City Council approves 10-year agreement to establish a minor league hockey team at Reno Events Center

Reno is a step closer to bringing a minor league hockey team to the Biggest Little City.

The Reno City Council approved a 10-year agreement earlier this month with the Reno Puck Club to move ahead to develop a minor league hockey team that will play at the Reno Events Center.

“Reno is a market on the upswing,” Ken Lehner, partner with the Reno Puck Club, said in a recent phone interview. “It is also the largest city in America that doesn’t have a sheet of ice.”

According to the approved term sheet, Reno Puck Club would enter into a lease with the City of Reno, who owns the building, for 10 years starting July 1, 2017. They would also take over management of the facility, which is currently managed by the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority (RSCVA). According to Lehner, the hockey team would begin playing in the ECHL starting in 2018.

The Reno Puck Club plans to invest $5.7 million for renovations and improvements to the Reno Events Center to make the facility compatible for a minor league hockey team. Improvements include installation of the ice, alterations to the seating, a new elevator and renovating the locker rooms for the hockey players.

“It is a beautiful building, it is a great asset and it is not being completely utilized at the capacity it could be,” Lehner said.

These improvements will make the Reno Events Center a more versatile and profitable entertainment venue as it is currently losing money.

“It is a great facility and right now it is an underperforming facility,” Bill Dunne, revitalization manager for the City of Reno, said.

The Reno Events Center is home to the Reno Bighorns as well as hosts concerts and other events. However, the venue is unused approximately 300 days a year. According to Lehner, the addition of a minor league hockey team would add at least 40 events to the center, not including playoff games.

The addition of an ice rink also provides the opportunity to use the Reno Events Center for a number of other uses such as curling, youth and adult hockey, college hockey, tournaments, potentially Disney on Ice, figure skating and more.

”There are a ton of opportunities here,” Dunne said.

In the laid out agreement, RSCVA will give up management of the facility to the Reno Puck Club and contribute $500,000 per year from 2017 to 2021. Starting in 2022, the City will pay $500,000 each year from the $2 Capital Projects Surcharge Fund to help pay for capital improvements on the facially, this amount will need to be reviewed and voted on annually by the council. No money will come out of the City’s general fund.

The Reno City Council approved the term sheet in a six to one vote on December 14.