Vibrant Arena at The MARK and the Quad City Storm hockey team announced a new 10-year lease agreement on Tuesday morning, Sept. 1.
The agreement has an option for either party to opt out after five years. The Storm – of the Southern Professional Hockey League – has been based at the Moline arena since 2018, and has played to a cumulative won-loss record of 170-178-35 over seven seasons (the team did not play from mid-March 2020 to fall 2021 due to COVID).
Lease negotiations were ongoing since the summer of 2025. Support from the Illinois Quad City Civic Center Authority, city of Moline and new arena executive director Rik Edgar were all crucial in finalizing the agreement ahead of the 2026-2027 season, the Storm announced today on its website.
“We knew instantly from our first meeting that our goals for positive community impact were the same,” said Rik Edgar, who started in the new job this summer, after serving as general manager of Peoria Civic Center, and a 19-year career in venue management. “We created a contract that reflected what was in the best interest of the Storm, Vibrant Arena and the community. The structure of our deal came together quickly and we are happy to announce that we have a decade-long commitment to our partnership.”
Opening Night of Storm hockey is October 17th when the team will battle the Peoria Rivermen in the Cold War on 74. A pregame laser light show and magnet schedule giveaway highlight the kickoff to the season.
The SPHL announced an expanded 60-game schedule beginning with the 2026-2027 season which means that Storm fans will be able to enjoy 30 games at Vibrant Arena this season.
This year's home slate features 11 Friday games, 13 Saturday games, two Sunday and Thursday games, and one matchup each on Monday and Wednesday. The Storm will welcome nine different opponents to Vibrant Arena at The MARK this season and will face off against every team except the Pensacola Ice Flyers.
Jeff Nelson, chairman of the Illinois Quad City Civic Center Authority, on Tuesday introduced Edgar as just the third executive director in the arena’s 33-year history.
“We're very excited to have Rik on board. He will set the bar high and push standards, and more importantly, I think will continue that 33-plus more years of great success for the arena,” he said.
Edgar praised the relationship between the arena and Storm owner John Dawson, with Stom president Brian Rothenberger.
“Tenant-landlord relationships by definition are usually adversarial. Most folks do not like their landlord,” Edgar said. “When I met John and Brian, the contract negotiations had been underway for several months. At that first meeting, it became very apparent to me that the Storm didn't want to just have a hockey team, but they wanted to have a commitment and embed themselves into the community.
“The pre-existing contract that had been negotiated for months was definitely a tenant-led contract. So we did what any rational person would do. We took months and months of negotiations, including the labor wage structure, and started over,” he added.
“What we really wanted to do was engage in positive communication and make an improved deal that would be good for everybody. So now, by design, this contract is good for the team, the venue, and the community. When the team does better, we all do better.”
New arena improvements
The arena is investing $600,000 in improvements for hockey, including a new ice system, and clear barriers between the rink and the fans.
“What's really cool is the Storm is also connected to this. Not only has John been gracious with his dollars, but more importantly, the organization spends time in the community with youth groups and others discussing not only the good of the community, but the good of what we can do in the league, but also the benefits of hockey and teamwork,” Edgar said.
“What I really want to do today is I want to encourage everyone to embrace positivity and be vibrant. That is how we are successful as an organization and how we are successful as a community.”
“A decade-long commitment to hockey is a great way to start off my new relationship with the community,” he said. “We literally rewrote the contract on like the back of a napkin. We all agreed to it, then a month later the lawyers got it done. So we're very excited that we were able to take that back of a napkin idea and turn it into reality.”
“It means that we have the opportunity to have activity. But more importantly, the way we've structured this is they understand that we need to do other events to be successful and are very supportive of that,” Edgar added. “So we have the deal structured so that we do not miss out on opportunities and give them as much access to the venue as we possibly can give them.”
The Storm and arena also will offer more pre-game activities to attract fans.
“So we're unveiling a little bit, but I think the ability to have a new ice, new glass, when you play on the same ice and when you have Plexiglas last for 10 years. It gets marked up. It's saying you can only do so much, and now we're going to start bright, shiny, and new glass,” Edgar said. “So while it is a second commitment from the ownership group, to us it's a brand new day, and we're going to try to grow the business.”
Storm invests in community
Dawson spoke at the press conference with his wife Missy by his side.
