Bill Coffey is a businessman and minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 sports entrepreneur. He is one of the founders of the ECHL

ECHL

The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...

 (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League). Founded in 1988, the ECHL is a minor

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 league that serves as a development league for the NHL

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

. The ECHL iced 20 teams during the 2009-10 season.

Coffee is also the founder of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League

Atlantic Coast Hockey League

The Atlantic Coast Hockey League was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey....

 (ACHL) - where he served as the league's president; and he is the director of hockey operations for the Southern Professional Hockey League

Southern Professional Hockey League

The Southern Professional Hockey League is a low-level professional ice hockey league based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with teams located in the southeastern United States.- History :...

 (SPHL). Coffee has been the owner of several minor league

Minor league

Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...

 ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 teams.

Teams owned by Bill Coffey

• Fayetteville Force
  Fayetteville Force
  The Fayetteville Force was a professional ice hockey team. based in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The franchise was a member of the Central Hockey League . They played their home games at the Crown Coliseum.-Background:...
  
   (CHL)
• Knoxville Cherokees
  Knoxville Cherokees
  The Knoxville Cherokees were an East Coast Hockey League team based in Knoxville, Tennessee.-History:The franchise was formed in 1988 along with the ECHL...
  
   (ECHL)
• St. Petersburg Parrots (ACHL)
• Tallahassee Tide
  Tallahassee Tide
  The Tallahassee Tide were a proposed ice hockey team that was supposed to play in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League. The team was supposed to play at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.-Formation:...
  
  (ACHL)