Utah Grizzlies, ECHL find ways to make it in tough economy

The sprawling economic downturn over the past 12 months has had far-reaching effects throughout the sporting world, not least of all in the realm of minor-league sports.

Minor leagues across the board have been forced to re-examine everything that they're doing in hopes of finding ways to weather the economic storms that have hit them.

In the case of the ECHL, of which the Utah Grizzlies are a member, that has certainly been the case.

Having dealt with the ignominy last winter of having two of its teams cease operations during the middle of the season, the ECHL has spent most of the past year finding ways to secure its short-term future.

However, heading into the 2009-10 season, which will begin this weekend, the ECHL believes it has laid the groundwork to make sure it continues to exist in the foreseeable future.

"Somewhat ironically, we are probably in better overall health at this point this year than we were a year ago," said ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna. "The fact that we dropped two or three teams — two or three of our tougher markets — has led to the overall strength of the league being better than it was a year ago."

The Utah Grizzlies will open the season on the road at Las Vegas at 8 tonight.

Because of the economic downturn, the Augusta and Fresno clubs both ceased operations in the middle of last year's ECHL season, while Mississippi, Phoenix and Dayton all folded after the season.

Franchises from Toledo and Kalamazoo will be added to the fray this winter, taking the ECHL from 23 teams last year to 20 teams this year.

According to McKenna, one of the interesting things about the recession is that it hit certain markets far worse than others, which obviously made things difficult for his league.

"What's going on in the larger economy hasn't translated into an across-the-board impact on our league," said McKenna. "We're seeing different things in different markets."

A season ago, McKenna says the league had six or seven teams it was worried about, and those fears were obviously well-founded in several instances.

Flash forward to the present, however, and McKenna says "there are probably three teams we would certainly like to see (do) better."

"We probably spend a disproportionate amount of time working on teams that are struggling, as opposed to the ones that are doing a good job and don't need much in the way of help," he said. "I think we'll continue to do that. We want to give teams every opportunity to try new ideas, to share best practices with other teams in the league that are succeeding or other teams in minor-league sports where they pick up ideas."