Hockey is back in Bloomington after a five-year hiatus.
The Bloomington Bison were unveiled to a crowd of about 200 people at a news conference Wednesday at Grossinger Motors Arena. Also Wednesday, the Bloomington City Council approved a 20-year agreement for the team.
The team's logo represents multiple parts of the history and geography of central Illinois. Illinois was part of the once plentiful bison’s natural habitat, and while the population is significantly smaller, there are still bison in the state.
The logo also features Abe Lincoln’s iconic stovepipe hat and an outline of Illinois, all overlaid over a Route 66 sign. Chad Hallett, from ownership group Hallett Sports and Entertainment, said, “It sounds pretty busy, but we kinda like it.”
Hallett has owned the ECHL's Indy Fuel, based in Indianapolis, since 2014.
The Bison will compete in the ECHL, beginning in the 2024-25 season. Bloomington will become the 30th franchise in the league, joining in the same season as the Tahoe Lake Monsters, owned by former college football great and NFL player Tim Tebow. The arena will host three dozen home games, in the season that runs from October to April.
Unlike other ECHL teams, the Bison will remain unaffiliated with an NHL or AHL team for the time being. Only four NHL teams don’t have ECHL representation — the Carolina Hurricanes, Arizona Coyotes, Columbus Blue Jackets, and St. Louis Blues. Affiliate status can help a team gain increased access to talent and resources.
Grossinger Motors Arena opened in 2006 and can seat up to 5,600 hockey fans at every game, according to its website.
The arena has previously hosted the Bloomington PrairieThunder, a team that played in the now defunct UHL/IHL and the equally extinct CHL throughout its five-year existence, as well as the short-lived franchises the Bloomington Blaze and Thunder. The Central Illinois Flying Aces last called the arena home, playing their USHL games at the venue until 2019.
The main difference this go-around is the level of hockey, with the ECHL being a feeder league for both the NHL and AHL, said ECHL commissioner Ryan Crelin.
“Our players' speed and skill has never been better, and you’re going to see an exhilarating live performance," Crelin said.
Other teams in Bloomington’s past haven’t been able to keep up with attendance targets. City officials and Bison front office staff expect to meet those benchmarks. The contract holds the franchise responsible if it falls short.
“It’s a wonderful facility. It’s a facility that fits our product. We’re not looking to have 10,000-seat arenas that might show up half empty. We’re looking to have ... an arena that’s full every night," said Jim Hallett, owner of Hallett Sports.
Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus said bringing a new anchor tenant to the arena is a key piece to attracting more visitors back to its downtown venues that have been largely dormant post-COVID.
“We’re moving towards a full arena calendar. In the last year we’ve had things happening almost every week here in this building and at the BCPA," Tyus said.
Team ownership believes it can create something affordable for families to do in the area.
“Half of the people that go to a hockey game are there for a great evening with their children and their grandparents and parents and it’s a great evening to have fun. And then the other half of people are hockey fans," Hallett said,
When asked about specifics when it comes to attendance though, interim team president Sean Hallett said, “We expect to be higher than 2,200, just based on this league, it has a different following than the other leagues … I’m gonna stay positive and just say that the 2,200 was put in there as a worst-case scenario just based on what’s happening in our league, how it’s matured over the last 10 years.
"Looking at the launch of some other teams, even though this is a smaller market, it's a hockey-centric market, and it’s certainly not the smallest market in the ECHL.”
Single-game tickets are expected to cost between $20 and $36 each, and a season ticket deposit system has been set up. Season tickets are $699 for 38 home games.
