Admirals can’t save their 2020-21 season
Team makes decision in interest of player safety
The Norfolk Admirals won’t play this season.
The team announced Tuesday it is opting out of competition for the 20202021 ECHL season under the league’s COVID-19 Voluntary Suspension Policy.
The team will return to play in the 2021-2022 ECHL season.
The decision was made in the interest of the safety of Admirals players, staff and the community.
“This has been a grueling decision,” Admirals CEO Patrick Cavanagh said in a release. “We have been seeking every opportunity to play since the spring. But ultimately, the health and safety of our community is the Admirals’ primary objective.”
Along with the safety issues, the Admirals also faced a difficult financial situation if they moved forward with the season. The state’s coronavirus restrictions allowed only 1,000 people at Scope.
“I think certainly what
comes into play is, at the end of the day, we need fans,” Admirals general manager Ryan McGinnis said in a telephone interview. “At the end of the day, we need fans and we need to be able to have fans to generate money so we can pay our bills. It’s very simple and not to be overthought.
“With where we’re currently at in our capacity, it’s disappointing, no doubt, and I think everybody here is devastated and they should be, but we do look to come back with now a full year of having preparation and time to kind of do this thing right and not feel rushed with a limited capacity and so many restrictions and guidelines that would take place this year.”
With the cancellation of the season, the Admirals’ players are becoming free agents.
“I’ve already received phone calls from numerous coaches and numerous players of ours,” McGinnis said. “That’s positive. We felt good about our roster and it certainly shows too when other coaches want your players. They’re free agents at the moment and they’ll be free agents all the way through.”
Still, there’s the hope that the Admirals will be able to re-sign or reacquire their players after the season.
“So next year, do we get
them back? Maybe some,” McGinnis said. “That would be the goal. … We’ll have to start here in January and February when we go to
recruit again. We will at that point start from scratch and construct an entire roster.”
The canceled season also gives the Admirals a chance
to focus on the business side of the franchise.
“We have 11 months to prepare, so it’s not any one thing; it’s going to be every
thing that we’re going to think about and make sure that when we meet again, everything is in line, that every ‘T’ has been crossed
and every ‘I’ has been dotted,” McGinnis said. “It just gives us more time to clean up every aspect of our business.”