Yesterday, the Council Bluffs city council voted to void the rest of the Omaha Lancers agreement to play in Council Bluffs' Mid America Center after this upcoming season. For now, Council Bluffs and the Lancers will continue to negotiate, but the writing is on the wall. The Lancers have bled money ever since moving away from the heart of the city in search of new digs and free parking. And now it's coming to an end, as the Lancers prepare to leave the Bluffs. What will happen to the Mid America Center now without an anchor tenant now?
Is that story getting ready to repeat itself, with the Royals and Sarpy County? If you listen to some in this community, you bet. They see all development exploding around Chalco and see this as a can't miss. Funny thing, development exploded around the Mid-America Center too: Bass Pro Shops, movie theatres, hotels, expanded casinos, shopping, restaurants.
And it all failed when it came to the Lancers. Why? I'll give you a theory: the old fans weren't willing to cross the river, and the new fanbase failed to materialize. Replace "river" with "county line" and start asking questions.
"Oh, no!" they say. This is different, they'll tell us. It's the same thing that dot.com investors told us ten years ago, before that bubble popped. It's the same thing that real estate investors told us five years ago, before that bubble popped.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. And when history is being made right under your eyes, it takes the truly ignorant to miss it.
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