“We are so grateful to our fans, corporate partners, season ticket members, staff, and community supporters,” he said. “We would like to extend a special thanks to the new arena executive director, Rik Edgar, Civic Center Authority board chair Jeff Nelson, Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati and everyone involved in getting this new deal done.”
“In the rich 30-plus-year history of hockey here in the Quad Cities, we are the first ownership group to sign a second lease agreement, and that is something we're both immensely grateful for and proud of,” Dawson said.
“Since the start of the Storm, we have been fortunate to donate more than half a million dollars to local nonprofit organizations in the QCA. In response to our support of the community, we have been embraced and supported by more than half a million fans attending our games. 47 days from today, the doors will open on our 8th opening night in franchise history.”
The Quad City Mallards – which kicked off hockey at the former MARK of the Quad Cities in 1995 – had six consecutive 50-win seasons, and captured three league championships. They played at the arena to 2007, then again from 2009 to 2018.
“We've given back over half a million dollars to local charities, both big and small, and it's important for us to continue that work so that the Quad Cities itself is successful and we can provide entertainment for the people that need a break and we can help those that we can in need,” Storm owner Dawson added Tuesday.
“We’ve simplified the agreement so that we can budget properly and we know what our expenses are going to be, which was an issue with the last league, and there should be no surprises,” he said. “So now we just have to get to business, get those fans in.”
With Storm promotions, the team’s most successful fan game is the union night, he noted.
“Labor comes out to support us. We love those guys,” Dawson said. “That's where we come close to selling it out. We look forward to being able to do that again. This year we've moved our school day game to the front half, so it's on October 22nd, so we shouldn't have to fight with winter weather getting all the kids here. So that's another big night for us where if we can get 3,500 to 5,000 screaming kids in here, it's really something to see.”
On Thursday, October 22, 2026 will feature a special 10:30 a.m. puck drop as the Storm will host the Pee Dee IceCats for the fifth-annual Education Day game.
“We're like every other small business in the Quad Cities now. It's our job to get to work and put the elbow grease in to make sure we get done what we need to,” Dawson said. “We've got a tremendous staff, very creative. I certainly don't come up with all the ideas and all the promotions. That's why I have these wonderful people working for me. So we think that we're going to make it a very fun and exciting season, and time will tell.”
For the public, it can be a struggle finding affordable entertainment, and “we feel that anybody can afford to come to one of our games,” the owner added. “We have various prices for our tickets and we try to include everybody that we can, whether you want a premium experience or whether you just want to come see a game. So I would say that being able to give our working brothers and sisters a chance to come out, decompress, have a good time for a reasonable price, very important to us.”
The SPHL is growing, with two new teams this year (with 13 total), Dawson said. They are Athens Rock Lobsters in Georgia, and Pee Dee IceCats in South Carolina.
“We're strong, we're on a good financial footing, and because we're a league of small business owners for the most part, we all work together to make sure everybody is successful,” he said Tuesday. “And I think that's really the difference in our league versus some of the others. It's not just all about me. So whether that's arranging our travel schedule or other things that we can do to help our league partners, we're all in this together.”
Needing long-term lease
Previously, the Storm had a five-year lease with the arena, which was extended three years.
“This new lease, we wanted a long-term lease and not have to do this every 2 or 3 years,” Dawson said. “So we sat down with Rik Edgar and the board, and we figured out what makes sense for both parties for a long-term lease so that we can work together for the mutual benefit of both parties.”
“Getting to know Rik, he seems like he really cares. He wants the building to be successful, and he recognizes that, we're here 30 nights and we're one of the reasons the building can be successful,” Dawson said. “We have to bring people here. You know, Rik has been very good about understanding that the downtown Moline area, we need events.
"You know, our 30 events that help support restaurants and businesses and the other small guys that are down here is very important. So that was one of his number-one priorities, and the board as well as the mayor, was how can we do this to support the businesses and the fans so that we can all be successful?”
“He's going to be a good partner for us moving forward,” he added. “We welcome any ideas he may have to help us with our business. He's got a lot of knowledge in the industry. He's run venues before. He's seen what works and what doesn't, and we look forward to taking advantage of his experience to help us be successful.”
Storm season-ticket memberships, suites, group tickets and party areas are on sale now, available by calling the Storm front office at 309-277-1364 for more information, or by visiting the team website HERE.
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