The Colorado Eagles minor- league hockey team in Loveland wants to leave the Central Hockey League and is using a lawsuit as leverage to get out, according to owners of a competing team in Broomfield.
The Eagles, who won the CHL championship last year, sued the Broomfield team and the CHL in August, claiming that the new team encroaches on their territory. The Broomfield team, co- owned by Tim Wiens and John Frew, will begin play in October.
The owners of the Eagles “repeatedly offered to sell the Colorado Eagles to Wiens and Frew because they wished to leave the CHL,” according to a counterclaim filed Monday in the Superior Court of Arizona by attorneys representing Wiens and Frew. “The only way to accomplish this goal was to either sell the Colorado Eagles to Wiens and Frew, or pressure the CHL to let them out of their 10-year license agreement.”
Wiens and Frew claim the Eagles’ owners want to join a higher-level, more lucrative minor hockey league.
The Eagles, currently in the third year of the contract, denied the allegations.
“That’s absolutely a groundless claim and not based on fact,” said Russ Sanford, co-owner of the Eagles.
The Eagles have sold out every game since their inception in October 2003, a string of 80 straight.
League spokesman Steve Cherwonak said the CHL has had numerous discussions with both sides and hopes to resolve the matter as soon as possible.
“We’re certainly open to any … agreement that allows both teams to peacefully coexist everywhere but on the ice,” Cherwonak said.
The lawsuit, filed in Arizona because the league is based in Phoenix, alleges that the league breached a contract with the Eagles that prohibits a team from being located within 25 miles of Loveland’s Budweiser Events Center, where the Eagles play their home games.
The Broomfield team is set to play about 40 miles from the Budweiser Events Center, but the Eagles contend that the ticket sales and marketing of the two teams would overlap.
The CHL’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit was rejected Jan. 6.
The Broomfield team and a minor-league basketball team will play at the new $45 million Broomfield Event Center, located along U.S. 36 between West 108th and 120th avenues. The team names will be unveiled next week.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
