KICKOFF: Rapid City Marshals hoping to spark excitement in first game

RAPID CITY, S.D. — 16 years. That’s how long it’s been since Rapid City has had its own semi-professional football team.

That streak will come to an end on Saturday, when the Rapid City Marshals take on the Colorado Nightmare in the team’s first game of the season at the Summit Arena.

The fans that watched the Flying Aces or Red Dogs for years are now making a switch.

“We get people every day that I’m so excited to have football back in Rapid City,” said Tel Koan, the Co-Owner of Rapid City Marshals.

But that new team comes with its challenges.

In the midst of a transition in the front office, the team is holding an event on Wednesday to bring its season ticket holders and players together.

The owners, Koan and Keith Russ, with their experience in ownership of two other semi-pro teams in the Wyoming Mustangs and Billings Outlaws, know that it only takes a spark to get the excitement rolling.

“There’s a couple of places that we’ve partnered with that just wanted some season tickets to kind of see how it would turn out,” Koan said. “And so (we said), ‘Absolutely, you know, hey, let’s partner up now and as we prove ourselves and what we can do for our production and great products that we can put out, you know we can go further into it’.”

The Marshals are currently practicing at the Kjerstad Event Center, but will play at the Summit Arena.

On gameday, the Marshals and the staff at The Monument will work together to get that venue ready during The Monument’s busiest time for events.

“They got to be ready,” said Craig Baltzer, the Executive Director of The Monument. “They got to get it in and whatever, so we can make the conversion to get to their game and then get them out and get the next event in. And meanwhile we got to clean the arena and all that, so it’s a big deal.”

The Marshals and Nightmare game kicks off at 7 p.m. MDT on Saturday.