Amarillo Bulls relocate to North Iowa

Barclay Donaldson

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Feb 4, 2018
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NAHL announces relocation of Amarillo Bulls to Mason City, Iowa

Amarillo Bulls relocate to North Iowa

North Iowa and Amarillo have the same owners. North Iowa also has a brand new Mason City Arena to replace their community rink. This new arena will be an excellent home to their NAHL team. They will operate in increasingly standardized fashion and still maintain a NA3HL team with the same name as part of the organization. The North Iowa NAHL will compete in the Central Division.

This franchise should be an excellent addition to the NAHL. However, it comes with a sizeable subtraction as well. Amarillo had a decline in attendance last year, but have averaged more than 2,000 people per game in 9 of their last 11 seasons. The NAHL South Division suddenly became less crowded. Any thoughts on why they took the team out of Amarillo where they have historically done very well?
 
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JMCx4

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Could just be that their California-based owner Alberto Fernandez wanted to save money by consolidating hockey ops. Could be the Amarillo team's lease at the Civic Center was soon to expire & new terms weren't supportive of the team's continued success in Texas. Maybe Mr. Fernandez considers the Iowa business & cultural climate more suitable to his operations than The Lone Star State would be. Any of those grab the bait that you were fishin' with, @Barclay Donaldson?
 

JMCx4

Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
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BTW, the words with which the NAHL and NA3HL are portraying this shuffle seem to conflict with one another. The Tier II League describes it as: "relocation of the Amarillo Bulls to Mason City ..." while the Tier III club says: "the (North Iowa Bulls) team will compete as a member of the North American Hockey League (NAHL) ... ." Seems like they should have coordinated their press releases, considering the League affiliation AND the shared ownership. :huh:
 
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JMCx4

Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
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And on further Road Atlas review ... Mason City, IA as a road trip destination ... Hmmmmmm........ :handclap:
 
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210

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Could just be that their California-based owner Alberto Fernandez wanted to save money by consolidating hockey ops. Could be the Amarillo team's lease at the Civic Center was soon to expire & new terms weren't supportive of the team's continued success in Texas. Maybe Mr. Fernandez considers the Iowa business & cultural climate more suitable to his operations than The Lone Star State would be. Any of those grab the bait that you were fishin' with, @Barclay Donaldson?

Maybe the city wants ECHL and wants that NAHL franchise out of the way? :naughty:
 
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JMCx4

Censorship is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Sep 3, 2017
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St. Louis, MO
Maybe the city wants ECHL and wants that NAHL franchise out of the way? :naughty:
NOW you've got the creative juices flowin' ... MAYBE it's the "future considerations" in Iowa's trade of the Stars/Chops to Texas for the Aeros' franchise relocation to Des Moines. Seems about even now.
 
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210

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NOW you've got the creative juices flowin' ... MAYBE it's the "future considerations" in Iowa's trade of the Stars/Chops to Texas for the Aeros' franchise relocation to Des Moines. Seems about even now.
Hey, almost anything is possible in the wacky world of minor league hockey...
 

CHRDANHUTCH

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Mar 4, 2002
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NOW you've got the creative juices flowin' ... MAYBE it's the "future considerations" in Iowa's trade of the Stars/Chops to Texas for the Aeros' franchise relocation to Des Moines. Seems about even now.
EXCEPT... the AHL had never terminated a "member club" for illegal collateral in landing a franchise....that was left to the ECHL... JM.

what franchise outside of the Stars was given a timeline to remove the "conditional" TAG off the "member club"

that had nothing to do with Alexander ending the lease with MSE Controlled Aeros.
 

mk80

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Jul 30, 2012
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The NAHL South Division suddenly became less crowded. Any thoughts on why they took the team out of Amarillo where they have historically done very well?

Could just be that their California-based owner Alberto Fernandez wanted to save money by consolidating hockey ops. Could be the Amarillo team's lease at the Civic Center was soon to expire & new terms weren't supportive of the team's continued success in Texas. Maybe Mr. Fernandez considers the Iowa business & cultural climate more suitable to his operations than The Lone Star State would be. Any of those grab the bait that you were fishin' with, @Barclay Donaldson?

The Amarillo Letter to their fans, indicates the team was unable to negotiate a favorable lease: A LETTER TO AMARILLO BULLS FANS

So who has a line on when the ECHL/SPHL/FPHL team is moving in? :sarcasm: :naughty:
 

mk80

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Jul 30, 2012
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Let me know who has the line and where I can place my bet...

Might want to bet against someone who won't read this post. After doing a little digging I found this article from December 2020:
Plans to update Amarillo civic center continue after voters denied original proposition

Quote from article:
A major part of the Amarillo Plan is the tenant, which could be the Elmore Sports Group.... The Amarillo Plan has the support of the commissioner of the ECHL to bring a AA hockey team to Amarillo.

Even more surprising is that this piece of info has managed to elude the rumor mill and ECHL discussion in the minor league forum for almost 3 months now.
 
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PCSPounder

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Apr 12, 2012
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Completely rando off-the-wall question.

Is the arena in Mason City operating 12 months, doing any rec scheduling or the like?

Or anything that could accommodate an idiot tourist just dropping in for a few minutes to see this thing on a semi-random Tuesday afternoon in August?
 

kij

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Jan 31, 2016
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Completely rando off-the-wall question.

Is the arena in Mason City operating 12 months, doing any rec scheduling or the like?

Or anything that could accommodate an idiot tourist just dropping in for a few minutes to see this thing on a semi-random Tuesday afternoon in August?
As our local Iowan, I know the ice is currently down and will remain out until the end of July at the earliest. If you were to swing by in late August, the Bulls/Toros should be reporting to town in the third week of August.

I recommend calling ahead because the rink does have a tendency to get locked up if the ice is empty for more than half an hour. The rink is on the side of the mall closest to Washington Avenue and I recommend eating at the bar right next to it or at Thai Bistro across the street.

The rink schedule is run through the youth organization, it can be found here (Arena Schedule). Though I am unsure of how diligent they are at keeping that updated.

Edit: Just wanted to add that you will be experiencing that midwestern nice and the rink would probably be happy to accommodate you.
 

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