Tim Tebow is best known for his football and baseball careers, but he's rapidly growing his hockey acumen.
The Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback is part-owner of the Lake Tahoe expansion team in the ECHL that will begin play in the 2024-25 season.
"The partners, the location, the tourists, that community, the beauty of it," Tebow said. "It's an exciting place, the arena is beautiful. It's a couple hundred yards from Lake Tahoe. You have so many people that are traveling in and out of town because it's beautiful all times of the year. The community actually really loves and appreciates the game."
Tebow has been a minority investor in the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL since 2020 and said that experience sparked his interest in a game he admittedly still is learning.
"I didn't grow up around it but became friends with some players," he said. "You have relationships and friendships, you get more into what they care about."
One of the things Tebow cares about is using sports as a vehicle to create special moments for families and communities.
He has done that through his relationship with the Icemen as well as the Savannah Ghost Pirates, another ECHL team in which he has a stake.
ECHL rules allow Tebow to maintain his investments in the Jacksonville and Savannah teams, but as one of the majority owners of the new Lake Tahoe team, he'll have a greater opportunity to put his stamp on the relationship the team has with the people in the region and have the team work with charities that are important to him.
Tebow said some of his approach will be guided by what he witnessed during four seasons as a minor-league baseball player in the New York Mets organization.
"I saw a lot of different minor-league teams and communities I think do it really well and some that didn't do it as well," he said. "I think one of the things that I saw that was very exciting that I wanted to learn from is the community engagement, the feeling of this team is the community's team.
"It's something that families can do together, which I think is really important to us. They can use it as bonding for the family. It's something that we can help nonprofits. It's something that we can help bring communities together. So I just think there's so many fun aspects to it for us that it was also just more than just a game."
One of the early ways the community will have its say is by helping to decide the name of the team. Fans can suggest names at LakeTahoeProHockey.com/name-your-team through Aug. 4. Every submission also goes into a drawing for a chance to win an in-game experience during the team's inaugural season as well as an autographed jersey.
"This new team will offer the only professional sports action in the region, giving locals a hometown team and fast-paced entertainment, with a commitment to giving back and growing the game of hockey in the community," ECHL commissioner Ryan Crelin said. "This ownership and operating group have already shown the ability to create a new generation of ECHL fans, and we look forward to the excitement they will bring to South Tahoe."
Tebow said he won't be making day-to-day decisions when it comes to the hockey team but will be a frequent visitor to the area when he gets breaks from his broadcasting roles with ESPN and the SEC Network, as well as his work running the Tim Tebow Foundation.
One place you likely won't see him, though, is on the ice. Though Tebow has trained with hockey players, the 35-year-old understands his athletic limitations.
"I don't need to do that and go break an ankle or a wrist," he said. "When you're born in the Philippines and then you move to Florida, you don't learn how to skate at an early age. But it doesn't mean that I don't appreciate it."
He also appreciates the passion of hockey fans in Nevada, especially when the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup last month.
"I can't say I was watching like super diligently every night, but definitely keeping an eye on it and seeing the fan base, seeing how passionate they were," he said. "I was actually speaking at an event in Las Vegas when they were having some big playoff games and you would just see the passion in the airport, at even the conference I was speaking at. So you can see how passionate the fans are.
"I would say that's also something that hockey does just an amazing job [of], in all the levels, the passionate fans, they love and they care about it so much."
And that's what Tebow is hoping the new team is able to tap into.
"I think the product will be a competitive hockey team, but it's also a product that brings families together to give kids memories and joy and dreams," he said.
"Sports I think does so much for families, for individuals, for obviously the players that are trying to go live out their dream and go strive for their dreams. I just think it's a mixture of a lot of awesome things. And so that's some of the reasons I love being involved."
