A Message From Rivermen Coo/Owner Bart Rogers
March 13, 2020 - 04:45 pm
A Message From Rivermen COO/Owner Bart Rogers
Peoria, IL – With Thursday’s unprecedented announcement of the 2019-20 SPHL Season suspending, I ask that you please bear with our organization, staff, and players as we enter waters that are unchartered for all sports teams at all levels. Our entire operation of the business side of things, along with our hockey department has been turned upside down in a matter of hours. Information is changing by the hour and we are doing our best to keep you, our great fans updated while also keeping our players and staff safe.
The financial impact to the sports and entertainment industry will be immeasurable, but together, we are doing the right thing to protect everyone’s safety and best interests in mind. As announced last night by our league, the season has currently been suspended and put on hold. Our team was scheduled to play the next two weekends on the road in North Carolina and Alabama. The team had already traveled over 14 hours overnight on Wednesday to Fayetteville, NC and were in place to play this weekend’s games when the announcement came down from the SPHL office about the suspension of the season. The team is in good spirits and are currently making their drive back to Peoria today from North Carolina, where they will sit and wait like the rest of us.
It’s always nice to reflect back in tough times like this of what has been another exciting year on the ice for our franchise, with numerous records being broken and the team again in First Place in the SPHL, all the while fighting call ups and defections to Europe. We, along with our great fans are hoping to continue this season and fight for the President’s Cup. However, those decisions lie in the hands of our leaders at the Federal, State, and Local levels to give us the proper clearance as we all know by the reports, are weeks out.
During this time, the health and safety of our fans, staff, and players are of the utmost importance to the Peoria Rivermen organization. The Rivermen and the SPHL are closely monitoring the current status of this pandemic on an hourly basis and will update you the moment more information becomes available from those at the top about any changes to the suspension.
The Rivermen office will be closed to the general public moving forward. We are following the guidance of the Peoria Health Department in minimizing the interaction with individuals, person to person, but rest assured, we will be there to answer your call or emails until we open back up. Our office hours moving forward will be 8:30-4:30PM, Monday-Friday. Again, you can access our staff by calling 309-676-1040 or emailing [email protected] during that hours of operation.
We can’t thank you enough during this dark time for the sports and entertainment industry and we will need your support more than ever once play can resume. I’m thankful for all that make our great product operate from our full time staff, players, Peoria Civic Center Staff, and all the part time staff that make sure your experience is enjoyable each and every game. Please keep in mind this is their livelihood and not only is our team being challenged, but they are as well with no games. We thank you for your understanding and support of the Rivermen organization and again ask for your patience as we work through this unpredictable situation. In the meantime, continue to follow us on www.rivermen.net and all of our social media platforms for the latest news we have to share or offer.
We look forward to seeing you back out at Carver Arena for a Rivermen game soon.
Bart Rogers
COO/Owner
