{"id":304257,"date":"2026-05-07T13:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/304257\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:29:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:29:24","slug":"falcons-hockey-team-returns-to-fresno-after-17-year-hiatus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/304257\/","title":{"rendered":"Falcons hockey team returns to Fresno after 17-year hiatus"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 17 years, the Falcons are returning to downtown Fresno.<\/p>\n

The professional hockey team will play out of Selland Arena beginning in October, officials announced at a news conference Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Mayor Jerry Dyer was joined by City Manager Georgeanne White for the announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDowntown is making a comeback,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cThere\u2019s no reason why Fresno cannot be the entertainment hub of the entire Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team was first formed 80 years ago and ultimately ceased operations in late 2008.<\/p>\n

\"nfenley@fresnobee.com\"\/ New merch for the Fresno Falcons. The team is returning to Selland Arena after a 17-year hiatus. NICK FENLEY <\/p>\n

Dyer announced the Selland Area will get a new, $700,000 scoreboard ahead of the team\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

The Fresno Falcons will be part of the Federal Prospects Hockey League. While the FPHL is mostly centered on the East Coast, management consultant Scott Brand \u2014 joined by commissioner Donald Kirnan \u2014 said the league is working to grow its California presence.<\/p>\n

A day before the Fresno Falcons announcement, the FPHL unveiled a team in Oceanside. Brand noted that another team \u2014 a potential rival, at that \u2014 will soon be announced in Stockton.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno Fresno left wing Mike Mathers celebrates with the Taylor Cup after the Falcons defeated Idaho 3-2 in double overtime for the WCHL championship Friday night at the Bank of America Centre in Boise. DARIN OSWALD Idaho Statesman <\/p>\n

This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 4:34 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Fenley<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fresno Bee<\/p>\n

Nick Fenley is a reporter covering education, lawsuits, breaking news and more for The Fresno Bee. He\u2019s originally from the Imperial Valley and has been with The Bee since 2025.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 17 years, the Falcons are returning to downtown Fresno. The professional hockey team will play out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-304257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}