of a regional draw than it is now. The Kings have a huge following, and [the Reign] will be helped by that. I hope they help every [business] around the arena, not just us.”

The Reign’s move to the American Hockey League became official Feb. 11, during a news conference at the arena that included Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille, both former Kings’ stars the team’s current assistant general manager and president of business operations, respectively.

David Andrews, president and chief executive officer of the AHL, and Abbott were also in attendance. Besides explaining the move and its long-term significance, both men helped unveil the new team’s uniform and logo, both silver and black and reminiscent of the Wayne Gretzky-era Kings.

Andrews told the crowd that the deal was years in the making, and that it fulfills one of the AHL’s long-time goals: bringing its league to the greater Los Angeles market, which has slowly embraced hockey since the Kings began play in 1967.

Before the start of the 2015-’16 season, the Manchester Monarchs in New Hampshire will move to Ontario and become the Reign. At the same time, the current Reign franchise, a member of the ECHL, will be transferred to New Hampshire and become the Monarchs.

The Reign will be one of five AHL teams, including an Anaheim Ducks affiliate in San Diego, that will begin play in California next fall.

Kings officials wanted the move because they want to be closer to their top minor league affiliate, making it easier to work with their top minor league players, Blake said.

A higher-end team opens up more marketing possibilities not only for the Reign but also for the Kings, who are the NHL’s defending Stanley Cup champions and will never be more marketable than they are now.

“I can’t give you a solid number, but I think an AHL team is more likely to have a financial impact” than an ECHL team, Andrews said immediately after the news conference. “The team has more money to spend, and there will be more synergy between the Reign and the Kings, so there should be a difference.”

The Kings are exploring ways to promote the Reign and create a strong connection between the two franchises, said Jonathan Lowe, the Kings’ vice president of marketing.

No decisions have been made, but virtually every option – social media, outdoor and radio advertising, Facebook – are under consideration, with an emphasis on reaching a younger demographic.

“We’re looking at some unbelievable opportunities,” Lowe said. “I’ve been with the Kings for 13 years, so I’ve seen the lows and the highs, and right now we’re on a streak of 150 consecutive home sellouts. We’ve built a solid core following, so there’s no reason the Reign can’t succeed in Ontario.”

Better hockey should mean more people will travel from outside the Inland region to attend games in Ontario, said Ryan Osbrink, owner of the Chick-fil-A restaurant at 4350 E. Ontario Mills Parkway.

“I think seeing guys who have played in the NHL will be a huge draw,” said Osbrink, who uses the Reign in some of his restaurant promotions. He also hires extra workers to handle the excess business generated by some Reign home games.

“The team draws well, but I’m hoping that next year we get people from Los Angeles and Orange County,” Osbrink said.

The Reign, which has been playing in Ontario since 2008, does draw well: crowds of 8,000 are typical in an arena that holds about 9,300 for hockey, Abbott said.

That does leave room for adding to attendance, but the new Reign will have the same difficulty marketing itself that every other minor league franchise, regardless of the sport, has to deal with.

“You can’t market your players,’’ said David Carter, executive director of the Marshall School of Business at USC. “The definition of success in any minor league is your players move up, so you can’t market that. You have to market the whole experience, that it’s a fun time for the whole family. That’s what minor league baseball does. Baseball is more of the backdrop.”

Ticket prices will be a crucial issue for the Reign, Carter said.

“They’ll have to decide whether they want to raise prices and live with a few more empty seats, or keep prices relatively low and keep the building filled up,” said Carter, a member of the Kings’ business advisory board. “That will have a lot to do with how their product develops over time.”