L.A. gets another hockey team - Ice Dogs.

A new professional sports team - this one an ice hockey franchise - is preparing to start play in Los Angeles later this year.

The Los Angeles Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League will begin play this September at the Sports Arena in Exposition Park. The team recently moved to Los Angeles from San Diego where it was called the Gulls.

The team plans to sell itself in the competitive Los Angeles area as a less-expensive alternative to the two existing National Hockey League teams in the Southland, said franchise President Greg McElroy.

"Hockey is a hot property and not everyone can afford a (Los Angeles) Kings or (Anaheim) Ducks ticket," said McElroy. "The IHL is finding success in other major markets that currently field NHL teams and we are confident we can do the same."

The IHL is a breeding and training ground for hockey players trying to make it to the NHL. The arrangement is similar to the minor leagues in baseball where players advance to the major leagues.

The Ice Dogs are owned by Fred Comrie, a San Diego businessman. Last season in San Diego the team averaged 4,600 fans a game as opposed to a league average of 8,261. The NHL per-game average attendance is about 15,900.

Comrie was unavailable last week for comment but sources said he moved the team out of San Diego because of low game attendance and lack of support for the team from the local business community.

In addition to pushing season and game tickets, the front office is selling the team to the local business community. "Sponsorships are very important to us," said team spokeswoman Ann Victor.

She said last week that so far, the team has sold 1,000 season tickets to Ice Dog home games at the Sports Arena.

"We're going to market primarily to families because of our lower game prices," said Victor.

Cheaper tickets

Game tickets for the Ice Dogs will range from $5 to $16 with an average price of $10. Tickets to Kings' games at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood average about $40, with some tickets going for $90.

"The league promotes itself as good quality hockey at affordable family prices," said Victor.

The IHL teams are able to charge far less than NHL franchises for game tickets because of lower player salaries, said Victor. In the NHL, the minimum player salary is $125,000 per season compared to $30,000 in the IHL. Salaries in the NHL can range up to more than $1 million a year but the highest salary in the IHL is $150,000.

McElroy noted that in addition to the action on the ice, fans attending Ice Dogs games will be entertained with many off-ice activities. "There will a lot of interaction with fans, we will have a mascot and games and just a lot of stuff going on to entertain the fans from the minute they walk into the Stadium."