At the end of the first intermission of a recent Gwinnett Gladiators game came a proud accounting of the minor league hockey team's success in the shadow of major league sports.

The public address system reminded fans that the Gladiators had clinched a playoff berth for the fifth consecutive season — "the longest current streak of any Atlanta professional team!"

Vino Wong / AJC (ENLARGE)

Sydney Johnson, 10, of Dacula cheers the Force, who moved back to Gwinnett Arena this season after three years downtown.

MIKKI K. HARRIS / AJC (ENLARGE)

Jane Rode (center) of Dunns Creek rises to cheer the Gwinnett Gladiators, whose average ticket price is about one-third the Thrashers' average price.

MIKKI K. HARRIS / AJC (ENLARGE)

Myles Stoesz (right) of the Gladiators mixes it up with the Florida Everblades' David Comacchia. The Gladiators have made the playoffs five straight years.

Take that, all you millionaires on the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and Thrashers.

For more than 40 years, downtown Atlanta has been the region's home of major league sports. It still is. But the metro area's second pro sports market has developed in Gwinnett County, just up the road from the big leaguers:

• The Gladiators are in their fifth season playing at the Gwinnett Arena, not only reaching the playoffs each year but also turning a profit and annually ranking near the top of their league in attendance.

• The Georgia Force, an Arena Football League team, played downtown the past three seasons.

• The Atlanta Vision, a minor league basketball team, moved from DeKalb County two years ago, playing this season at the Gwinnett Convention Center.

• And the Atlanta Braves' top minor league affiliate will relocate from Richmond next year, setting up shop in a new stadium to be built by the county 37 miles north of Turner Field.

Gwinnett has become a prime player in the national trend of bringing minor league teams into major league markets — a trend driven by population growth patterns, traffic woes and consumer demand for budget-friendly, kid-friendly entertainment.

As a minor league team in a major league market, "there is some credibility you have to build up," said Steve Chapman, the Gladiators' president and general manager. "But looking at the sheer number of people that live in the north metro area — and knowing the issues Atlanta has with traffic— I had a feeling that if we did this right, it would work. And luckily it has."

Modest prices, decent returns

The Gladiators, who open the playoffs next week, have averaged about 5,500 fans per game the past five seasons, often drawing 8,000 to 9,000 for prime Saturday night dates, Chapman said. Their average ticket price is about $15, compared with the Thrashers' $41. This season, their attendance ranks fifth in the 25-team ECHL, a Class AA league with franchises scattered from Elmira, N.Y., to Anchorage, Alaska.

The Gladiators have turned a "decent" profit in each of the past five seasons, Chapman said, and that is more than some of Atlanta's major league teams can claim.

"You don't get into minor league sports if you want to have a huge windfall year to year," Chapman said. "But if you want to run a smart business ... you can get a decent return."

What's happening in Gwinnett mirrors what is happening in, among other places, Frisco, Texas. There, 30 miles north of Dallas, minor league baseball and hockey teams and a Major League Soccer franchise have set up shop in new venues within the past five years.

In New York, the Yankees and Mets have added minor league teams in Staten Island and Coney Island, respectively. In New England, the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins have their top minor league affiliates about 40 miles away. The Seattle Mariners' AAA team plays 30 miles away in Tacoma.

Meanwhile, in Gwinnett, more teams might come. Falcons and Force owner Arthur Blank is considering sites in Gwinnett and other metro Atlanta counties for a possible Major League Soccer franchise. And Chapman said he has been approached by people wanting to put MLS and indoor lacrosse teams, among other things, in Gwinnett.

The Gladiators are the most entrenched of Gwinnett's teams, having become a high-profile part of the community since relocating from Mobile — a more traditional minor league market — in 2003.

Force flip-flop back to suburbs

The Force, on the other hand, have had trouble deciding whether to be city dwellers or suburbanites since moving to metro Atlanta from Nashville in 2002.

The Force played their first season downtown, moved to Gwinnett for the next two seasons, then back downtown for three seasons, and now back to Gwinnett — apparently to stay this time, signing a 10-year lease.

Force president Dick Sullivan said his team's latest return to Gwinnett reflects a recognition that the 11,000-seat arena there is a better fit than 19,000-seat Philips Arena.

"It's interesting, and great for Atlanta, that we have a variety of venues, not just for sports but for concerts and [other] entertainment," said Sullivan, also executive vice president of the Falcons. "Does Gwinnett compete with Philips? Probably all [venues] compete to some degree. But what it makes is a more convenient and better lifestyle for everybody."

Braves' resistance melts

It was the Braves' surprising decision in January to relocate their Class AAA team from Richmond into a new stadium to be built near the Mall of Georgia that provided a definitive measure of the merging of major league and minor league sports in metro Atlanta.

At first, the Braves scoffed at the idea of putting a minor league team so close — "due to the assumption the minor league team could materially impact the [Atlanta] Braves' ability to draw attendance from Gwinnett County, an area which is integral to the Braves' ongoing viability," a county-commissioned feasibility study reported last year.

But the same study, by Minnesota-based consultant CSL International, helped change the Braves' thinking about the co-existence.

The study included a poll of Gwinnett residents in which 85 percent said a minor league team would not impact their attendance at Atlanta Braves games.

"I guess that research was an epiphany moment for us," Braves executive vice president of business operations Mike Plant said.

The poll asked Gwinnett residents who attended fewer than 10 Braves games the previous season their reason for not going more often. The most common responses were "traffic congestion," "too far" and "too expensive." The implication was that the Braves, by selling tickets to a cheaper and closer alternative, might gain more in new revenue than they would lose in existing revenue.

"If we do this right and cross-promote, we can add value to both of our organizations," Plant said.

"I don't think it's going to replace going to Turner Field for people who go there," said Lee Baker, a Gwinnett resident for 30-plus years and an avid sports fan. "But I think there are still a substantial amount of people who do not go downtown."

The more the merrier

The conclusion the Braves reached — even if pushed to it by Richmond's deteriorating stadium and Gwinnett's sweet offer of a $45 million ballpark — is the same that the Gladiators and Thrashers have reached in five years of co-existence.

"I actually think having an additional hockey team in the marketplace is helpful," said Lou DePaoli, the Thrashers' chief marketing officer. "It's maybe a way for people to get their first taste of hockey. That may spur them to come down and see the big club."

"We don't consider ourselves in competition with the Thrashers," said the Gladiators' Chapman, who views the NHL and ECHL "almost like two different things."

Although the Gladiators are the Thrashers' Class AA affiliate, the teams are separately owned and operated. The Gwinnett Braves, on the other hand, will be owned and operated by the Atlanta Braves.

The Gladiators figure that about 25 percent of the people who attend their games are serious hockey fans and the rest are just looking for a night out with family or friends. The bulk of the cars in the parking lot at a recent game bore Gwinnett license plates, but tags from 14 other counties also were spotted, from Fulton to Habersham.

Speaking of parking, it's free at Gladiators and Force games — another sharp differentiator between the teams and the major leaguers down I-85.

GROWING LINEUP

A look at professional sports in Gwinnett County:

• Gladiators: Hockey team plays in the ECHL; qualified for playoffs

• Force: Arena Football League squad off to 2-3 start

• Braves: Class AAA affiliate moving from Richmond

• Vision: Minor league basketball team plays in the ABA