The Acadie-Bathurst Titan have been sold, and the QMJHL team will be moving from New Brunswick to Newfoundland next season.
The hockey club made the announcement Friday, after months of speculation. It will play out of the Mary Brown’s Centre in downtown St. John’s, which can accommodate nearly 6,300 fans.
The deal with its new owners — John Harvey Patten, John R. Steele and Jason Sharpe — was inked Thursday night.
The team has been on the market for new ownership since January of this year, although the intention back then was to keep the team in northern New Brunswick.
QMJHL Commissioner Mario Cecchini said during a Friday news conference that “we were confident” in January, “but the enthusiasm faded.”
“Know that we did all we could to get to a sustainable scenario,” he said, in regards to keeping the team in New Brunswick.
Titan shareholder Marc Guignard said there were ultimately three groups that were interested in the team.
However, despite their best efforts to keep the team in Bathurst, it simply wasn’t possible, he said.
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“It became obvious through the process that even with the three groups that wanted to move forward in discussion, there was no interest in keeping the team in Bathurst with the financial information we gave them access to,” said Guignard.
Guignard said the team is recording about $1 million in losses each season, and that it has been a struggle financially due to low attendance numbers.
According to hockeyDB.com, which tracks attendance at games based on numbers from the team or league, Acadie-Bathurst had the second lowest attendance in the league in the 2023-24 season.
Average attendance was 1,627.
Cecchini pointed out that not even strong performances by the team was bringing in attendance numbers.
“At the beginning of the season, at one point, we were first in the league and still the attendance was around 1,500 — we had lower days also,” said Cecchini.
“It was obvious to us at the beginning of the season even though we had a competitive team on the ice, the attendance was not to the level we would have hoped.”
All this, said Guignard, should serve as a warning to others.
“I hope this is a lesson to all of the other teams and all the other fans — please support your teams, please go to the games, support them, be present and show them that you want to keep your team in your areas,” he said.
“It’s very important financially. It’s a lot for the teams to keep on going in this league.”
He said there was a sense of “having failed” on the objective to keep the team in Bathurst, but that the group of shareholders wanted to thank players, their families, billets, staff, sponsors, and volunteers “from the bottom of our hearts.”
Officials said it’s expected the current roster of players would remain with the team.
The Titan moved to Bathurst from Laval, Que in 1998 and were Memorial Cup champions in 2018. The franchise has faced financial woes and rumours of sales in the past, including in 2009 when the team was almost moved to Newfoundland.
In 2013, a group of local investors purchased the team. They tried selling it in 2021 but there were no offers — prompting the city of Bathurst to offer grants to the franchise.
In January, the owners announced they had hired Ernst & Young to find new ownership, which led to the sale announced Friday.
Meanwhile, St. John’s previously had a junior hockey team — called the St. John’s Fog Devils — from 2005 to 2008. That team was sold and relocated to suburban Montreal.