New Macon Mayhem ownership group has skin in the game/on the ice, increases stability

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          The Macon Mayhem are ready for the 2020-21 season, and there will be some new major players.

          On the ice, too.

          The Mayhem announced Monday morning that they had been purchased by a local ownership group that included a member who knows his way around the Macon Coliseum, and has for a long time.

          Charles Olson, currently the general manager at the 1842 Inn, has been connected to the Mayhem for years as the public address announcer, following a span where his family owned the old Macon Knights indoor football team.

          The Knights were in business from 2001-2006, owned primarily by Olson’s mother Beverly, one of the state’s most philanthropic citizens. In the process, the organization built a practice facility off of Bass Road, next to former Olson property Starcadia. The facility eventually became a church when the team folded.

          Macon went 56-48 overall, going to the af2 playoffs in four of six seasons with a trip to the finals in 2003. The af2, an offshoot of the Arena Football League, ceased operations in 2009, a decade before the AFL stopped.

          Olson has done public address announcing at the Coliseum for the Mayhem and the Knights, and has experience in sports broadcasting. He is a graduate of Florida and a Macon native, graduating from Stratford.

          John Sapp is a hand surgery specialist at OrthoGeorgia, who has studied in Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida, and is an associate professor at Mercer’s medical school. He has been the Mayhem’s team doctor as well as a season-ticket holder.

          Blair Floyd has been the team’s general manager since May 2018 and with the team since Jan. 2016 as the assistant GM. He was with the Augusta team for a little more than a year after leaving private business.

          John Regan has been part of the Mayhem staff, and Mason Bryan is a local attorney and graduate of Mercer’s law school, and longtime Mayhem season-ticket holder.

          So it’s a group with major skin in the Mayhem game.

          The new ownership group has agreed to a minimum three-year commitment, according to The Sin Bin minor-league hockey website. The team and Macon Coliseum and management group Spectra announced in January a five-year contract extension, adding a level of stability to the organization.

          The group bought the team from Bob and Diane Kerzner, the primary owners who moved the team from Augusta. They still live in the Augusta area.

          The Southern Professional Hockey League has yet to announce a schedule for the 2020-21 season. The SPHL season traditionally starts in October.

          In addition to Macon, the league consists of teams in Birmingham, Evansville, Ind., Fayetteville, N.C., Huntsville, Knoxville, Pensacola, Peoria, Ill., Quad City, Iowa, and Roanoke, Va.

          The 2019-20 season was canceled on March 15. Macon’s final game of the season was a 5-3 home win over Knoxville. The Mayhem finished 17-24-6 and in a three-way tie for eighth, with Birmingham and Quad City. Head coach Leo Thomas was fired after a 2-6-2 start. It is Macon’s worst record since moving and only second losing season, matching the first (24-27-5)

          Macon won the SPHL title in 2017, the team’s second season in town after moving from Augusta.