The Columbus Chill played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1991 to 1999. They’re success paved the way for Columbus to be awarded an an NHL team, though the Chill are still fondly remembered by the city’s hockey fans.
The Memphis RiverKings were a long-running minor league hockey promotion that played from 1992 through 2007 in the Central Hockey League. The RiverKings played in Memphis proper at the Mid-South Coliseum from 1992 through 2000 before relocating to the new DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi for the 2000-01 season. After moving to Mississippi, the RiverKings won back-to-back Miron Cup CHL championships in 2002 and 2003. The franchise changed its name to the Mississippi RiverKings in 2007 and went out of business in 2018.
The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an indoor football league that competed for seven seasons in Arena Football 2 (AF2) and the Arena Football League (AFL) between 2004 and 2010. After initial strong crowds at the two-year old Ford Center in 2004 and 2005, the team’s attendance faded and the Dawgz moved to the older and smaller Cox Convention Center before disbanding in 2010.
This Seattle Mariners Class-A farm club played terrific baseball in the California League for three seasons from 1993 to 1995. But the southern California city of Riverside was an ill-fit from the start, with club owners openly seeking a new ballpark in neighboring cities and local residents successfully opposing an alcoholic beverage license for the team at the Riverside Sports Complex.
The Iguanas were a hard luck hockey outfit that slugged it out in the River City for the better part of a decade. The team’s off-ice competition proved even more formidable than their Central Hockey League rivals and ultimately drove the Iguanas out of business on two separate occasions.
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