Allen Americans Change Ownership

 

I have had a lot of questions over the summer and especially the last week about the Allen Americans changing ownership. This morning I can confirm Allen owner Jack Gulati has entered into an agreement  with Zawyer Sports and Entertainment (ZSE), the group that owns and/or manages the Jacksonville Icemen, Savannah Ghost Pirates, Atlanta Gladiators and the new ECHL franchise in Lake Tahoe.

 

- The process of changing ECHL ownership has many hurdles and is not official until the Board of Governors (BOG) vote to approve the transaction which has not happened. While Zawyer is very familiar to the ECHL, nothing is official until the BOG approves. What that means is you will likely not hear a formal announcement from the Americans, the league or new owners for a while, but I assume it will happen before the start of training camp in early October.

 

- It will likely be a very different ownership structure under this new group. While Jack Gulati is a one person owner that was not interested in minority owners, the Zawyer group is just the opposite. They typically have numerous owners with primary owners and minority owners. The Jacksonville franchise is a great example. In 2020 Jacksonville added three NFL players to its ownership family (minority owners) which numbered over 15 people. The three players were Tim Tebow (who recently became one of two primary owners of the new Lake Tahoe franchise), Myles Jack (linebacker with the Jacksonville Jaguars who retired this season) and Reggie Hayward (played nine NFL seasons with Denver and Jacksonville).

 

- When the sale is formally announced Allen fans will find out who are the primary owners and if the business model will be like Jacksonville, with local business leaders added as minority owners. If the sale goes through, which is a foregone conclusion, it should pump energy and financial resources into the Allen Americans franchise. If you look at last season, Jacksonville led the ECHL in average attendance (7749) and Savannah averaged 6802 despite a record of 28-34-9-1 (last in the South Division). Two good examples of what Zawyer brings to the table in managing ECHL franchises. 

 

- The ECHL has a long history of owners/ownership groups having multiple teams. When the ECHL started in 1988-89 with just five teams, two of them (40%) were owned by Henry Brabham of Brabham Cup fame. More recently the Steven brothers owned three teams in the same division (Allen, Tulsa, Wichita). Soon the Zawyer Sports and Entertainment group will own and/or manage five ECHL franchises.