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Yet another update from Oklahoma City as the Oilers and Prodigal Hockey move closer to announcing a new team in the OKC and new AHL affiliation.
Yesterday we learned that Prodigal Hockey has registered the following domains
http://www.okcoilers.com
http://www.okcoilkings.com
http://www.okcoilbarons.com
A bit of fun with Google and some help from the OKC Slackers led us to three more domains that have been purchased and parked by Prodigal Hockey:
http://www.okc89ers.com
http://www.okchawks.com
And finally, to bring it all back together:
Bob Funk Jr. is confident that approvals are coming. The AHL Board of Directors is meeting on the 18th and 19th. According to Jason Chaimovitch, Vice President of Communications of the American Hockey League:
As part of the initial AHL membership application a potential owner must have an NHL affiliation in place...
Though lips are sealed from both Prodigal Hockey and the Edmonton Oilers, the affiliation agreement is already in place and has been for some time. The Oilers' will dust off the Roadrunners franchise, move their AHL affiliate from Springfield to Oklahoma City next season, and unless the proximity of the Tulsa Oilers and the backlash from Blazers fan is too much, they'll be named after an oil theme.
And Cody Wild's wish to be further away has been granted.
The question of control and ownership still remains. Did Edmonton sell the Roadrunners to Prodigal Hockey? Did Prodigal Hockey take a partial stake in the team or will they be more of a management firm for the team? And as commenter B.C.B. asks, why didn't the Oilers just make this move on their own?
Special thanks to the extremely talented Serge Melki for the photo of the Bricktown Canal in Oklahoma City.