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Elmira possibly moving to First Arena?

Re: Elmira possibly moving to First Arena?

BigRedGuy said:
Then they better have an investor or whatever lined up to foot the bill. They really have kept this complex thing under wraps from the general public it seems.
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Rarely are public funds spent on the construction of facilities at a private school. If they are spent, it is well publicized as "partnership between xxx and yyy.

The only tax issue with such facilities if it is built on property that was formerly on the tax rolls. Often in those cases, the school will negotiate a PILOT agreement with the municipally involved (PILOT = payment in lieu of taxes)
 
Another twist

Another twist

From the local paper:
If the Elmira Jackals can’t play at First Arena for the 2012-13 ECHL season, the league and more than a dozen of its hockey teams will suffer hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages, the league said in a court filing.

The ability of the Jackals to play in the fall came into question after Chemung County and the arena owner, Southern Tier Economic Development Inc., or STED, agreed to sell the arena to Elm Arena LLC, a company run by local businessman Tom Freeman, a former chairman of STED.

Both the ECHL and Elmira Downtown Arena LLC — also known as EDA, the company controlled by Michigan businessman Mostafa Afr that managed the arena by agreement with STED — have accused STED and the county of making an about-face just two months after agreeing with EDA that the Jackals could play in the fall.

“This has thrown the entire league season into doubt,” the Jackals said in a court filing. Public documents confirm that the county and STED said in May that the Jackals could play in First Arena in the fall, then made a deal in July that ended the Jackals’ lease in the arena.

In court filings, EDA accuses Freeman of making a secret deal with the county and STED before both agreements were signed. In an interview Monday, Freeman called the allegation “outrageous.”

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge will hear arguments Wednesday on whether EDA has any stake in the arena that should be part of EDA’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, and whether a Chemung County Supreme Court judge should decide whether EDA still has a valid lease for the Jackals to play in the arena.
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The new owner will be looking to fill some dates quickly if the ECHL is out on its ear.
 
Yet another ...

Yet another ...

Five weeks prior to the start of their season, the Jackal's head coach resigned stating stability reasons to coach a U-16 team in Colorado.
The Elmira Jackals announced today that Pat Bingham has resigned as head coach of the team. A search is underway for the team's tenth head coach.

"Pat made this decision solely on what was best for his family. An opportunity outside of professional hockey presented itself and he took it. While unfortunate that Pat won't be coaching the Jackals this season, we wish him, his wife, and his son the best," said Jackals general manager Matt Hufnagel.

"I have worked diligently this entire off-season to recruit and sign a very strong returning core group of players and free agents. A very talented team is near fully assembled, and my resignation should have minimal impact on the organization," Bingham said.

Bingham led the Jackals to a 45-22-5 record in the 2011-12 season and captured the Eastern Conference regular season title.
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Re: Yet another ...

Re: Yet another ...

elbojpb said:
Five weeks prior to the start of their season, the Jackal's head coach resigned stating stability reasons to coach a U-16 team in Colorado.
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If Tom Freeman and Tom Santulli weren't the horsesass politicians they were we wouldn't be in this mess. Freeman has been nothing but a pain since announced. It's funny he's trying to run the Jacks outta town though in one of those articles you posted he DOES NOT OWN the arena. So i'm not even sure how his case about the contract being void can even make sense. Furthermore that was the baguest, hypocritical contract ever. Not many knew what that May 17 agreement was. Thought it was just an agreement Afr had to live up to regarding the team, had no idea it was to still run the arena. All that crying for months and they come up with that? Then they shouldn't have been able to sell it on him. Furthermore it should have gone to an auction like everything.

Man I hope like hell Doc gets the arena back tomorrow!
 
Re: Yet another ...

Re: Yet another ...

Santulli not only killed the Arena, he also killed the National Warplane Museum.
 
The saga continues

The saga continues

Article in the local rag from yesterday's court hearing ...
With just a month to go before the hockey season starts, there’s still no deal to allow the Elmira Jackals to play in First Arena, attorneys said Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The Jackals play in the ECHL and are scheduled to open their season Oct. 12 at home. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Warren implored lawyers Wednesday to make a deal. He also warned that the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the arena operator, Elmira Downtown Arena LLC, also known as EDA, could be dismissed before the end of the month. Warren said Kathleen Schmitt, of the U.S. Trustee’s Office, told him EDA had not shown adequate proof of insurance for bankruptcy purposes. Schmitt said she planned to ask the court to dismiss the case. Warren told EDA attorney Ryan Heilman to get the insurance issue sorted out before the case resumes in court on Sept. 27, or he would likely side with Schmitt, ending EDA’s bankruptcy protection.
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Can't imagine any of the players will stick around with no coach, conceivably no home, and a bankrupt owner
 
Re: The saga continues

Re: The saga continues

elbojpb said:
Article in the local rag from yesterday's court hearing ...
Can't imagine any of the players will stick around with no coach, conceivably no home, and a bankrupt owner
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Maybe they could rent the "Domes" as their home ice :D

The could reinstitute the tradition of the cowbells :p
 
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Re: The saga continues

Re: The saga continues

elbojpb said:
Article in the local rag from yesterday's court hearing ...
Can't imagine any of the players will stick around with no coach, conceivably no home, and a bankrupt owner
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Neither side looks good. As for me the last 12 years I have went to every game I could, now I don't think i'll go to any. Don't want to give Freeman or Doc any more money than they already will get.
 
