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Omaha Knights AHL team to move to Quad Cities


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The location of relocation - well, that does surprise me a bit. Quad Cities comes across as being a market on the wane, with average attendance consistently dropping 500-1,000 fans over each of the last six seasons. Perhaps Mallards fans felt they deserved better than the U-Haul, I dunno. But with this higher-tier league will likely come higher ticket prices, and since people in Moline already appear barely interested in shelling out $16 for seats on the glass, well, I don't know what the market will bear.

As I've mentioned in the past, Cedar Rapids might have made a better location for an AHL team than the Quads. CR is basically a hub for the entire eastern half of Iowa (for instance, all the major TV networks have a single station to cover CR, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City, and IIRC all but the NBC affiliate are based in CR). Taken together, the East Iowa market is over a million people, well bigger than the Quads. Plus, CR is a bit more centrally located between Des Moines, Peoria and Rockford than the Quads which are an hour-and-a-half farther from Des Moines, and slightly farther from Rockford if you stick to the major highways. The one potential drawback for CR is their smallish arena (around 7-8,000) but at least then they would have a better chance of filling it close to capacity each night.

It might seem that way since CR-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque is a larger media market, but the Quad Cities population is much more centralized. Add to the fact that Waterloo, Iowa City and Dubuque all think they're the hub of the region as well and would probably be reluctant to make the long trip to support a Cedar Rapids team.

Besides, don't Cedar Rapids and Waterloo have USHL teams? I know Dubuque did at one point as well.

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Oh boy... wonder what will happen to the Knights name?? Will it go to the Quad Cities or will the Mallards name be bought up from the UHL to the AHL?? Curious as to that... still, I thought the Omaha Knights would be a good fit for that area for many years.. only if the fiancial situation would have been good enough and more folks attend the Knights games.. I did see one game with the Knights and the Moose in Winnipeg and enjoyed it.. cool jersey and logo look for the Knights...

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As I've mentioned in the past, Cedar Rapids might have made a better location for an AHL team than the Quads. CR is basically a hub for the entire eastern half of Iowa (for instance, all the major TV networks have a single station to cover CR, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City, and IIRC all but the NBC affiliate are based in CR). Taken together, the East Iowa market is over a million people, well bigger than the Quads.
It might seem that way since CR-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque is a larger media market, but the Quad Cities population is much more centralized. Add to the fact that Waterloo, Iowa City and Dubuque all think they're the hub of the region as well and would probably be reluctant to make the long trip to support a Cedar Rapids team.

Illwauk hits the nail on the head with his points in response to Viper.

The Quad Cities - All FIVE of them, if you listen to the folks in East Moline ;) - are much more compact. Central business district to central business district, the longest distance you face in travelling between any of the Quad Cities is 9 miles from downtown Davenport to downtown East Moline... about a 20 minute drive. Eliminate East Moline from the equation and the longest distance is 5-and-a-half miles - and 10 minutes - from Davenport to Moline. The shortest distance is 2 miles from downtown Bettendorf to downtown Moline... less than 5 minutes.

Contrast that to the distances between Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City. Downtown Dubuque to downtown Waterloo is a 92-mile trip that would run about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Downtown Dubuque to downtown Iowa City is an 85 mile drive that would run about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Downtown Waterloo to downtown Iowa City is 83 miles... downtown Cedar Rapids to downtown Dubuque is 69 miles... downtown Cedar Rapids to downtown Waterloo is 54 miles. The shortest trip is Cedar Rapids to Iowa City at almost 32 miles... approximately 35 minutes.

Bottom line? The Quad Cities are a much more cohesive entity than any amalgamation of Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City could ever claim to be. Which is borne out by the fact that the United States Census Bureau considers the Quad Cities a single metro area, while counting Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City as separate metro entities.

Incidentally, Cedar Rapids and Waterloo are both home to Junior A hockey teams. The Cedar Rapids Roughriders and Waterloo Blackhawks both compete in the United States Hockey League. Dubuque, which used to play host to the USHL's Fighting Saints, is now home to the Thunderbirds of the Junior B Central States Hockey League.

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The Quad Cities - All FIVE of them, if you listen to the folks in East Moline - are much more compact. Central business district to central business district, the longest distance you face in travelling between any of the Quad Cities is 9 miles from downtown Davenport to downtown East Moline... about a 20 minute drive. Eliminate East Moline from the equation and the longest distance is 5-and-a-half miles - and 10 minutes - from Davenport to Moline. The shortest distance is 2 miles from downtown Bettendorf to downtown Moline... less than 5 minutes.

Contrast that to the distances between Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City. Downtown Dubuque to downtown Waterloo is a 92-mile trip that would run about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Downtown Dubuque to downtown Iowa City is an 85 mile drive that would run about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Downtown Waterloo to downtown Iowa City is 83 miles... downtown Cedar Rapids to downtown Dubuque is 69 miles... downtown Cedar Rapids to downtown Waterloo is 54 miles. The shortest trip is Cedar Rapids to Iowa City at almost 32 miles... approximately 35 minutes.

Bottom line? The Quad Cities are a much more cohesive entity than any amalgamation of Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City could ever claim to be. Which is borne out by the fact that the United States Census Bureau considers the Quad Cities a single metro area, while counting Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dubuque and Iowa City as separate entities.

