Evicted

The big news out of Omaha today is that the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) hockey team has been displaced by the evil empire that is the Metropolitan Events and Convention Authority (MECA) for the second time in a year.

The UNO Mavericks call the 3-year old Qwest Center Omaha home for hockey games. They share primary tenant status with Creighton University's basketball program (though, CU usually gets priority). But in the mindless drunken stupor that is the shortsidedness of the MECA Board of Directors, they double-booked the Qwest Center in mid-February. Earlier this year, MECA somehow won the bid to host the Nebraska State Wrestling Meet in the Qwest Center-- a meet that as long as anyone can remember was held in Lincoln.

I don't mind the wrestling meet coming to Omaha, not one bit. I don't care for the sport, it's a waste of time. But if the people of Nebraska see it fit to give it some time-- let them waste their time with it. But why the hell is a primary tenant being bumped for this?

Maybe my anger should not be directed in whole at MECA, because there had to have been discussions about these circumstances. The Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) could have scheduled UNO to be on the road for that weekend. But we must ask in what order do the schedules come in?

When did UNO have to provide a list of priority dates for the 2005-2006 season? When did the wrestling tournament bid become official? And when did the CCHA release a preliminary schedule (not the official schedule, just the first draft)?

If UNO or CCHA acted before MECA won the bid for wrestling-- then the blame fall solely on MECA. If MECA won the bid, and UNO requested the dates of the wrestling meet as priority dates-- MECA is still to blame, as UNO should not be denied a priority date. But if the wrestling meet was scheduled, and UNO requested to be on the road for that weekend, then the CCHA is to blame for this.

If you've noticed-- I'm not blaming UNO for this. Beyond signing a poor lease (which was done by a previous regime), they are not at fault here. They have every expectation for their home arena to be available to them. And we forget that last year, UNO graciously stepped aside, moving a non-conference series to the 50+ year old Civic Auditorium (their former home), so that Creighton could schedule a Bracket Buster game for ESPN, which moved a rodeo (scheduled during the Bracket Buster) to a different weekend. It was a one-time deal made by UNO, and the key words were 'non-conference series' and 'Creighton'.

There is a difference in this situation. The hockey series being bumped to the older, smaller arena is against Michigan. Michigan travels well, and the last four games that Michigan has played in Omaha have averaged just under 10,000 in attendance. The Civic seats only 8,300. And this year, those games were expected to be a clash of two teams fighting for home ice in the playoffs, meaning you could certainly expect a huge crowd.

But what pisses me off more than anything else about this, is the conflict of interests among the members of the MECA Board of Directors-- specifically Chairman David Sokol, and President/CEO Roger Dixon. Dixon's conflict of interests is simply that he will stomp anyone and anything so that he can keep going to the bank. He has done nothing but attmept to screw UNO over since he took control of both Qwest Center and the Civic. Sure, UNO had to sign off on the contract, but again many of those responsible for that are no longer in the public eye.

But Sokol? Let's think about this very carefully. Mr. Sokol owns a stake in Omaha's new AHL franchise-- a team that takes residence in the Civic. I do not have a problem with teams owning their home arenas (I think it would be a great idea for UNO to invest in their own arena). But, it is Sokol's name on the team, and MECA's name on the building-- that is not ownership by the same party, and having the owner of one be the chairman of the other is not proper. Sokol is in a position of coruption, where he can cut himself a deal, and screw his closest competition (UNO). Even if he is not doing this... he should not be in the position where it can happen. Others have lost their jobs over less controversial-looking connections.

UNO is getting the raw deal here. MECA will make money no matter if the game is played in Qwest Center, or the Civic, and they have the benefit of the revenue from the wrestling meet. UNO stands to lose the revenue of at least 2,000 fans that won't be able to find seats in the Civic. They lose the home-ice advantage that goes with adapting to the confines of Qwest Center. And they lose a showcase series in the 'crown jewel' of Omaha.

What MECA has done is left the city in chaos. UNO is pissed. UNO fans are pissed. I'm sure Michigan is pissed that they had to deal with the uncertainty of when and where the series will be. Are anybody but Dixon and Sokol smiling about this?

MECA needs to do the right thing. Admit they fucked up. They need to give the citizens of Omaha full disclosure of what transpired-- the discussions, the contracts, the statistics, everything. This whole situation stinks like bathrooms of the old Aksarben Coliseum.