Flyers reach agreement with Trenton to be ECHL affiliate

PHILADELPHIA - The Flyers have entered into a minor league affiliation agreement with the Trenton Titans of the ECHL for the 2011-12 season.

The agreement also includes cross-promotional opportunities to help the Titans sell tickets through the Flyers fan base.

“The Philadelphia Flyers and the Comcast-Spectacor Family of Companies are excited to be affiliated with the Trenton Titans,” said Comcast-Spectacor President Peter Luukko. “As our ECHL affiliate, we’re confident that our prospects will be playing in an environment here in Trenton that will help them develop their ultimate potential.”

By realigning their affiliation with the Flyers, the Titans, which played the past four seasons as the Trenton Devils, will continue playing at the Sun National Bank Center. When Trenton first entered the ECHL, the team was originally affiliated with the Flyers.

“In addition, with our management company, Global Spectrum, operating the arena, and with our advertising and sales division, Front Row Marketing Services, selling sponsorship opportunities for the Titans, we will create cross-promotional opportunities to help grow their fan base and fill the arena,” added Luukko.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for hockey fans in Trenton and the surrounding region to identify new up-and-coming future prospects and watch them grow into possible NHL stars,” said Luukko.

“To be affiliated with the Philadelphia Flyers and Adirondack Phantoms will greatly enhance what it means to be a member of the Trenton Titans,” said Titans President/CEO Rich Lisk. “The Flyers are committed to winning at every level. We hope to help them with that commitment by developing their future AHL and NHL players.”

Trenton will serve as Philadelphia’s secondary affiliate for the upcoming season.  Under the agreement, players under contract to the Flyers or to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, can be assigned to the Titans. Trenton replaces the Greenville Road Warriors, which served as the Flyers’ ECHL affiliate during the 2010-11 season.

The ECHL is the third-longest tenured professional hockey league behind only the National Hockey League and the American Hockey League. The ECHL began in 1988-89 with five teams in four states and has grown to be a coast-to-coast league with 20 teams in 15 states and British Columbia in 2009-10. The league officially changed its name from East Coast Hockey League to ECHL on May 19, 2003.