RAPID CITY - It's the world of minor-league professional sports. Small-market teams come and go.

Local fans are accustomed to that here today, gone tomorrow aspect, starting with the 1995 departure of the Rapid City Thrillers of the Continental Basketball Association, through the demise of the Rapid City Flying Aces of the United Indoor Football League in 2006.

The latest venture, the Central Hockey League's Rapid City Rush, got off to a strong start, averaging 4,123 fans in their expansion season, good enough for sixth in the 17-team CHL.

But other CHL teams, notably Rapid City's Northeast Division rival Rocky Mountain Rage, have indicated plans to sit out the upcoming season. The Austin Ice Bats in Texas are entering their second lights-out season.

Bob Hoffman, CHL communications director, said an inactive team can still remain part of the league.

"You just have to identify with us that you're not going to play for a year. To be a member in good standing just means paying your fees. You're still a member. You're just not playing," Hoffman said.

Hoffman said "going dark" doesn't mean the lights will stay out forever.

Current league champion Texas Brahmas bypassed the 2006-2007 season while making a move to their current arena, the Nytex Sports Centre in North Richland Hills, Texas.

The New Mexico Scorpions also sat out the 2005-2006 season while making the move from a downtown Albuquerque, N.M., arena to their current barn, the Santa Ana Star Center in suburban Rio Rancho.

With the Rage, Hoffman said the city of Broomfield hired a new management team for the BEC, a team which didn't take over until July 1. The Rage's three-year lease with the center also expired as of this year.

"They (Rage) needed to renegotiate a lease, but they didn't have a management company to negotiate with, because the city was still putting out bids and finding out who was going to run the building," he said.

Additionally, a new ownership group for the Rage is set to take over once a new lease is in place, Hoffman said. Getting the pieces in place would have delayed signing of players until as late as September, just weeks before the start of the season.

"Who knows when they could have started recruiting players?" Hoffman said. "They decided that would have hurt the franchise more than sitting out a year."

"They can get everything in place and come back next year stronger than ever," he said.

For the Ice Bats, a wait for a new arena proved to be in vain. After playing two years in a small arena that seated less than 2,000 spectators, Austin sat out last season awaiting completion of a new 5,000 seat ice arena in Cedar Park, Texas.

In the meantime, city leaders decided to pursue an American Hockey League team for the new building, leaving the Ice Bats out in the cold, so to speak.

"We worked with them for seven years, helped them get the bond issue approved, wined them and dined them and showed them how to build the building. At the last minute the mayor decided we weren't prestigious enough and decided to go with an AHL team," said Ice Bats president Randy Sanders.

Sanders now seeks moving the team at least 60 miles away from Austin, toward San Antonio or Waco. Other options include Lafayette, La., or Beaumont, Texas.

The worst-case option would mean selling the team, which could relocate to another part of the country.

"Because we are now lights-out for our second year, we are in a priority situation. If a new venue comes up and a new building gets built, we're the franchise that gets to bid on it first," he said. "Hopefully we can find a new home for the Ice Bats."

Hoffman said owners face challenges coming off an unplayed season.

"You have to fight the stigma around town. The fans might have the idea that the team went away once, what's going to be different this time," he said.

Hoffman said one of two new CHL expansion teams, the Missouri Mavericks, of Independence, Mo., will likely take Rocky Mountain's spot in the Northwest Division.

The expansion Allen (Texas) Americans are likely destined for the Southeast Division, joining the Brahmas, Corpus Christi, Rio Grande Valley and Laredo.

Hoffman also sees the league expanding to a true northern division in the next several years.

"Rapid City is going to be the great start for that, because people can see how successful (hockey) can be," he said. "You have a great ownership group. We look at Rapid City as one of the strongest teams in the league, and it's going to only get better."