On Tuesday, the ECHL announced that once again Trenton, New Jersey would be getting a minor league hockey team. The Utah Grizzlies will move and play at CURE Insurance Arena for the 2026-2027 season. A few years back, we questioned if minor league hockey would ever return to the state. Now, it’s happening.
Trenton used to be home to the ECHL’s Trenton Thunder. The team was popular and had great on-ice success before an unsuccessful rebrand to the Trenton Devils under New Jersey Devils ownership. Eventually new owners restored the “Titans” name but it was too late and the franchise folded in 2013. What could be done to make Trenton’s ECHL successful for years to come? Let’s take a look.
Be Careful Choosing An Identity
New Jersey’s state capital has an identity crisis when it comes to sports teams. Yes, it’s New Jersey and it has the Devils. Trenton is located too close for comfort to Philadelphia. Residents there to seem to be a split between New York (including New Jersey) sports fans and Philadelphia sports fans. Many joke that the area is the Mason-Dixon Line of the area’s sports fandom. One person might be wearing a Nico Hischier jersey and watching the New York Yankees. Meanwhile, their neighbor might be climbing greased light poles and throwing snowballs at Santa.
The team has to tread lightly to appealing to any specific “big city” fandom. That was a mistake the former ECHL teamed learned the hard way when they rebranded as the Trenton Devils. The local fanbase didn’t immediately adopt the specific-team allegiance type branding the organization was going for. Part of it was the heavy presence of Flyers fandom. Part of it was because the team’s previous identity of the Titans was somewhat uniquely New Jersey while being neutral to NHL allegiances (even if they were a Flyers farm team).
The new team should stay away from latching onto to an NHL team’s coattails. Taking the easy route would be just reviving the Titans name. It didn’t work when the previous team tried to rebrand from the Trenton Devils days, but this team is starting with a clean slate, and many seem to have fond memories attached to the Titans.
Addressing The Arena
The area around CURE Insurance Arena was never really built up, although the city had promised that during initial construction. A minor league arena isn’t going to have the same feel as Philadelphia’s Xfinity Live or the Atlanta Braves Truist Park, but more needs to be done at CURE Insurance Arena. This could be the bare minimum of better parking and some fast food establishments nearby for pre and post-game meals.
The arena seems to be in major need of some updates. Concession stands on the concourse are seen to closed and seemingly untouched for years. Every area seemed to need new paint or at least a deep cleaning. There was a banner over the seating area congratulating a local graduating class from years prior. It’s understandable that the arena hasn’t had much TLC not having a major tenant for over a decade but with a new one coming this just won’t do.
Work Hard To Get Those Local Sponsors
Local sponsors are extremely important in the world of minor league sports. The new owners should be opening up that old Titans rolodex of contacts to get sponsors on board fast. Convince them investing in this new team is worth it, will be a long term partnership, and then make sure you deliver on it. Get the cash flowing quickly and get partnership that will buy tickets and luxury boxes for their company, employees, families, etc. A link for potential sponsors and partnerships is already available on their website.
Get Youth Hockey Involved Immediately
Whenever a new NHL team is started one of the first actions new ownership takes is to get youth hockey programs started. The Utah Mammoth did it last year, the Vegas Golden Knights have perfected it, and the “new era” NHL teams of the 1990’s expansion started it. New Jersey and Pennsylvania (Trenton is literally across the river) have a much bigger youth hockey presence that those markets did.
It’s not about building new programs from the ground up as much as getting the teams and kids who are already here involved before the puck even drops next year. They are going to be the ones that want to give deposits for season tickets and keep bringing their parents, siblings, friends, etc. to games. You know how when you go to a minor league game seven on an off night there’s always little league teams together in the stands? It’s the same idea here. A tweet from the event showed youth hockey players in attendance, as well as showing the out of date and undersized Jumbotron.
Ownership Stability
That’s another thing that, like sponsorship sales, that goes a long way in the successful longevity of a minor league team. Not saying the New Jersey Devils weren’t good owners of the Trenton Devils, but their subsequent selling of the team to a cash-strapped ownership group as the team’s third owners helped doom the franchise.
The ECHL’s official announcement featured Bob Ohrablo as part of the ownership group of Pro Hockey Partners LLC. Ohrablo has extensive ECHL experience with teams such as Jacksonville Icemen and Orlando Solar Bears. He recently served five years as president of Zawyer Sports and Entertainment, owners of five current ECHL teams (including the aforementioned Icemen). His wealth of knowledge should be a vote of confidence for hockey fans in this new Trenton franchise.