Changes Coming to Waterloo’s Newest Football Team

A few months ago, we shared with you the news that the Cedar Valley would be welcoming a new sports team. Initially dubbed the Waterloo Woo, this is an arena league football team that will play all of their home games at the Hippodrome Arena at the National Cattle Congress.

According to an earlier report, Waterloo was the third city selected to host a sports team for this league.

Arena League officials confirmed that the team intends to hire local staff and "involved local business leaders in the ownership group."

The very first season is set to kick off in June of 2024.

Last week, there were a few big announcements and changes made to the team.

First off, they will no longer be called the Waterloo Woo. Going forward, this Eastern Iowa arena league football team will be called the Iowa Woo. The new owners believed that this would be more inclusive.

The new owners actually pitched the idea of incorporating "the Cedar Valley" into the team name to make it "all inclusive."

There was a bit of resistance to this due to the fact that the Cedar Valley is somewhat unrecognizable outside of our neck of the woods. Thus, from a marketing perspective and revenue generating standpoint they decided on the Iowa Woo.

The co-owners hope that the new name will, "bring all of the surrounding communities together as a whole."

And that's the other major announcement that was made in a special event at the Flammang Drive Hy-Vee last week.

At the public event, it was announced that Jeff Holmes and Julia Stone are the new owners of the Iowa Woo. The couple owns and operates two recycling companies.

How did they come to be the new owners of the Iowa Woo?

"Quite honestly...kind of on some silly luck more than anything else!" Holmes joked.

Stone and Holmes consistently have sponsor opportunities with the National Cattle Congress, specifically for the fair that goes on their every September.

One day, they went to drop off a check for this deal when they started having a conversation with the team at the Hippodrome about possibly working with them on the Iowa Woo arena league football team.

"I thought in a million years Julia would never go for that idea and haphazardly mentioned it to her," the co-owner said.

The couple discussed it when they got home, and the rest is Cedar Valley history.

"We've always discussed diversifying ourselves," Stone explained.

"We love what we do, but we like to keep things fresh and new."

According to officials, the Woo will be playing five home games at the Hippodrome in Waterloo. The very first game will act as a sort of kick off to the season, the league, and kind of an introduction to the team. Stone and Holmes confirmed that this initial game will be played in May of next year.

"The model that the league has given us, is going to be really exciting..." Stone said.

If you're interested in snagging some tickets to the 2024 season, make sure to check out the team's official website here.

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