Avalanche become a non-profit

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche Junior A hockey franchise has battled through its fair share of growing pains during its three years in the Mat-Su Valley.

In an effort to stabilize the franchise and help ensure the team stays in Wasilla, the Alaska Avalanche have become a non-profit organization, Avalanche head coach and general manager Jamie Smith said on Wednesday.

“This is the best possible scenario for this team to make it financially,” Smith said.

The Avalanche had operated under the control of an ownership group managed by Mark Lee, a local realtor.

Smith said a board of directors, in which he is president of, will now oversee the daily operations of the franchise. The new non-profit will lease the team from the old ownership group for the next two years. In two years the non-profit group will have complete ownership of the team.

“The lease to own is to pay off the existing debt,” Smith said.

Smith praised the efforts of Lee and his partners, but called the move to non-profit imperative.

“I have to give credit to Mark Lee,” Smith said. “He kept this thing going. Financially, he took a hit. He has a passion for the game and wanted [the team] to be here.

“Mark Lee definitely needs some credit for what he did,” Smith added. “He set us up for this situation. He definitely deserves credit for that.”

Smith said the move to non-profit is something people close to the organization have discussed for quite some time.

“We’ve talked about it for the last two years,” Smith said, noting the primary reason for the move is the opportunity to find more ways to generate revenue.

“There’s a lot of different revenue streams as far as non-profit,” he said.

As a non-profit, the organization can now apply for federal grants and pursue a state gaming permit. With such a permit, the Avalanche could venture into the pull tab business. Revenue from pull tab gaming has become crucial to the survival of other local non-profit organizations, such as the Alaska Baseball League’s Mat-Su Miners.

Also as a non-profit, any donations made to the Avalanche organization is tax deductible for the donating business.

Before this process was finalized, Smith gauged the reaction of potential advertisers and business that work closely with the Avalanche.

“It’s been well-received in the business community,” Smith said. “People are more apt to give to a non-profit. It’s 100 percent tax deductible.”

The Alaska Avalanche have always had a non-profit arm, Smith said, the Avs booster club. To get this deal done, Smith and the Avs put a six-member board of directors together, finalized the lease agreement and got approval from the North American Hockey Association.

Smith said the NAHL has been very supportive of not only the Avs, but all three league franchises in the 49th state. The league has also worked to tremendously reduce travel costs of the state’s three franchises — the Avalanche, Kenai River Brown Bears and Fairbanks Ice Dogs.

The Ice Dogs are also a non-profit organization.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.