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Thursday, February 22, 2007

Fargo Official... sorta...

Well, the Fargo press conference on the Urban Plains Center was this evening... you can read all about it in the Fargo Forum. The big financing mystery has been solved. Before groundbreaking can begin, revenues from several streams (suites, club seats, advertising, etc...) totaling maybe $2M-$3M must be realized. The remainder of the funding will come from revenue bonds. I'm not entirely sure the bonds will require any sort of public vote, however. If I knew more about how these revenue bonds were structured, I'd have an answer, but it's not in the story and the fact sheet provided at the press conference is not posted on the Urban Plains Center website (which has been turned back on).

On the USHL side of things the ownership group (which apparently includes UP Center developer Ace Brandt) filed their expansion application on Friday, and are targeting a start date to coincide with the Fall 2008 opening of the arena. They have also tabbed Dean Blais as their GM and head coach. Blais has signed a five-year deal and will join the operation July 1.

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Comments on "Fargo Official... sorta..."

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (2:35 AM, February 23, 2007) : 

"With no nickname, I s'pose there's a contest coming."

I suppose Woodchippers is out of the question.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (6:03 AM, February 23, 2007) : 

Since USA Hockey oversees both leagues (NAHL & USHL), it will be interesting to see if they (USA Hockey) give the approval for the USHL to go into a market that already has a Junior A team. Seems all the NAHL teams would be squawking about this to the league (NAHL) as well as USA Hockey. If they approve this team for Fargo we know that they (USA Hockey)don't care about the NAHL league.

 

Blogger Marc Foster said ... (6:18 AM, February 23, 2007) : 

Normally I might be tempted to agree. However, USA Hockey has no regulatory authority to assign or control territory within or across levels. Territorial rights are protected only within a particular league.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (6:34 AM, February 23, 2007) : 

USA Hockey's authority is very selective. They wouldn't step into a free market issue such as this. They'd allow one team to blow another out of the water in terms of finances. But they'd prop up the USNTDP at all costs.

In fairness to USA Hockey, no league wants USAH meddling in their business. One has to be careful for what one asks in terms of "help" from USAH. One might get it.

 

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