The Los Angeles Kings are in need of a new ECHL affiliate, since the Manchester Monarchs have recently folded.

There has been a void in the city of Long Beach since the Ice Dogs left in 2007, and the Los Angeles Kings are in a unique position to fill it. Not only would this bring hockey (The best sport on the planet) back to the city of Long Beach, it would add a layer of convenience to the organization if the need of an emergency call up arose to either the AHL Ontario Reign, or the LA Kings, in extreme scenarios. This would also allow the Kings front office to evaluate their ECHL talent on a regular basis, without having to travel across the country. 

Filling the Long Beach Sports Arena with 13,000 fans, for 36 home games a year (plus the potential for playoffs), would bring welcome tax revenue to the city of Long Beach, and would only add to the ongoing rejuvenation of the Downtown area. 

Providing access to an ECHL team would give fans a lower cost hockey experience, helping to expose the sport to new fans and grow support for the entire LA Kings organization, and hockey as a sport. Long Beach alone, has over 469,000 residents, not including the densely populated cities in the surrounding area, all of which who have easy access to the arena. By comparison, The nearby city of Anaheim, has a population around 352,000, and they support not only an NHL franchise, but also an MLB franchise, as well. Exposure to over 100,000 more people in the city of Long Beach alone, should have no issue garnering support for a new ECHL team.

Please, bring back the Long Beach Ice Dogs!