Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
Facility. Logistics and site. Resort house. A entrance workplace able to taking over a significant challenge.
The Rockford IceHogs may tick all of these packing containers after which some, and that’s the reason they are going to be internet hosting the 2026 AHL All-Star Traditional introduced by BMO subsequent February.
“It truly is, together with the Calder Cup Finals, the marquee signature occasion for the American Hockey League,” President and CEO Scott Howson mentioned at a information convention held at BMO Middle on Monday.
The 2-day occasion is televised stay throughout North America and streamed worldwide. Because it was revived in 1995, greater than 94 p.c of its members have superior to the Nationwide Hockey League. And subsequent 12 months’s festivities may also be a key signature level of the AHL’s Ninetieth-anniversary season in addition to the Chicago Blackhawks’ centennial.
“It’s been a very long time coming,” IceHogs president of hockey operations and common supervisor Mark Bernard mentioned Monday. “That is going to be an amazing alternative to indicate the remainder of the league what Rockford is.”
As has been the case in some earlier Olympic years, the 2026 AHL All-Star Traditional will go together with a Tuesday-Wednesday set-up, with the Expertise Competitors on February 10 AHL Corridor of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony and the All-Star Problem on February 11. With the NHL calendar quiet throughout the Olympics – the boys’s ice hockey event will get underway Feb. 11 in Milan – additional consideration shall be given to the AHL’s annual get-together.
BMO Middle, the IceHogs’ dwelling and a constructing already identified for its glorious sightlines, not too long ago underwent $27 million of renovations to its infrastructure, know-how, concourse and premium areas. Scoreboard, ribbon-board, sound and lighting enhancements have been among the many adjustments. These upgrades got here because the Chicago Blackhawks bought the IceHogs from the town of Rockford in a 2021 deal that may maintain the membership on the town by way of at the very least 2036. The constructing, which opened in 1981, had already undergone greater than $23 million of refurbishments in 2007 earlier than the Blackhawks introduced their AHL affiliate to Rockford.
Past hockey, the sector has a gentle calendar that features Disney On Ice and Cirque du Soleil within the subsequent month alone.
“It’s been quite a lot of work to get the constructing to look this fashion,” BMO Middle common supervisor Gretchen Gilmore mentioned at Monday’s announcement. She thought again to a few of the earliest casual discussions about procuring the occasion for Rockford in 2021. “It was a dream at the moment,” she recalled, “to get the constructing and get us to a degree the place we may host an occasion like this. In the present day our dream has come true.”
The 2026 AHL All-Star Traditional would be the first time that the occasion will happen within the Midwest since Grand Rapids hosted in 2004. With Rockford’s central location, followers in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Iowa and Milwaukee are all inside comparatively straightforward driving distance of Rockford. And direct flights can be found from almost each AHL market throughout the USA and Canada to O’Hare Worldwide Airport, somewhat greater than hour’s drive away.
“These fan bases journey rather well, and hopefully these followers are curious about coming right here,” Mike Peck, the workforce’s vp of selling, content material and operations, mentioned. “It’s sort of in everybody’s yard right here within the Midwest.”
These followers – to not point out gamers, coaches, employees, households, VIP’s and 1000’s of different company – will want a spot to spend a couple of nights. New lodge house has been constructed these days, essential for this sort of occasion.
Lastly comes having a great entrance workplace. Howson disclosed Monday that the IceHogs are main the AHL in ticket income progress at 28 p.c year-over-year.
“They’ve finished an amazing job,” IceHogs president of enterprise operations Ryan Snider mentioned of the entrance workplace. “They’re those which are actually doing the heavy raise to ship outcomes. This occasion wouldn’t come off with out them.”
Loads of work stays to be finished within the subsequent 13 months earlier than the occasion is a go. There shall be a Rockford contingent on the bottom at this 12 months’s All-Star Traditional within the Coachella Valley this Feb. 2-3. Being there shall be a possibility to get an up-close take a look at the logistical issues and wishes that include internet hosting.
Then will probably be again to Rockford and a full-speed push to February 2026. It’s quite a lot of additional work on high of the day-to-day work that goes into the season already, Peck acknowledged. However having spoken with colleagues throughout the league whose golf equipment have hosted earlier than, their consensus is that the additional effort is greater than price it.
And so the AHL will come to Rockford, however the folks from throughout the league will depart understanding what day-one staff like Peck and Bernard have lengthy identified about their metropolis.
“The cool factor about coming to a market like Rockford,” Peck mentioned, “is that the city will embrace it.”
Stated Howson, “I can really feel the vitality constructing already.”
On the American Hockey League beat for 20 years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a daily contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
