Will the New Mexico Scorpions play at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho next season?

That question still hasn’t been answered.

The hockey club is still searching for a new owner, after claiming a $1 million loss in its first three seasons of playing in Rio Rancho. The Central Hockey League gave the New Mexico Scorpions until Friday to find a new owner, but as of press time the team hadn’t been sold.

Duane Lewis, the commissioner of the CHL, did not return phone calls.

The Scorpions have been up for sale since November.

Scorpions spokesman Adam Minnick said that it is a possibility that the team could move from Rio Rancho, but he said it prefers to stay here.

Minnick likes working with Global Spectrum, the new management company for Santa Ana Star Center.

“I love it. It’s been a great change,” Minnick said. “I hope to be able to work with them and we have a team because the key to success of the building and the Scorpions is this management company.”

Last year, the CHL had 16 teams and the league is expanding into Independence, Mo., and Allen, Texas.

Along with the Scorpions, the Rocky Mountain Rage and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs have uncertain futures. The teams could move, fold or sit out a season.

One of the CHL teams could possibly move to Des Moines, Iowa. The Des Moines Register reported on June 17, “The ownership group representing the Iowa Chops has proposed selling the four-year-old American Hockey League franchise and moving it out of Des Moines.”

The Chops are the anchor tenant at the Wells Fargo Arena, which is managed by Global Spectrum.

The Des Moines Register also reported, “Polk County supervisors said the franchise owner, DM Hockey Holdings LLC, has suggested switching to the lower-level Central Hockey League. But the supervisors and Homan indicated deep reservations about the offer from the ownership group, which is led by Bob and Kirby Schlegel.”

As of press time, there was no verifying any possible connection between Des Moines and the Scorpions.