Tuesday, Sep. 01, 2009

Fever will play again in Tri-Cities

By Ben Reynolds, Herald staff writer

Doug MacGregor's search for a local ownership partner for the Tri-Cities Fever has apparently come to an end.

The owner of the Fever confirmed Monday night that the team will be back in 2010. While he did not provide any details as to who his partner might be, he did say the team would be playing "arenafootball."

"We're real excited," said MacGregor, who added he plans to make a formal announcement at the end of the month outlining the future of the team.

Kevin Jinks, who put in an offer to MacGregor for the team, said he was told by MacGregor that he has made the decision to retain the team.

The Fever, which has played the last three seasons in the arenafootball2 league, will return to what is going to be a restructured league next season. There has been a lot of speculation about how the new league will work, and who the Fever would be playing.

MacGregor said all those details will be forthcoming.

Fever general manager Randy Schillinger, who has worked tirelessly on finding a suitable owner for the franchise the past two months, said this was the best move.

"I think they are going to be stronger than they have ever been," Schillinger said.

The news that the Fever found a local owner comes less than 24 hours before a deadline MacGregor imposed for all final offers to be turned in.

Jinks, who turned in his offer almost two weeks ago with the plan to move the team to the Indoor Football League, said he has a few concerns about the Fever staying in a modified af2 league. But he also said he will be looking for the announcement as to when he can buy his season tickets.

"We can't lose sight of what we wanted," he said, "and that's keeping football in the Tri-Cities."