The hosts of Spittin’ Chiclets found themselves a hockey team.
During Tuesday’s episode of the popular hockey podcast, Paul Bissonnette, Ryan Whitney, Keith Yandle and Mike Grinnell announced they have joined the ownership of the expansion ECHL team in Greensboro, N.C. It’s the end of a lengthy journey for the group, which has previously expressed interest in buying a minor league hockey club, including an attempt to buy a team in Colorado Springs.
“I’m going to see my role as like a Jerry Jones/Lou Lamoriello,” Bissonnette said, making humorous references to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and the longtime NHL executive who currently runs the New York Islanders. “I’m going to have my hands on everything. … I’m going to run the s— out of this team to multiple championships.”
While athletes and media figures taking stakes into sports teams is far from new, the Chiclets’ purchase is the latest investment by non-traditional owners such as content creators and blockchain platforms into lower-level professional sports.
In March 2023, the famed YouTube trick shot creator group Dude Perfect invested in a Major League Pickleball franchise, the Frisco Clean Clause, at a $5 million valuation.
In England, the Web3 group WAGMI United purchased League Two soccer club Crawley Town F.C., which earned promotion into League One last spring after a tumultuous start to its ownership tenure. Watford, another English club, recently offered 10% of itself for sale, with buyers being able to use cryptocurrency or traditional currency to purchase a stake. Bernoulli-Locke, another Web3 consortium, owns a franchise in Larry Ellison’s SailGP.
And of course, there’s Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who famously purchased Wrexham F.C. and turned the club into a powerhouse on both the pitch and the small screen.
The Spittin’ Chiclets hosts have partnered with Zawyer Sports and Entertainment, a holding company of minor league sports teams and venues owned by Andy Kaufmann. ZSE already owns three ECHL teams—the Jacksonville Icemen, Savannah Ghost Pirates and Tahoe Knight Monsters—as well as the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, and the Gastonia Ghost Peppers of the Atlantic League, a partner league for MLB.
The Greensboro purchase is also a natural fit for the show’s brand. Spittin’ Chiclets has taken an irreverent look at hockey for Barstool Sports since launching in 2016, often discussing minor league hockey, in particular Bissonnette’s time in the ECHL. They’ve also expanded their video production to include series on the sport’s lower tiers, including a recurring show about college hockey facilities, and a 2022 vlog series on the ECHL.
