What's really disappointing is they're not that far off.... It's two items that's holding up any final lease agreement. 1. How to split food & beverage. 2. How to define and divide "sub-naming right" for above ice portions of the arena.
As I noted earlier, the trustees are acting very childish right now. It's their sandbox and they want to pick who can play in it. Petrovek has offered for Dave Andrews to sit down and provide assistance, but the trustees declined because its "not in the taxpayers interest" and they've even rejected talks with the Pirates despite the team's willingness to drop the lawsuit.... They don't like Petrovek because of his rough personality and hard core business tactics and they are letting their personal feelings get in the way of getting a deal completed.
Now, we have political pressure mounting from the local and state leaders. The Chamber of Commerce, Mayor of Portland, Portland City Councilors as well as state leaders such as Senate President Justin Alfond – yes, that Alfond from UMaine’s Alfond Arena in Orono – who has pending legislation for the civic center to share alcohol revenue with the Pirates, all weighing in on the issue. It’s getting to the point where they’re going to take sides, if they already haven’t, and voice their opinion as such. The trustees will be on the losing side of that PR battle especially with a $34 million dollar renovation nearly complete.
Personally, I think we have about three or four weeks before the trustees will have to revisit talks or simply come out and say they have another option…. There has been mention that there is interest from the ECHL, but that won’t work. The cost of operating an ECHL is more than an AHL team. Also, the footprint is outside of the Portland geographic region. The two closest teams would be Elmira and Reading.
And, the QMJHL won’t work. The fanbase won’t accept it after having AHL hockey for 33 years.
Here’s a story from the Press Herald….