Hockey: CHL fixes eyes up north

By Jim Holland, Journal staff | Monday, December 01, 2008

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RAPID CITY — For now, Rapid City is the northern-most outpost of the Central Hockey League, dominated by teams in south-central and the southwestern U.S., but western South Dakota is still a good fit for the league, according to Rick Kozubeck, president and chief executive officer of Tempe, Ariz., based Global Entertainment.

But Rapid City may not be the only CHL team in the state in the future, Kozubeck said prior to the sold-out Rush home opener at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center on Saturday.

The league is also looking at the state’s largest city, currently the home of a United States Hockey League junior amateur team.

“We’ve had several meetings in Sioux Falls,” Kozubeck said.

“In the last six months we’ve probably been there three or four times. That’s one of the closest opportunities we see,” he said.

While the Rush is the lone expansion team in the CHL for the 2008-2009 season, new franchises in Independence, Mo., and Allen, Texas, are set to join the league the following year.

Currently, CHL teams closest to Rapid City are the Colorado Eagles in Loveland, Colo., the Rocky Mountain Rage, in the Denver suburb of Broomfield, Colo., the Wichita Thunder in Kansas and the Oklahoma City Blazers.

The league does want to get more teams closer to Rapid City, he said.

“There may be another Colorado team in the short term, Rapid City may always be the far-north outpost, but we’d like to get other markets close to them if we can. That’s our goal and we’re going to keep trying,” Kozubeck said.

The benchmark for expansion, he said, is a metropolitan area with a population base of at least 70,000-80,000 people, and a facility to accommodate 5,000 spectators. 

“You’d like to have attendance in the 3,000-3,500 range for the hockey team to be successful. In markets of less than 70,000-80,000 that might be hard,” he said.

“We only go into places that we can have buildings built that are somewhat adaptable for hockey. They don’t need to be hockey specific. We have to have a hockey presence and have to be able to take care of the team,” he said.

Currently the Rush’s season-ticket base is approaching 2,000, which is a good start for a first-year team, Kozubeck said. Most teams plan on an annual operating budget of around $2 million.

“These are not easy teams to finance. The first year you’re trying the educate your audience and get them to buy season tickets. By Year 2 and 3, that’s when this thing should really start to mature itself,” he said.

Kozubeck said he was impressed with the new addition to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, home to the Rush for their first home game against Colorado on Saturday.

The first game was a sell-out, with an announced attendance of 5,119 watching the first-ever pro hockey game in state history. 

“There have been so many people that worked so hard to get this building built and this franchise established here,” said Kozuback.

“We’re proud and happy for the owners of the hockey franchise. It’s a great testament to their efforts,” he said.

Kozubeck hopes the Rapid City area will take ownership of the new team.

“(A successful franchise is) when people realize it becomes their building, their team. Whether it’s hockey, or soccer or baseball, people can get into it because it’s theirs,” he said.

“We sure hope there is a hockey mentality here. We’re going to make one, that’s for sure,” he said.

Title: Rapid City Rush Date: November 28th, 2008 Follow the Rush at www.rapidcityjournal.com. VIEW PRESENTATION »