What might have been...

Note: I had originally posted this Tuesday morning, then removed it at the request of the interested USHL party. The story has ended, for now at least, and so I’m updated it slightly... Stepping out from the junior hockey side of things for a sec for some venting... Over the past few days I've been involved in a bit of tiff concerning the IHL (formerly UHL) franchise in Bloomington, IL, and the status of their lease. Specifically, I questioned the viability of the franchise to take to the ice this fall as I understand things are not as solid there as some are being led to believe. These events have been taking place on the primary web forum for the league, located at IntoTheBoards.net (aka, ITB). ITB has been hostile territory, to say the least, for someone like me with a preference for junior hockey to spend any time there. Now, were I to make statements regarding a building/rink lease here or anywhere else in the junior hockey universe, my comments would be generally accepted by those who read them. However, despite having been proven correct on two recent out of left field educated predictions concerning the UHL (i.e., that the Chicago Hounds would be kicked out of their arena and that Franke family (Fort Wayne owners) money was used by Muskegon owner Tony Lisman to purchase Bloomington), it seems I have yet to earn any significant respect over on ITB. My words are still treated as unsubstantiated rumors. Fine, I get that, respect takes time. However, it seems that I have stepped on some toes. I have recently acquired a copy of Bloomington's lease, and when I posted a few passages which might be used to validate an attempt by the city to evict the IHL franchise, the ITB moderators and administrators sought to squelch my discussion. Several of my posts were removed, and I was told to never again post portions of the lease (a public document) or even to discuss it on ITB. Last night I openly discussed the banishment threat, though not mentioning the lease as the topic of banned speech, and subsequently found myself banned. Fine, I've been a moderator on forums before, I know their word is law... but I'm left asking myself - why? Why suppress the mention of a public document? If an article were to appear in the Bloomington newspaper concerning the lease, would I also be prohibited from discussing that article, while those around me were free to talk? From my perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but then again I’d like to think of myself as a rational being. It's not much of a secret that the UHL/IHL is lacking in credibility at the moment. The league is down to six teams and is struggling to survive. Many observers have been patiently waiting the past few years for the Reaper to appear, and this summer marks the closest he has come. As regular readers can imagine, any league that doesn't operate in an efficient and improving fashion is going to going to find a few words tossed their way by me. I've no idea where the squelch order came, whether from ITB itself or from team/league sources, but I will say this: In my experience teams/leagues that become engrossed with monitoring message boards typically find themselves closing shop in short order. In other words, if the buzzards are circling thousands of feet above you, don't try to take out the buzzards, try to find a way out of the desert. But regardless, I'm also not going to allow myself to be shouted down. So, in the interest of full disclosure and allowing the reader to make up their own mind, I am making available the entire lease for the Bloomington Prairie Thunder. It's in MS Word format. Review it for yourself and come to your own conclusions. I suspect that if you examine the lease terms closely, you‘ll note as I have that there is no exclusivity clause preventing the arena from offering a lease to a junior and/or amateur hockey franchise, even simultaneously with a pro team. Is it possible that a junior team can fill the void left if the minor pro team leaves or is unable to play there for whatever reason? While chances are I have allowed myself to get too deep into this story, especially since we’re talking about the circus-like world of minor pro hockey and there is no junior hockey presence in Bloomington at present, there's plenty of real information here to follow that has nothing to do with me. While I would like to see a junior team in Bloomington, I need to make it very clear for any doubters and/or media out there that I have no financial interest in any junior hockey franchise. I have my own career outside of hockey. By the way, I am making available the entire lease for the Bloomington Prairie Thunder. It's in MS Word format. Having viewed leases for other minor league teams in the past, I can tell you this one is deficient in several areas (left as an exercise to the reader)... That was the extent of the article Tuesday morning. Since then, after several meetings between the city attorney, the city council, and arena manager Mike Nelson, the City of Bloomington has decided not to force the Prairie Thunder out of U.S. Cellular Coliseum. However, the city is acutely aware of the situation regarding the Prairie Thunder and are keeping a close eye on further developments. Last week they sent a letter to Tony Lisman concerning back rent owed to the arena. I’ve also been informed the team is late on their league dues, but it should come as a shock to anyone familiar with the UHL/IHL that the league is allowing the franchise to operate and vote on league matters despite being in arrears. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the USHL franchise originally targeted for relocation to Bloomington lands there or in another market in the near future (obviously not for this coming season). I know two potential ownership groups – it’s nice that the league has willing investors sniffing around and kicking tires.