Post by Banana Cat on Oct 26, 2011 17:48:53 GMT -5
southwestiowanews.com/articles/2011/10/26/council_bluffs/sports/doc4ea822da6e487002641650.txt
Ownership of local football team changes hands
By Tony Boone / nonpareilonline.com
October 26, 2011
When the Council Bluffs indoor team opens play in the American Professional Football League next spring, it will do so under new ownership and with a different name.
Brad Lindgren of Council Bluffs and Joe Riker of Sioux City have reached an agreement to purchase the former Iowa Blackhawks from John Jerkovich, who bought the team prior to last season.
The franchise, which has won two league titles while playing in the last three APFL championship games, will now be known as the Council Bluffs Express, a tribute to the area’s history with the railroad system.
Former Blackhawk quarterback Chuck Wright has agreed to be the team’s head coach. Jerkovich will remain involved as a consultant and will help the new owners raise sponsorship money.
“He gave us a good deal on the team,” Lindgren said. “He’s been in our corner 100 percent.”
The new owners, longtime friends who grew up together in Sioux City, were working with two others on bringing an APFL expansion franchise to Lincoln, Neb., prior to buying the Council Bluffs team.
Lindgren said talks with Jerkovich, who purchased the Blackhawks earlier this year when they were in danger of folding, were initially about buying equipment not the team. But the idea of owning an existing franchise provided a better option for him and Riker than starting a new one.
Jerkovich wants the team to remain in Council Bluffs. The president of Heartland Properties said he enjoyed his one season as the team’s owner, but felt he was “too busy to properly do it.” Selling the team to Lindgren and Riker allows him step out of the everyday owner duties.
“These guys bring some excitement to it,” Jerkovich said. “I’m going to help them raise money and keep the team in the community. I promised them to stay involved.
“I’m not getting out of it to get rid of it. I’m just stepping aside and helping them.”
The deal between the new and former owners is a private contract, Jerkovich said, which operates on a succeed-only basis. Lindgren and Riker are to pay a specific amount, two-thirds of which Jerkovich is giving back in sponsorship money, per year for three years to purchase the team. But if the C.B. franchise doesn’t succeed, they owe no more.
“If they make it, they pay me,” Jerkovich said. “If they don’t, they don’t.”
Lindgren, 26, has a business background. He owns Dan’s Pizza on 2nd Ave in Council Bluffs. Riker, 27, is currently a video coordinator at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. He has previously worked with several sports franchises, including the Sioux City Bandits, Iowa Barnstormers and Omaha Nighthawks.
Both said gaining sponsor money and selling season tickets are their first priorities.
“It takes a significant amount of money to get it going, if you don’t have sponsors,” Riker said. “You’ve got to get the local businesses behind you to make it happen. Council Bluffs has a lot of potential.”
Season tickets for the Express are already on sale. Interested fans can find more information on contacting the new owners by visiting the team’s website, cbexpressfootball.com, or its Facebook page, Council Bluffs Express Indoor Football.
The C.B. Express also already has open tryouts scheduled for Dec. 10-11 at the Mid-America Center. The team will open play in the expanded APFL – which is adding teams in Cheyenne, Wyo.; Denver and, potentially, Lincoln – in the spring of 2012.
By Tony Boone / nonpareilonline.com
October 26, 2011
When the Council Bluffs indoor team opens play in the American Professional Football League next spring, it will do so under new ownership and with a different name.
Brad Lindgren of Council Bluffs and Joe Riker of Sioux City have reached an agreement to purchase the former Iowa Blackhawks from John Jerkovich, who bought the team prior to last season.
The franchise, which has won two league titles while playing in the last three APFL championship games, will now be known as the Council Bluffs Express, a tribute to the area’s history with the railroad system.
Former Blackhawk quarterback Chuck Wright has agreed to be the team’s head coach. Jerkovich will remain involved as a consultant and will help the new owners raise sponsorship money.
“He gave us a good deal on the team,” Lindgren said. “He’s been in our corner 100 percent.”
The new owners, longtime friends who grew up together in Sioux City, were working with two others on bringing an APFL expansion franchise to Lincoln, Neb., prior to buying the Council Bluffs team.
Lindgren said talks with Jerkovich, who purchased the Blackhawks earlier this year when they were in danger of folding, were initially about buying equipment not the team. But the idea of owning an existing franchise provided a better option for him and Riker than starting a new one.
Jerkovich wants the team to remain in Council Bluffs. The president of Heartland Properties said he enjoyed his one season as the team’s owner, but felt he was “too busy to properly do it.” Selling the team to Lindgren and Riker allows him step out of the everyday owner duties.
“These guys bring some excitement to it,” Jerkovich said. “I’m going to help them raise money and keep the team in the community. I promised them to stay involved.
“I’m not getting out of it to get rid of it. I’m just stepping aside and helping them.”
The deal between the new and former owners is a private contract, Jerkovich said, which operates on a succeed-only basis. Lindgren and Riker are to pay a specific amount, two-thirds of which Jerkovich is giving back in sponsorship money, per year for three years to purchase the team. But if the C.B. franchise doesn’t succeed, they owe no more.
“If they make it, they pay me,” Jerkovich said. “If they don’t, they don’t.”
Lindgren, 26, has a business background. He owns Dan’s Pizza on 2nd Ave in Council Bluffs. Riker, 27, is currently a video coordinator at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. He has previously worked with several sports franchises, including the Sioux City Bandits, Iowa Barnstormers and Omaha Nighthawks.
Both said gaining sponsor money and selling season tickets are their first priorities.
“It takes a significant amount of money to get it going, if you don’t have sponsors,” Riker said. “You’ve got to get the local businesses behind you to make it happen. Council Bluffs has a lot of potential.”
Season tickets for the Express are already on sale. Interested fans can find more information on contacting the new owners by visiting the team’s website, cbexpressfootball.com, or its Facebook page, Council Bluffs Express Indoor Football.
The C.B. Express also already has open tryouts scheduled for Dec. 10-11 at the Mid-America Center. The team will open play in the expanded APFL – which is adding teams in Cheyenne, Wyo.; Denver and, potentially, Lincoln – in the spring of 2012.