If I asked you what the common thread under Charlotte, Savannah, Atlanta, Greensboro, Jacksonville, all, stateline and mobile, you can answer that it is all of American cities. Although that is true, there are things that these cities bring together, and two of those things are professional hockey and the Zawyer Sports and Entertainment Group. You may acknowledge that the majority of the cities mentioned above has ECHL teams that own or works the Zawyer group, but one city that protrudes is mobile, Alabama, because there is no ECHL team since 2002. Again!
I have the Original announcement on September 17But the SPHL and the Zawyer Sports & Entertainment have announced that an expansion team will play in Mobile, Alabama in 2027-28! The SPHL approved the expansion bid with a unanimous voice of approval by the League board of directors, so that the 11th SPHL franchise could start playing in the state of Alabama in two seasons!
There has never been a SPHL team in mobile, but there was an Echl team there at the same time. The Mobile mysticks The Mobile Civic Center Home from 1995-2002 called before he moved to Duluth, Georgia to become the Gwinnett Gladiators who became the Atlanta Gladiators in 2015. The Mysticks never passed the second round of the Kelly Cup -Play -offs in one of their campaigns, but they made the play -offs in five of their seven seasons while playing in Alabama.
You may wonder how mobile suddenly appeared on the hockey card in 2025, and that is because of the New Arena project That mobile is currently running. The demolition of the Mobile Civic Center started in September 2024 when the city of Mobile invested $ 300 million in a new arena. The land broke the new arena in the spring of 2025 and it is expected that the Arena with 10,000 seats will be ready for use in the fall of 2027 for concerts, family shows and sporting events.
It is clear that Mobile would look for a tenant for the new facility, and that means they need a kind of sports team in the building. With the Birmingham Bulls on the north side of the state and the Pensacola Ice Pilots directly to the east, there would immediately be rivals for a SPHL team. An ECHL team would not have immediate rivals, and the competition had announced its 32nd team earlier this year, so it is even more logical for the SPHL to go to mobile.
The metropolitan mobile area is the home of an estimated 412,000 people, so there is a good population to support Hockey from Minor League. Mobile is seen as a large cultural center thanks to its history as the only saltwater port of Alabama, and that has led to mobile Mardi Gras every year since the beginning of the 19th century. Today the event is still celebrated and the city is the home of all kinds of museums, restaurants and music that reflect the cultural origin of the area.
Among the many industries, the space, shipbuilding and steel and finishing industries play large parts in the city. The largest employer is in education at the University of South Alabama and the Mobile County Public School system that forms 10% of the available jobs. According to 2025 Census numbers “,”[t]The median family income in mobile was $ 50,156, while the median income for a family was $ 73,717, “but almost 16% of the inhabitants live below the poverty line. Could there be economic challenges for this new team?
As long as the ticket prices are kept affordable and marketing is done properly, a SPHL team should not have a problem to attract fans. They will have to do better than the mysticks of the Echl that went from 5310 fans per game in 1995, in 2002, 2618 fans per game. That kind of drop-off will lead to a lot of red ink, so this team needs a solid seasonal card base to remain profitable. A few winning seasons immediately from the gate would certainly help that seasonal card sales.
Another important factor to keep the interest of fans in this team will create a solid brand for this new franchise. While the mysticks from Echl were given their name thanks to Atrisha Looney sends a survey in responseThis new SPHL team is already at the front of taking a stake Submissions from team name on Mobileprohockey.com. Although I think the team should be mentioned as the mobile “team names”, I like the idea of a Port City Alternate Jersey one day.
Of course I am a Canadian hockey fan, so my opinion is not much ready. The people of Mobile are those who have to be asked, and WKRG in Mobile did exactly that when they discovered what people think.
Enthusiasm aside, mobile can be a challenging market when it comes to selling hockey. There are no official small hockey programs that I could find for Mobile, Alabama, and there has been no hockey presence in the city and counting for 22 years. For this generation of mobilians, hockey can be just as strange and strange as Canadian bacon, so the Zawyer group can have its hands full in selling both the game and the tickets for the game at the same time.
I hope that the Zawyer group can make this work. This mobile franchise marks the eighth team they own and/or work, so they have the experience in selling hockey in the southern US. However, this will be the first time that they went to the community where hockey is not even on the radar, apart from people who catch a glimpse on ESPNs Sports center. The Zawyer group will have to be proactive in the sale of the game for his hockey empire to thrive.
Hockey looks like it can work in mobile, just like in other non-traditional Sunbelt markets. It will take a great effort from the Zawyer group and some buy-in from fans in Alabama, but this new SPHL franchise has a potential to be a southern jewel for the competition. Pro Hockey is coming to Mobile in 2027 – Will Alabama be ready?
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
#empire #growing