While information continues to trickle in from multiple sources, the NAHL has yet to make an official announcment concerning the status of the Jamestown Ironmen.
NAHL sources are reporting to TJHN that Kenji Yamada, Ironmen owner informed the NAHL on Friday May 17th that the team would not be returning for the 2013-2014 season.
Multiple sources are also reporting that Yamada made this decision after absorbing astronomical losses since taking ownership of the franchise. Once started in Detroit as the Metal Jackets, the Ironmen went through multiple locations citing lack of fan support as reasons for relocation.
Fan support did not increase with the ill advised move to Jamestown New York. While having a state of the art arena in Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena, the community did not provide the financial support to sustain the organization. Simple market research would have provided more than enough evidence to support not moving into Jamestown in the first place, however, management insisted on the move.
Coupled with the intial move to Jamestown, the Ironmen displaced the local ownership of the now defunct Jamestown Jets. This move created a groundswell of locals who refused to support the team no matter what the effort.
While a very nice town in South Western New York, Jamestown does not posses the demographics to support a Tier II hockey team. High unemployment is only one factor that should have been recognized before making the move.
Additional sources are reporting that a sale to a group lead by former Ironmen General Manager David Cole has once again fallen through. Once source reported that alleged purchase agreements were “mailed” but never received. Another source reported that the ownership group did not have the required funding to secure an agreement.
The NAHL iced 24 teams in the 2012-2013 season. With the loss of Jamestown and Kalamazoo, along with the addition of the Minnesota Magicians, Minnesota Wilderness, the NAHL still has 24 teams heading into the 2013-2014 season. It is unlikely that the league will start the season with an odd number of teams due to scheduling.
With Wenatchee moving to Rio Grande, the future of Fresno must hang in the balance. Rumors have begun to heat up once again that they too will likely go dark next week. Other rumors have the NAHL adding another Texas based team to possibly replace Fresno.
Stay tuned to TJHN as we will update this story when more information becomes available.
