Prospective IHL Franchise Might Jeopardize Sockers

Harry Cooper, owner of the San Diego Sports Arena, said he will try to bring an International Hockey League franchise to San Diego this fall, a move that could jeopardize the future of the Sockers.

Cooper said he will make his decision based on cooperation from NHL owners, who are meeting this week in Vancouver, B.C. Cooper said if the owners “make available the number of players needed” to form a team, he will turn in an IHL application and a $2 million letter of credit today.

The presence of an IHL team would force the Sockers to work their MISL schedule around 41 hockey games. They would also be forced to move their offices from the Sports Arena. Socker Owner Ron Fowler said he would have “serious concerns with going forward” if the Sockers had to share the Sports Arena and would consider selling the team.

Fowler, whose team lost approximately $500,000 this season, said the hockey franchise would take over the advertising space on the dasher boards that surround the playing surface, the single largest source of advertising income for the Sockers.

“My concern is if they expect us to vacate our offices, and we have a problem with dates, then I’m going to really have to take a step back and look at it because we’ve been making some considerable progress in terms of the revenue side of the equation over the last few years,” Fowler said. “But if we end up with 41 weekend dates taken off a season and significant cost increases by having to move the office . . . that gives me some real cause for concern.”

Cooper said he will evaluate the time frame necessary to get a hockey franchise off the ground.

“I think we can pull together a team (by October),” he said. “If we can’t . . . we would do it next year.”

Cooper has expressed interest in bringing an NHL team to San Diego. He said having a successful IHL franchise would demonstrate that hockey could draw interest in San Diego. Cooper said the IHL team would relocate if San Diego were to gain approval for an NHL team.

Fowler, the Sockers’ owner for the past three years, questions whether having a minor league hockey team would help bring an NHL team to San Diego.

“For some reason, they think it’s going to help them get into the NHL, and I don’t necessarily agree with that,” Fowler said. “I listened to . . . a presentation on what it’s going to take to be an NHL owner and I don’t think that has anything to do with having a minor league hockey franchise in your city.”