Today · 4:15 PM UTC
Bulldogs vs Bears
  Today · 4:00 PM UTC
Falcons vs Crimson
Today · 11:00 PM UTC
Norfolk vs Trois-Rivières
Tomorrow · 11:00 PM UTC
Norfolk vs Trois-Rivières
Tomorrow · 11:05 PM UTC
Laval vs Rochester
May 16, 12:00 AM UTC
Milwaukee vs Texas
May 16, 12:05 AM UTC
Toledo vs Kansas City
May 16, 11:00 PM UTC
Hershey vs Charlotte
May 16, 11:05 PM UTC
Laval vs Rochester
May 16, 11:10 PM UTC
Waterloo vs Muskegon
May 17, 2:00 AM UTC
Colorado vs Abbotsford
May 17, 10:10 PM UTC
Waterloo vs Muskegon
May 17, 11:00 PM UTC
Hershey vs Charlotte
May 17, 11:05 PM UTC
Toledo vs Kansas City
May 19, 12:00 AM UTC
Milwaukee vs Texas
ECHL

Pro Hockey Team Coming To New Mexico In 2026-27 As ECHL Announces Expansion

Pro Hockey Team Coming To New Mexico In 2026-27 As ECHL Announces Expansion

The ECHL approved an expansion team for Rio Rancho, New Mexico, which will bring the league to 31 teams in 2026-27.

May 2, 2025 by Chris Peters
null

Professional hockey is coming back to Rio Rancho, New Mexico starting with the 2026-27 season. The ECHL announced Friday that the league’s 31st member club has been approved by the board of governors.

The team does not yet have a name, but a fan contest to name the team will be held.

REV Entertainment, which operates two minor league baseball teams and previously managed the ECHL’s Allen Americans, will run the operations for the team.

The team will play in the Rio Rancho Events Center, a 7,000-seat facility located under 30 miles from Albuquerque. The arena is owned by the City of Rio Rancho and is operated by the Oak View Group, which manages hundreds of facilities across the country including several in the ECHL. 

Rio Rancho previously had a professional team in the Central Hockey League called the New Mexico Scorpions from 2006-09. The Rio Rancho Events Center was also home to a junior hockey team in the North American Hockey League from 2010-12. The NAHL still has a team in New Mexico, as the New Mexico Ice Wolves have called Albuquerque home since 2019.

Pro hockey has had multiple stints in New Mexico dating back to the mid 1970s. The Albuquerque Six Guns played a season in the CHL in 1973-74, giving way to the Albuquerque Chaparrals which played in the short-lived Southwest Hockey League from 1975 to 1977. Meanwhile, the first iteration of the New Mexico Scorpions played in the Western Professional Hockey League from 1996 to 2001 and Central Hockey League from 2001-2005.

With 31 teams, the ECHL is inching ever closer to matching the 32 in the NHL and AHL, which would allow the league to provide an affiliate for every team. The league is set to welcome the Greensboro Gargoyles into as its 30th team next season. Meanwhile, the league saw the Tahoe Knight Monsters and Bloomington Bison play their inaugural season in 2024-25 as aggressive expansion continues, keeping in ECHL Commissioner Ryan Crelin’s vision to align with the rest of affiliated pro hockey in North America.

“It is with great pleasure that the League welcomes REV Entertainment, and the New Mexico region, to the ECHL as our 31st Member Team, as we progress the growth of the League to align with the National Hockey League and American Hockey League,” said Crelin in a statement. “REV has a proven track record of managing professional sports teams at the highest level, and we are thrilled with their commitment to bring professional hockey back to the state of New Mexico. This expansion speaks to the growth of our game throughout the continent and will be an exciting addition to our rivalries in the Mountain Division, and a geographic fit for Affiliation development.”

While nothing has been confirmed, one would expect the arrival of New Mexico’s team would trigger some realignment of divisions in the ECHL. The Mountain Division already has eight teams.

One could speculate that could see the Kansas City Mavericks playing in the Central Division. KC is certainly the closest geographically to the rest of the Central which currently stretches from Iowa to Ohio.

In the last five years, the ECHL has seen new teams come into the league swiftly. In 2021-22, the Iowa Heartlanders and Trois-Rivières Lions entered the league, followed by the Savannah Ghost Pirates in 2022-23, Tahoe and Bloomington in 2024-25, Greensboro next year and now New Mexico in 2026. In that span, the league has lost just one team – the Newfoundland Growlers, keeping the ECHL on track to get to that 32nd team in the near future.

Watch AHL, ECHL, USHL And More On FloHockey

FloHockey is the streaming home to some of the best hockey leagues in North America, including the AHL, ECHL and more. Check out the broadcast schedule to watch more hockey.

NHL Prospect Coverage On FloHockey

The best, and most complete coverage of the NHL minor league hockey and NHL Draft is found on FloHockey. Don't miss the latest new prospect guides, rankings and more from Chris Peters and the FloHockey staff.

Join The Hockey Conversation On FloHockey Social