The franchise went dormant after the 2015–16 season and were replaced at the Ford Center by the Evansville Thunderbolts in the Southern Professional Hockey League.

In January 2017, part of the franchise was sold to an ownership group based out of Jacksonville, Florida,[1] and approved by the league on February 8.

The merger had the Bloomington PrairieThunder, Dayton Gems, Evansville IceMen, Fort Wayne Komets and Quad City Mallards IHL franchises move to the Northern Conference of the CHL.

[6] Before the resumption of the new season on August 30, 2012, the Peoria Rivermen announced that the IceMen would be their ECHL farm club, cutting ties with the Alaska Aces.

[8] Evansville had been reported to have been paying the highest rent in the ECHL since moving to the Ford Center in 2011, with as much as $650,000 per season compared to the league median of about $152,000.

[13][14] On the September 30 deadline, Geary sent a letter to Mayor Ron Payne stating he would not be purchasing the Sportscenter because of too much cost to convert and refurbish the arena.