Steelhead hockey club set to leave Mississauga for Brampton

Reports indicate the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) are leaving town and heading up to Brampton.

The team, which plays out of the Paramount Fine Food Centre in Mississauga, has suffered from low attendance for several years and with the lease running out at the end of this season ownership is looking at greener pastures.

Prompting the move, according to league sources, is a desire by the City of Mississauga — operators of the Paramount arena — to raise the rent.

Steelhead ownership has yet to respond to requests to comment on the  move.

A source at Mississauga City Hall confirmed that negotiations with Steelhead ownership have been ongoing but the sides remain apart. The source acknowledged that the team leaving town is a possibility.

Fuelling the speculation is a Steelhead logo that is circulating online that prominently shows Brampton instead of Mississauga.

Steelhead season ticket holders said rumours about an impending move have been rampant since last season. Many have said they were surprised the team returned to Mississauga this year.

“We haven’t heard anything official from the team but everyone is talking about it,” said one season ticket holder who speculated the Brampton rumours may just be a negotiating ploy floated by the team to keep the rent from rising in Mississauga.

Still, attendance figures show that junior hockey has never been able to gain a foothold in Mississauga despite the high calibre of play of several NHL-bound players over the years.

Since the team’s inception, the crowds have been among the smallest in the league.

Figures from hockeyDB.com indicate the Steelheads have the lowest attendance in the league averaging 1,413 patrons per game based on data from the 2021-22 season. The London Knights topped the list at 7,109.

Another person with strong ties to the OHL believes the Steelheads leaving Mississauga is inevitable.

“The attendance is always announced at over 1,000 but when you look around the arena it is mostly always empty, there is no way there are 1,000 people in the building,” said the source.

Insiders suggest the Steelheads are being lured by Brampton into the Powerade Centre which is offering a lower lease and desires a regular tenant for the building.

The Powerade Centre is located on Kennedy Rd.  just seven kilometres north of the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.

Mississauga and Brampton both entered the OHL at the same time through expansion in 1998.

The Brampton Battalion left for North Bay in time for the 2013-2014 hockey season.

Mississauga started with much fanfare when it entered the league as the IceDogs under the ownership of hockey icon Don Cherry. After the 2007-08 season, the IceDogs left to play in St. Catharines.

The city was not left without a team, however, as the Mississauga Majors immediately stepped in. That team, under the ownership of Eugene Melnyk, lasted until 2012 when the franchise was sold to Elliott Kerr of Landmark Sport Group and the nickname changed to the Steelheads.

The Steelheads are currently in third place in the Central Divison of the OHL, just four points behind the Sudbury Wolves for the top spot.

The team’s next home game is tomorrow against Flint.

This revamped logo that replaces Mississauga with Brampton has been circulating online.