Why the Grand Sierra Resort believes minor-league hockey would work in Reno

While the Nevada men’s basketball team playing in the proposed Grand Sierra Resort Arena has drawn most of the headlines over the last 19 months, the facility also could be home to a minor-league hockey team.

While no team is in place for the arena if built, all of the in-depth analysis of the project presented by Hunden Partners, a third party hired by the city of Reno to analyze the redevelopment, have included a minor-league hockey tenant.

Of the Hunden Partners’ estimated 95 events held in the arena each year, 39 are projected to be minor-league hockey games. And given the thin margin of financial wiggle room the developers have said the project has, landing a minor-league hockey team and drawing fans to those games will be key to the project’s success if it is approved Wednesday when the Reno Redevelopment Agency Board meets to vote on whether to offer tax-increment financing to the GSR.

Reno last had a minor-league hockey team in 1998, which was the final year of a short-lived three-season run by the Reno Renegade/Rage. That team, a member of the West Coast Hockey League, played in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center from 1995-98. Reno hasn’t had a fully pro minor-league hockey team since then, although Northern Nevada has seen a recent renaissance in the sport as the Reno Ice Raiders, a semi-pro team, has played in the Reno Ice facility since 2021 with the ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters debuting in Stateline last fall.

While minor-league teams have come and gone in Northern Nevada over the years, including the Renegades/Rage; Reno Bighorns basketball team; and Reno 1868 FC soccer team, the GSR developers believe minor-league hockey would be a success in Reno.

“No. 1 for hockey, I think Reno Ice has done a great job of expanding the local fan base for hockey and getting enough families and the youth sports segment interested in hockey,” said Andrew Diss, the senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Meruelo Gaming who has helped oversee the project. “We have seen them drive that demand, and we think it can be very successful. We see the job that the Aces have done with minor-league ball, and we think that hockey can be successful.”

The Triple-A baseball Reno Aces are the longest standing minor-league team in Northern Nevada, calling the region home since relocating from Tucson in 2009. In its three most recently completed seasons, the Aces have averaged 4,801 (in 2022), 5,040 (in 2023) and 4,769 (in 2024) fans per home game in the 9,013-capacity Greater Nevada Field. That’s roughly 54 percent capacity.

The Knight Monsters, the ECHL team in Stateline, have averaged 3,427 fans per home game in their debut season while playing in the 4,200-seat Tahoe Blue Events Center. That’s an average percent capacity of 81.6. Hunden Partners projects minor-league hockey games to draw an average attendance of 4,449 fans per home game in the 10,000-plus-seat GSR Arena.

While hurdles in getting a minor-league team to Reno exist, one thing helping the projection is the fact GSR owner Alex Meruelo owns the Tucson Roadrunners, an AHL team. Phase one of the GSR project also includes a community ice rink that would double as a practice facility for a minor-league team.

“We are working on bringing a team,” Diss said. “There’s no announcement yet. I feel pretty confident within two years when the facility opens (in 2027) that we will be at that point where we’re announcing a new team.”

The Hunden Partners presentation also projects five major concerts and seven minor concerts per year as part of those 95 annual events. One of the GSR’s big pitches is the arena would change the caliber of acts who would stop in Reno. Currently, the top draws from a venue standpoint include the Reno Events Center (7,000 capacity), outdoor Nugget Event Center (8,500 capacity) and GSR’s Grand Theatre (2,900 capacity).

“We think that number is conservative,” Diss said of the projected five major concerts and seven minor concerts. “We are shooting for much higher numbers because Reno is a pass-through market for the big shows that are driving along Interstate 80 from Sacramento going out to Salt Lake City or vice versa. And we wanna put Reno on the map as one of those stops for those big shows that are currently bypassing us and going straight to Golden One (in Sacramento). And with this facility, we have the ability to do that. It’s about that market that we are serving not only for the locals but for the Northern California drive-in market. We want to give them a reason to come over here and see that big show that they have been wanting to see.”