‘No turning back,’ Clippers to move or shut down without local ownership
NANAIMO — Without local ownership, the Nanaimo Clippers won’t be operating in the harbour city next season.
Ken Wagner, the team’s majority owner, made the announcement at a news conference Thursday. Wagner said he’s looking at relocating the team to another Vancouver Island city.
“We are just done writing cheques, we’re spent out,” Wagner said. “That’s really the nuts and bolts of it. The business side is the numbers are the numbers, the emotional side is we don’t want to move the club, but at this point we’re prepared to.”
Wagner has put a deadline of “within two weeks” for Clippers president and junior partner Dave LeNeveu to find local ownership willing to take over the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) club.