The Corpus Christi IceRays opened the 2018-19 season in Shreveport on Sept. 14 with a loss to the defending Robertson Cup champions, the Shreveport Mudbugs. As the season began on the road, back at home, Corpus Christi City Council members grappled over a $50,000 rent increase to keep the team at the American Bank Center.
Not to worry, fans! After a stop in Blaine, Minnesota, for the North American Hockey League Showcase on Sept. 19-22, the IceRays return for their home opener Friday, Sept. 28, when they will once again face the Mudbugs.
When the IceRays come home, they will be coming HOME to stay. A dust-up at a recent City Council meeting over increased rents at the American Bank Center had local hockey fans worried that Corpus Christi could lose its beloved professional league team. The conflict over costs was not that big a deal and easily settled, said American Bank Center General Manager Matt Blasy.
“It’s a process,” Blasy said of getting all parties signed off on the increase. “We have a resolution, and it’s a win-win for everyone.”
The process began at a City Council meeting in September with a request for a resolution to approve the change. The resolution, which passed on a 6-3 vote, then moved on to the Type A board, the governing body for TIRZ funds. TIRZ stands for Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones. The downtown TIRZ allocates a portion of property taxes collected in a designated area to promote development. The creation of new businesses increases the tax base and tax revenues, putting even more money back into the community.
“We met with the Type A board and presented the proposed increase to the IceRays of $50,000 from $100,000 to $150,000,” Blasy said. “The intent of those dollars is to attract people to the center. We thought this would be a good way to move their rent more in line with the expense of having them in the building.”
The IceRays have paid $100,000 a year in rent for the past nine years, Blasy said. Over that timeframe, the expense of maintaining the building and providing security, including the addition of metal detectors at the doors, has increased tremendously.
“The increase is just natural inflation,” Blasy said. “Utility, security measures for game day have all gone up significantly.”
Having the IceRays is a huge benefit to the American Bank Center at any cost, he agreed, providing the numbers to back up that viewpoint.
“We rely on our anchor tenants like the IceRays to build our schedule around,” he said. “We are not going to line up 20 to 30 major events a year, which is what the IceRays bring. They are a great asset not only to the American Bank Center but to the community.”
Other anchor tenants include the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islander men’s and women’s basketball teams and Buc Days Rodeo.
For Blasy, the fans, and IceRays General Manager Michael Wood, having the IceRays at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi is more than a business decision: The team has an emotional attachment to the city and vice versa.
“I moved down here with the Hooks,” said Wood, who has been in Corpus Christi 14 years. “I was a baseball guy following a baseball job. When I left them, I wasn’t ready to leave Corpus Christi. I have found a home here — with Corpus Christi and with the IceRays.”
The team is locally owned by Mitch Lange, who bought it 10 years ago for his son, who has cerebral palsy. Again, the team was discussing leaving for another venue, a proposition that put teenager Chris Lange in a major depression. He was a huge fan, never missing a game and memorizing all the players and their stats. He got the team as a high school graduation present and is now assistant general manager.
“Mitch Lange has longstanding roots in the community,” Wood said. “He’s not going anywhere. The team’s not going anywhere.”
Which is a big relief to fans preparing for the new season. They will get to see plenty of play as the ’Rays move into their 21st year in Corpus Christi. The team begins its first homestand with a 13-game run, the longest of the season.
This year, the IceRays will play a total of 60 games: 48 against South Division opponents, eight against Central Division, and four at the National American Hockey League Showcase. Another four games will be played against two Alaska teams: the Fairbanks Ice Dogs and the Kenai River Brown Bears.
Although it’s way too early to think about the end of the season with all this exciting action on ice just beginning, for those who like to plan ahead, the IceRays end the 2018-19 run at the American Bank Center on Friday, April 5, and Saturday, April 6, against the Topeka Pilots.
You can find the IceRays schedule on 101CorpusChristi.com/EVENTS, where you can add the games you plan to attend directly to your digital calendar with the touch of a finger or a click of a mouse. You can also go the old-fashioned way and print out a schedule from the IceRays website. Tape it to your refrigerator!
For season tickets, call (361) 814-7825 (PUCK). When you can’t make a game, you can keep up with the action on YouTube (IceRays TV), Facebook (/CorpusChristiRays), Twitter (@goicerays), Instagram (CorpusChristiRays), Vine (@goicerays), and Periscope (@goicerays).