Twist # 357

Twist # 357

From the Star Gazette
In the latest twist to salvage the hockey season for the Elmira Jackals, the ECHL team has been offered the chance to play the season rent-free in Elmira’s First Arena. The arena’s current owner, Southern Tier Economic Development Inc., or STED, and its future owner, Elm Arena LLC, made the offer to Elmira Downtown Arena LLC President Tamer Afr, of Michigan, at a Sept. 6 meeting in Rochester.

When Elm Arena and STED received no response, they sent the offer in a letter Sept. 10, STED President Kevin Keeley said Friday. “We want to settle this,” Elm Arena owner Tom Freeman, of Elmira, told this newspaper on Friday. “I have been long affiliated with the arena, and I want to see it work. Keeping the Jackals and professional hockey is very important.”

Elmira Downtown Arena, also known as EDA, used to operate the arena under its 1999 agreement with STED. In July, STED terminated that agreement and made a deal that would make Elm Arena the new owner. STED and Elm Arena disagree with EDA over whether the Jackals have a lease to play there for the upcoming season. The Jackals’ season is scheduled to start Oct. 12 at home.

Freeman said if he were a hockey team owner, he’d take the deal. Afr, who is also president of the Jackals, said the deal would give the Jackals the highest costs in the league while using one of the smallest buildings. “No team in the country has a worse deal,” Afr said Friday. Afr is the son of Mostafa Afr, who controls EDA and the Jackals.

Under the offer:
• The Jackals can use the arena for free for the 2012-13 season, including the playoffs, according to Freeman.
• Elm Arena would pay all utility and insurance bills, building maintenance and other costs of running the arena, Freeman said. Utility costs for the arena during the hockey season are about $350,000, he said.
• The Jackals would get to keep all of the money from ticket sales, the souvenir shop and game night promotions.
• Elm Arena would receive money from food and drink sales, suite tickets, advertising revenue and other income such as admission fees for the recreation rink.

Tamer Afr on Friday spelled out why the offer was not appealing from his perspective. He said the proposal would cost the Jackals about $25,000 per home game, or more than $1 million for the season. “The team would not receive any suite revenue or advertising revenue, which the arena would keep,” Afr said, adding that he had made a different offer to Freeman, who said he hadn’t yet received it.

Though neither Elm Arena, STED, EDA or the Jackals made any public statements about the terms of the offer before Friday, EDA attorney Ryan Heilman told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Warren during proceedings Wednesday in Rochester that the proposal wasn’t good enough. “The economics of the offer are not sufficient to run a hockey team,” Heilman said during a hearing about EDA’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Heilman also told the judge that the offer in the follow-up letter was $600,000 worse than the Sept. 6 offer, which would make hockey “impossible.”

“I don’t know where his math came from,” Freeman said Friday. “That didn’t make any sense to us.” Heilman declined to comment Friday. The rent-free offer came at a meeting in Rochester last week, as all sides tried to eliminate the uncertainty over whether there’s a deal that lets the Jackals play in the arena this season. That uncertainty was cited as a factor in the recent departure of Jackals head coach Pat Bingham, who led the team to the ECHL Eastern Conference championship last season.

Warren, the bankruptcy court judge, has repeatedly urged the parties to come to an agreement that would let the Jackals play. On Wednesday, he warned Heilman that he would likely dismiss the bankruptcy case on Sept. 27 if EDA didn’t show the U.S. Trustee’s Office proof of insurance on the arena.

If Warren dismisses the case, EDA will lose protections afforded by Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which lets companies reorganize to pay debts and automatically freezes court cases —including one in Chemung County Supreme Court that could have determined whether the Jackals had a deal.

Heilman brought insurance documents to court Wednesday, but a representative of the Trustee’s Office found them inadequate. “He wouldn’t have that insurance problem if he would have done this deal,” Freeman said Friday.
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Time is tickin' away, tick tick tickin' away.
 
Re: Twist # 357

Re: Twist # 357

elbojpb said:
From the Star Gazette
Time is tickin' away, tick tick tickin' away.
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The guy needs to have his head examined. That is a heck of a sweetheart deal - no rent, but let the arena keep the suite revenue. The net effect is that the suites would be paying for the expenses that that the arena would be laying out to open the doors.
 
Re: Twist # 357

Re: Twist # 357

NUProf said:
The guy needs to have his head examined. That is a heck of a sweetheart deal - no rent, but let the arena keep the suite revenue. The net effect is that the suites would be paying for the expenses that that the arena would be laying out to open the doors.
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I disagree. On the surface maybe it is but the team should get all the advertising money as they are the team. They should get some food and drink cuts. Teams cost money to run, you have people to pay. They need some help and they really aren't getting any.
 
Re: Twist # 357

Re: Twist # 357

BigRedGuy said:
Teams cost money to run, you have people to pay. They need some help and they really aren't getting any.
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For a decade, he has been getting help and the concession revenue and still went bankrupt. The AFRs simply did not maximize the huge revenue potential that the Arena presented.
 
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