AUSTIN, Texas — It’s official! It’s a day that everybody was waiting for, but that nobody wanted to come. Austin Ice Bats President and Owner, Randy Sanders, officially announced that the Austin Ice Bats of the CHL would play no hockey in the Austin area in the 2008-2009 season. Two weeks ago, the Corpus Christi Rayz also announced they would go dark next season, leaving only Laredo and Rio Grande Valley in the division.
“Even though we have spent exhaustive efforts for the past year to find a venue for the Bats to play in 2008-2009, we have been unsuccessful in locating an acceptble venue,” Sanders said. “We are therefore announcing that the Austin Ice Bats will be going ‘lights out’ for the upcoming hockey season.”
The demise of the Ice Bats started two seasons ago when they left the Travis County Exposition Center for the Chaparral Center, a public ice rink that even when refurbished held just 1900 fans. The financial losses suffered by former owner Jeff Buch and current owner Randy Sanders in that venue were 
insurmountable.
Sanders had hoped to locate an alternate playing site in time for the 2008-2009 season, but despite periodic encouraging signs, was unable to close a deal in time.
“There are several very interesting venues that (were) being explored, but there is just not enough time to put together the resources to be able to play in 2008-2009,” Sanders said. “We will continue to explore different venues both in the Austin area as well as outside the area to play in the 2009-2010 season.”
One of the areas rumored to be in the running is San Marcos, Texas, a community just south of Austin and the home of Texas State University. The CHL is interested in this location because of its proximity to San Antonio (45 minutes) and it’s possible a team may end up there in addition to the renewed Ice Bat team.
The Ice Bats might very well end up in Round Rock, Texas. The Houston Astro’s AAA farm team (The Round Rock Express) plays at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. Discussions are said to be ongoing between Express owner Reid Ryan (son of Nolan Ryan) and the city of Round Rock to build an events center next to Dell Diamond that would include an ice hockey team.
On three different occasions, the city of Cedar Park, Texas agreed to build an events center and promised the Ice Bats they would play hockey there. The first two times, the City Council changed their minds, due to what they called financial considerations. More recently, the city was a handshake and minutes away from finalizing a deal with a group headed by Randy Sanders to build an arena and move the Bats to Cedar Park for 2008/2009 or 2009/2010 season.
At the last minute, the city, more specifically Mayor Bob Lemon, announced they’d struck a deal with the NHL’s Dallas Stars to put an AHL team in Cedar Park.
Ground is being broken for the events center as we speak and the AHL should being play in Cedar Park in either the 2009 or 2010 season. Whether or not the AHL will be a success in an area that is so accustomed to the intimacy of AA hockey remains to be seen. Most people that know anything about hockey predict that after the first year or two when the curiosity wears off, attendance will dwindle.
If and when the Ice Bats do return to the area, there’s a good chance they will compete for fans with the AHL and win because of their history in the community.
“We are very much a part of this community and have every intention of playing in this area in the future,” Sanders said. “We thought we would have this opportunity in Cedar Park, but after five years of working with the city officials, we found we did not meet their standard. This was truly the blow that caused the Bats to make this decision to move on to find a new home.”
Sanders is also the new owner of the Amarillo Gorillas, but insists he still has an interest in Austin and will bring the Bats back.
“We hope to work with local governments to try to find an acceptable place to play,” Sanders said. “We will continue to office in the Austin Area and work to make a strong comeback. We want to thank all of our true fans and supporters and look forward to sending out the notice when we come back in a new hockey venue.”
Contact the author at: mitch.cooper@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.