GREELEY — It should be smooth skating for the Colorado Eagles minor-league hockey team for the next several years at Blue Arena in Loveland, even though the results of a Feb. 24 municipal election left prospects of their move to a new arena in Greeley on thin ice.
Greeley voters approved Ballot Issue 1A, which repealed the city-approved planned-unit development zoning for the proposed Cascadia and Catalyst projects on the city’s western edge. Cascadia, a master-planned residential and commercial community spearheaded by Windsor-based developer Martin Lind’s Water Valley Co., had been planned to surround the city-owned Catalyst entertainment district, which would include a hotel, a Mattel-branded water park and an arena with youth hockey ice sheets that also would be home to the Eagles, which are owned by Lind.
The Eagles, affiliated with the National Hockey League’s Colorado Avalanche, have played since their formation in 2003 at the arena on the grounds of The Ranch Events Complex east of Loveland, which is owned by Larimer County. The team’s current lease at Blue Arena, which started Sept. 1, 2023, extends through Aug. 31, 2028.
Part of the plan for Catalyst was for the Eagles to begin play at their new home in Catalyst for the 2028-29 American Hockey League season, and the team’s ownership group, Soaring Sports Group LLC, struck a deal in principle last September with the city of Greeley on a 40-year lease at the yet-to-be-built arena in Catalyst.
Lind began work with Greeley on the project after Larimer County in May 2024 rejected his proposal to build a new, larger arena for the team at The Ranch. Lind and Conor McGrath, director of The Ranch, disagreed publicly on the reasons for the rejection.
However, both sides now seem amenable to talking again. According to the Eagles’ lease at Blue Arena, “the Team shall have the option to renew and extend the term of the Lease Agreement for an additional two (2) years beginning September 1, 2028 and ending August 31, 2030, provided that the Parties can mutually agree to new financial terms by March 1, 2028. Team must notify County of its intention to renew by January 1, 2028.”
Both Lind and Portia Cook, strategic communications coordinator for The Ranch, said Tuesday that talks could resume.
Cascadia would include a new arena for the Colorado Eagles minor-league hockey team. Source: City of Greeley.“I have a good relationship with Larimer County, and it’s no secret: We’re the anchor tenant. We’re the one that pays all the bills at The Ranch,” Lind said during an interview on Greeley radio station KFKA-AM 1310. “So I’m pretty sure they’re jumping up and down in Larimer County, hoping that we come back and renegotiate over there and stay over there.”
Lind said he has yet to reach out to McGrath, however.
“It’s way too premature,” he said. “We have until 2028. We preserved a very good relationship with The Ranch. We respect what they’re doing.”
Cook said McGrath has not contacted Lind since the election, but added that one side or the other could initiate talks.
The second phase of The Ranch’s master plan calls for improvements “designed to strengthen Blue Arena’s competitiveness, attract a broader range of high-demand events, and support long-term financial sustainability for The Ranch,” according to the complex’s website. It says planned project components may include a new premium entry plaza, expanded suites and loge boxes, a lounge terrace and open-air patio “to support pre-event and intermission gathering,” a redesigned premium lounge, and other “improvements focused on accessibility, comfort, and year-round functionality.”
Lind would like to work something out with Greeley to preserve the Eagles’ move there, and the City Council planned to meet in executive session to assess its legal options. However, he told BizWest after the radio interview, “I’m not going to wait around. If Greeley’s going to be aggressive and try to figure out how to help this thing along and salvage it, I’m shoulder to shoulder with them. I’ll have calluses on my hands with the shovel. But not if there’s this hand-wringing and this procrastination.”
This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2026 BizWest Media LLC.
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