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Rivermen to be sold? Moved out of Peoria?

tornado

tornado

New member
Lots of talk - nothing finalized for certain

A couple days ago in the St. Louis Post Dispatch this story appeared...

"SAY GOOD-BYE TO THE RIVERMEN?

With Tom Stillman looking to run a leaner Blues operation, it was inevitable he
would put the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL into play. Now folks in central
Illinois fear they could lose their professional hockey franchise.

The “silly season” for minor league franchises is almost upon us. NHL teams
reconsider their affiliations and AHL teams prepare for ownership change
and/or relocation.

Here is the prevailing rumor: The Canucks would buy the Rivermen and move
the team to Abbotsford, B.C., next season. The Heat, a Flames affiliate,
would relocate to Utica, N.Y. The Blues could shift their affiliation to the
Chicago Wolves, currently Vancouver’s affiliate.

Myriad other combinations are also on the table, including the Blues moving
the team to a bigger market like Kansas City or Indianapolis."
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_361add19-7763-5e5c-92e9-8c273459c1f6.html

There have since been several stories...
http://www.cinewsnow.com/home/Rumor...-Peoria-Rivermen-199086511.html?m=y&smobile=y
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1522341785/Eminian-Rumor-mill-talks-of-Rivermen-move


but if the Rivermen are sold & moved the BIG winners might be Bradley and Bradley fans because dates for Bradley to schedule - especially Saturday nights - will be far more available and with much less revenue flowing through the Civic Center - JUST MAYBE the folks at the City of Peoria will be a bit nicer to their #1 attraction downtown.
BUT - you never know - if the Civic Center decides to hike the rent because of cash shortfalls due to the loss of the Rivermen - then BU may just say nope -we have our own arena and we're going there full time.
Wow - that would be a big money saver and revenue winner for BU in the short term but the complete disappearance of any possibility to draw a 10,000 or 11,400 crowd would be diminished and in the long term it would send BU back to the D-II-level - and I sure hope our people take that into consideration.

The big losers of course will be the Rivermen fans - some 3000 to over 5000 attend the games, then also the revenue lost will hurt other downtown establishments - parking, dining, sports items, etc...
No word on the possibility of any other minor league franchise interested in taking some dates...but without the Rivermen then the ice can be turned off, the basketball floor left down, and no more 1 PM Saturday games where we have to vacate the arena instantly so they can get the floor ripped off.
 
tornado said:
Lots of talk - nothing finalized for certain

A couple days ago in the St. Louis Post Dispatch this story appeared...

"SAY GOOD-BYE TO THE RIVERMEN?

With Tom Stillman looking to run a leaner Blues operation, it was inevitable he
would put the Peoria Rivermen of the AHL into play. Now folks in central
Illinois fear they could lose their professional hockey franchise.

The ???silly season??? for minor league franchises is almost upon us. NHL teams
reconsider their affiliations and AHL teams prepare for ownership change
and/or relocation.

Here is the prevailing rumor: The Canucks would buy the Rivermen and move
the team to Abbotsford, B.C., next season. The Heat, a Flames affiliate,
would relocate to Utica, N.Y. The Blues could shift their affiliation to the
Chicago Wolves, currently Vancouver??™s affiliate.

Myriad other combinations are also on the table, including the Blues moving
the team to a bigger market like Kansas City or Indianapolis."
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_361add19-7763-5e5c-92e9-8c273459c1f6.html

There have since been several stories...
http://www.cinewsnow.com/home/Rumor...-Peoria-Rivermen-199086511.html?m=y&smobile=y
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1522341785/Eminian-Rumor-mill-talks-of-Rivermen-move


but if the Rivermen are sold & moved the BIG winners might be Bradley and Bradley fans because dates for Bradley to schedule - especially Saturday nights - will be far more available and with much less revenue flowing through the Civic Center - JUST MAYBE the folks at the City of Peoria will be a bit nicer to their #1 attraction downtown.
BUT - you never know - if the Civic Center decides to hike the rent because of cash shortfalls due to the loss of the Rivermen - then BU may just say nope -we have our own arena and we're going there full time.
Wow - that would be a big money saver and revenue winner for BU in the short term but the complete disappearance of any possibility to draw a 10,000 or 11,400 crowd would be diminished and in the long term it would send BU back to the D-II-level - and I sure hope our people take that into consideration.

The big losers of course will be the Rivermen fans - some 3000 to over 5000 attend the games, then also the revenue lost will hurt other downtown establishments - parking, dining, sports items, etc...
No word on the possibility of any other minor league franchise interested in taking some dates...but without the Rivermen then the ice can be turned off, the basketball floor left down, and no more 1 PM Saturday games where we have to vacate the arena instantly so they can get the floor ripped off.
Click to expand...

If you lose the Rivermen you gain more dates, but your nachos may go up $2 and parking $4. Not to mention they could raise the rent, raising ticket prices. We need more stuff at the PCC to keep prices down, but we need it to be stuff under BU on the pecking order. I, unlike some of you, cannot afford much more expense at a BU game.
 
There is no bigger non-hockey fan than myself, but to each his own. I hope they stay because the more the CC is used the better for the city. There would be a lot of empty dates.
 
I would complain if I was a die hard riverman fan.... but with the attendance at those games .... I am surprised it hasn't already happened
 
Future Walk-On said:
I would complain if I was a die hard riverman fan.... but with the attendance at those games .... I am surprised it hasn't already happened
Click to expand...

I usually check their attendance and think it's pretty good considering how many dates they actually have. A lot more than the Braves do.
 
tornado said:
more bad news for Peoria hockey fans-
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x8114378...vic-Center-it-wont-operate-AHL-team-in-Peoria
Click to expand...


The Peoria Rivermen within minutes of hearing the news from the Vancouver Canucks, have announced they will seek to join the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) next year. It seems they knew this was coming.
The story is on the PJ Star front webpage, but the link still connects to the older story about the Canucks deserting Peoria.
http://www.pjstar.com/
 
tornado said:
more bad news for Peoria hockey fans-
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x8114378...vic-Center-it-wont-operate-AHL-team-in-Peoria
Click to expand...

This was a foregone conclusion and would have only delayed the inevitable (had Vancouver stuck around for a year). Look for the Rivermen to land in the Class A SPHL where they'll play 28 home games at Carver Arena. Typically, 2/3 of the games in this league are played on Friday and Saturday nights.

* EDIT - The SPHL deal has been in the works since the last weekend of the regular season.
 
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