{"id":168985,"date":"2025-08-23T11:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T11:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168985\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T11:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T11:06:09","slug":"official-site-of-the-echl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168985\/","title":{"rendered":"Official Site of The ECHL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ECHL announced on Wednesday that the League\u2019s Board of Governors has approved the expansion application of Augusta, Georgia for admittance into the League. The club will begin play in the 2027-28 Season.
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The team, which will be named later, will be owned by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner, and former National Football League quarterback, Tim Tebow, along with David Hodges, CEO of Hodges Management Group, LLC.
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With the addition of Augusta for the 2027-28 Season, the ECHL will have 32 Member Teams, matching the number of teams in both the National Hockey League and American Hockey League.
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\u201cThe return of ECHL Hockey to Augusta is exciting on a number of levels,\u201d said ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin. \u201cThe growth of the market and the newly constructed venue will make for a first-class entertainment experience, while also adding a great new rival city amongst our South Division. Furthermore, David and Tim\u2019s ownership has been exemplary in Tahoe, and we look forward to their continued growth in the Augusta market, which allows for further solidification of developmental hockey in North America, as the ECHL will match the NHL and AHL in markets for the 2027-28 Season.\u201d
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\u201cI am grateful for the opportunity to bring hockey back to Augusta with our partnership group,\u201d Tebow said. \u201cWe are excited to see this team bring people together from all over the country to enjoy camaraderie, competition, and community impact. Our desire is to make a positive impact both on and off the ice. We can\u2019t wait for the puck drop in October of 2027!\u201d
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\u201cTim and I are excited to be able to bring ECHL hockey back to Augusta,\u201d Hodges said. \u201cOn behalf of our partnership group, we look forward to stewarding this community asset. We both believe in the power of sports to bring communities together and are committed to positively impacting this community and delivering family-friendly environments that make lasting memories.\u201d
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\u201cAugusta is a passionate, sports-loving community that truly deserves to have professional hockey back in the city,\u201d said Zawyer Sports CEO Andy Kaufmann. \u201cWe are committed to building a strong franchise that will thrive here for years to come. And we are confident the New Augusta Arena will be a premier home for our team, giving fans and players alike a world-class environment to call their own.”
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\u201cThis is a proud day for Augusta,\u201d said Mayor Garnett L. Johnson, City of Augusta. \u201cBringing professional hockey back to our city is all about energizing our community, attracting visitors, and creating opportunities for our local economy to grow. The New Augusta Arena and our new ECHL team are set to become an incredible source of pride and excitement for residents across the region.\u201d
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Augusta was previously home to the ECHL\u2019s Augusta Lynx from 1998-2008 and the SPHL\u2019s Augusta RiverHawks from 2010-13. The new Augusta Membership will play its home games at The New Augusta Arena, a 10,500-seat venue currently under construction in downtown Augusta.
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About the ECHL<\/strong>
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Formed in 1988-89 with five teams in four states, the ECHL has grown into a coast-to-coast league with 30 teams in 23 states and one Canadian province for its 38th season in 2025-26. There have been 768 players<\/a> who have gone on to play in the National Hockey League after starting their careers in the ECHL, including 16 who made their NHL debuts in the 2024-25 season<\/a>. The ECHL had affiliations<\/a> with 29 of the 32 NHL teams in 2024-25, marking the 27th consecutive season that the league has affiliations with at least 20 teams in the NHL. Further information on the ECHL is available on its website at ECHL.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ECHL announced on Wednesday that the League\u2019s Board of Governors has approved the expansion application of Augusta,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-168985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077761210334162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}