Calgary Flames AHL team on the move

Calgary
Flames President & CEO Ken King announced the relocation of the
organization’s American Hockey League franchise from
Omaha,

Nebraska to the Quad Cities (

Moline,
IL).
The move remains subject to AHL Board of Governor approval at a meeting
scheduled for today and is also subject to ratification by the
Illinois Quad City Civic Center Authority.

“There was a great number of relocation opportunities presented to our team in
recent months and while consideration of these was not our priority given our
level of involvement in Omaha, in recent discussions it became evident to us
that the Quad Cities market, The MARK of the Quad Cities venue, the
enthusiastic local ownership group and their existing fan base are ideally
suited for our AHL franchise,” noted King. “We would like to thank the fans in
Omaha who supported our AHL team for the past two seasons
and are especially appreciative of the tireless efforts of our staff in
Omaha and the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation for their
efforts to make the AHL a successful operation and valuable asset to the

Omaha community.”

Ren Smith, President of Omaha Hockey Partnership and Ak-Sar-Ben Calgary Hockey
Inc. added, “Although our objective was to make AHL hockey viable in the

Omaha market, it became
evident in the face of mounting losses that the Calgary Flames felt it would be
extremely difficult to move forward.” Smith added, “On behalf of all hockey
fans in

Omaha,
we are disappointed with this outcome and we were looking forward to the
2007-2008 season.”

There will be media availability for members of the Omaha news media in the
lobby of the Omaha Civic Auditorium today at 2:45 p.m. King, Vice President,
Hockey Administration and CFO Michael Holditch and Smith will be on hand.

The Quad Cities of
Moline and
Rock
Island in
Illinois and
Davenport and
Bettendorf in

Iowa are a vibrant community located on the
banks of the
Mississippi River and on the
Illinois/Iowa border – within 250 miles of five of their AHL rivals (the
Rockford Ice Hogs, Peoria Rivermen, Chicago Wolves, Milwaukee Admirals and Iowa
Stars). The team will play its home games in

Moline,
Illinois
at The MARK of the Quad Cities, one of the premier arenas found in the
mid-west. Quad Cities was most recently home to the United Hockey League’s Quad
City Mallards for the last 12 seasons; the Mallards led the UHL in attendance
seven times during this period. During their tenure in the UHL, over 3 million
hockey fans attended games at The MARK of the Quad Cities.

“We are very excited to welcome the Flames organization to the Quad Cities,”
said QC Sports Ventures Inc. president Tim Taylor. “The Calgary Flames
organization has a tremendous track record and the American Hockey League
represents a strong fit for this market. Our fans have been very loyal to our
organization, and we are honored to bring to them the American Hockey League.”

During the 2006-07 season, the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights won the AHL’s West
Division and Western Conference Regular Season Championships with a record of
49-25-5-1.