Knoxville’s reputation as a sports town extends far beyond the prominence and pageantry of the Tennessee Vols. Few settings compare to a sold-out Neyland Stadium or a packed Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City, but the city doesn’t receive enough credit for how it has supported teams outside of the University of Tennessee.
Minor league baseball has been an East Tennessee staple for decades, and now the Tennessee Smokies are slated to return to Knoxville. One Knoxville SC has brought professional soccer back to the city with great fan support.
Then there are the Knoxville Ice Bears, who survived the ending of two leagues, became founding members of a third and fought through the COVID-19 pandemic to break through into the team’s third decade of existence.
25 years straight of hockey in Knoxville
The Ice Bears are the fourth professional ice hockey franchise in Knoxville, all of which have been hosted at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. The eras of the Knights, Cherokees, Speed and now the Ice Bears have totaled 41 professional seasons since the arena was built in 1961. After a brief hockey hiatus following the departure of the Cherokees in 1997, the consecutive run of the Speed and Ice Bears has now reached 25 straight years of hockey in Knoxville.
In what many would consider a nontraditional hockey market, the city has embraced the sport, largely because the sport has embraced the city. Former players have often made their permanent homes here following their playing careers. Multiple youth hockey programs have been established in East Tennessee by former players and coaches. Others have stuck around and have stayed involved in the sport despite working in non-hockey careers.
Knoxville is a special place for sports
That type of career path certainly sounds common for a student-athlete from a major university such as UT, but how does an independent minor league hockey team in the South attract northerners and Canadians hundreds of miles from their hometowns? It makes Knoxville a special place. Especially for sports.
Money spent through Ice Bears games is effectively reinvested into the city of Knoxville. The team emphasizes supporting those who support the Ice Bears. Fans are great about doing business with partners of the organization and players are informed about which restaurants, pet stores, automotive shops and other businesses to seek out for personal needs while they’re in town. Jobs are created as a result of…
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