Baton Rouge Kingfish (FPHL)

History

The Baton Rouge Zydeco, the team that revived professional hockey in the city in 2023, shut down after the 2025-26 season. The organization never issued a formal closure announcement; instead, its president resigned and dismissed the staff on May 1, 2026.

At that point, the FPHL stated it was still reviewing the franchise’s status. There are conflicting accounts of how the Kingfish relate to the Zydeco. The league viewed the change as a transfer of ownership for its existing Baton Rouge franchise, while local reports treated the Zydeco as a defunct team and the Kingfish as a brand-new club run by different owners.

Formation

On June 3, 2026, the FPHL and the Raising Cane’s River Center revealed that a new ownership group would take over hockey operations in Baton Rouge for the 2026-27 season. That group includes Matt Pace, Andreas Johansson, and Ted Goldthorpe—who also own the Binghamton Black Bears—alongside Baton Rouge businessman Jacob Hector, a former Zydeco sponsor. Pace, a partner at Rimon Law who focuses on sports and entertainment, previously served as executive director of Major League Lacrosse. River Center general manager Wayne Hodes noted that the lease runs for three years and requires the club to sell an average of 3,000 tickets per game after its first season; if that target is missed, the arena can terminate the lease.

Branding

The team unveiled its name and logo on July 22, 2026. According to the organization, the Kingfish name honors the freshwater sportfish common in Louisiana waters, the nickname of former governor and U.S. senator Huey P. Long, and the earlier Baton Rouge Kingfish franchise.

Unlike the Zydeco’s 2023 public naming contest—which drew over 8,000 submissions—the ownership group chose this name internally. Madeleine Guillory designed the logo, which shows a crowned fish biting a hockey puck. It leaves out the local landmarks featured in the two previous Baton Rouge logos; the club said this simplifies the design and allows it to sell licensed retro merchandise using the original Kingfish logo.

Personnel

Jimmy Soper was hired as the franchise’s first head coach. A nine-year pro, he most recently served as captain of the Knoxville Ice Bears in the Southern Professional Hockey League. Cory Howerton, formerly vice president of ticketing for USL Spokane, was appointed general manager.