The things you learn on this board, about even IOWA no less, are truly astounding some days.

What I'd like to know is why on Earth are people in Nebraska so hung up on not saying "Nebraska", but Ak-Sar-Ben as often as they can? After all, we don't run around calling it Ato-Senn-Im all the time.

I'm often surprized at the sucess that USHL teams seem to have when competing against AHL teams. Personally I'd think that one step down from the NHL would be preferable to one step up from high school hockey. Odd.

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Oh boy... wonder what will happen to the Knights name?? Will it go to the Quad Cities or will the Mallards name be bought up from the UHL to the AHL??
I would guess that management of an AHL franchise in the Quad Cities would make every effort to obtain the Mallards name from the ownership of the current UHL club. Barring that, I'd think that they would go in a whole new direction from either Knights or Mallards. After all, the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights moniker had relevance in the Omaha marketplace. That wouldn't be the case in the Quad Cities.
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I'm often surprized at the sucess that USHL teams seem to have when competing against AHL teams. Personally I'd think that one step down from the NHL would be preferable to one step up from high school hockey. Odd.

It's often "all about the Benjamins, baby".

An Ak-Sar-Ben Knights season ticket package will run you between $400.00 and $960.00 for 40 games. By comparison, a Lancers seasons ticket package runs between $270.00 and $330.00 for 30 games.

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I can only hope that this means easier flight travel for the teams who had to go through hell and back to get to Omaha. I mean really, there should be four world-class airports in the Quad Cities for teams to choose from, right?

Right?

I've been told that, from an architectural standpoint, the main terminal at Bettendorf International is truly a wonder to behold.

You would have had me if I had not actually flown in and out of Moline back in about 1998. :D

On my flight out (a turboprop back to O'Hare), I was actually on the plane with a minor league basketball team (can't remember which one) and Glen Campbell and his traveling party for the "Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Christmas" tour. Seriously.

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The move itself comes as virtually no surprise. Despite an 8% uptick in attendance, Omaha averaged a measly 3,543 fans per game - 1,900 below the league average, and better than only Springfield and lame-duck Lowell.

WOW that is not alot of people at all. In summerside PEI we just opened a 3500-4000 seat arena. Our JR. A team averaged 5000 people for the intire playoffs and we went to the final round. I am amazing that a "city" of 16,000 can do better than a AHL team!

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The one thing that really bothers me about Omaha is that instead of calling themselves simply the "Omaha Kinghts", they're officially called the "Omaha AK-SAR-BEN Knights". To me, that sounds very retarded.

So let them move to the Quad Cities.

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The one thing that really bothers me about Omaha is that instead of calling themselves simply the "Omaha Kinghts", they're officially called the "Omaha AK-SAR-BEN Knights". To me, that sounds very retarded.

So let them move to the Quad Cities.

gay No, that one has been used a lot already

faggy Well, there are British people on the board and they might think I am talking smokes.

What I need is a good word that can describe something I don't like, even though I don't understand it, and still offend a group of people by its use. Gah, why does it have to be so hard to find a word that shows off my limited vocabulary?

Got it! Retarded! I knew I'd get it.

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The one thing that really bothers me about Omaha is that instead of calling themselves simply the "Omaha Kinghts", they're officially called the "Omaha AK-SAR-BEN Knights". To me, that sounds very retarded.

So let them move to the Quad Cities.

The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben is a long-standing, high profile philanthropic organization which has partial ownership of the AHL franchise, as well as several previous minor league teams in Omaha named "Knights."

Ak-Sar-Ben Knights history

So you're calling a charity group retarded. Retard.

The name may be clunky, but at least there's a reason for it. It's not like the City Adjective Nouns of Location, or anything silly like that.

On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said:

For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA.

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Well, trying to log-on to the Quad City Mallards' website does take you to the homepage of the Quad City Flames.

http://www.qcmallards.com/

It surprises me that the team's local ownership would opt to adopt the Quad City Flames name. After all, the Quad City Mallards brand has twelve years of history behind it.

I can only surmise that the rebranding is based upon Calgary's insistence that their top farm club once again sport the same nickname as the parent club, as well as a conscious decision on the part of the local owners that renaming the team would be the most effective way of communicating that the franchise was making the move from the troubled UHL to the more established AHL.

That said, I'm always a bit disappointed when a minor-league franchise abandons an existing identity package for what amounts to a virtual carbon-copy of the parent club's brand.

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New name, or will the retain thier name like the Ice Hogs did?

From what I heard, the team name is going to be the Quad Cites Flames.

I hope they don't use a flaming Q and C for the logo.

They already have a flaming C ready to go. Adding the Q will be just as easy due to the shared shape on the left side of each letter. Book it.

EDIT:

qcbs4.png

quick 'n dirty

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I welcome Quad Cities (and Rockford). They will be good close rivals, with hopefully large traveling fanbases. I also welcome the QC rivalry, because the Rivermen completely owned the Knights this year.

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New name, or will the retain thier name like the Ice Hogs did?

From what I heard, the team name is going to be the Quad Cites Flames.

I hope they don't use a flaming Q and C for the logo.

They already have a flaming C ready to go. Adding the Q will be just as easy due to the shared shape on the left side of each letter. Book it.

EDIT:

qcbs4.png

quick 'n dirty

I think if they did go that route that they'd at least not have the Q and C overlap.

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