Photo: Montreal_Photos / iStock Unreleased / Getty Images
(Omaha, NE) -- The people behind a push to bring an NHL expansion team to Nebraska has a team name.
A group from Nebraska flew to New York City, without an appointment, to pitch the NHL Commissioner. Johanna Boston with Nebraska Crossing says:
"They did ask us that in the meeting, and we said, 'Nebraska Knight Owls.'"
Rod Yates, owner of Nebraska crossing in Gretna, says several high-profile Nebraskans attended the meeting, including Governor Jim Pillen, Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, and more. Yates said:
"We partnered up with Doctor Goss, and we created an economic impact study, that showed the NHL they should be in Nebraska. Not we want you, but should be, and it went really, really well."
The pitch would put the pro hockey team near Gretna off I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln. Yates says the data show a base of more than a half-million people would be likely to support the team. The name Nebraska Knight Owls... Knight with a K... gives recognition to a minor league pro hockey team... the Omaha Knights that dates back as far as the 1930s.