Portland Pirates News (UPDATE: Will play 2013-14 season in Lewiston, Maine)
- Thread starter Thunder God
- Start date
- Status
No Fun Shogun
34-38-61-10-13-15
Certainly bad news to hear that their future in Portland may be in doubt. Hope their negotiations with the city restart with earnest and that they reach a longterm deal.
wildcat48
Registered User
wildcat48
Registered User
mHlnGXt9Xlnn1Qes3Vtn
Registered User
- Dec 9, 2011
- 2,548
- 0
Has always been a toxic relationship, but Petrovek knows the Civic Center can't survive without his team as a regular tenant - that building has nothing else to offer.
CrazyEddie20
Hey RuZZia - Cut Your Losses and Go Home.
Chuck Colson had a sign in his White House office that describes Petrovek's relationship with the CCCC.
The sign read "If you get them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow."
wildcat48
Registered User
Exactly. I hope a deal can be worked out. I have been there a few times and I have Pirates friends. It would be a shame to see the team leave Portland.
wildcat48
Registered User
Llama19
Registered User
AHL Portland Pirates (Coyotes affiliate) File Suit Over Arena Lease
Chris Roy @Chris_MHJ 4h
@PortlandPirates have filed suit against Cumberland County. More expected from 2:15pm presser. #mesports #coyotes #ahl #nhl
Chris Roy @Chris_MHJ 57m
@PortlandPirates contend Apr. 17th lease agreement is binding agreement. Civic Center Trustees disagree. #mesports #Coyotes #ahl #nhl
Source: https://twitter.com/Chris_MHJ
Chris Roy @Chris_MHJ 4h
@PortlandPirates have filed suit against Cumberland County. More expected from 2:15pm presser. #mesports #coyotes #ahl #nhl
Chris Roy @Chris_MHJ 57m
@PortlandPirates contend Apr. 17th lease agreement is binding agreement. Civic Center Trustees disagree. #mesports #Coyotes #ahl #nhl
Source: https://twitter.com/Chris_MHJ
Last edited by a moderator:
Llama19
Registered User
Pirates, civic center may go to court over lease
To quote:
"The Cumberland County Civic Center's trustees and the owner of the Portland Pirates may be headed to court after failing to reach an agreement on a lease that would keep the American Hockey League team playing at the arena for at least five more years."
Source: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Civic-Center-board-takes-no-action-on-Pirates-lease.html?searchterm=portland+pirates+file+suit
MaskedSonja
Registered User
Killion
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2010
- 36,763
- 3,215
So, this is pretty much messed up. If I've got this right, the team plans to play out of the Lewiston Colisee (4000 seater) to start the season while improvements are being made to the Civic Centre, with whom they dont even appear to have any signed agreements and in fact appear to be miles apart on reaching one? Indeed, the Trustee's of the Civic Centre stating that they'll just fill the dates over 13/14 with other events, and that even with the pre-existing agreement they lost money or just barely broke even anyway? So I guess like, why bother? My God. Poor Phoenix. Here there top farm club, well, I just dont know what to say. On the business side of the equation, if it wasnt for bad luck they wouldnt have any luck at all. I mean, theres just no way the Pirates make a cent playing out of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, who I note on their website dont even have the Pirates schedule up.
MaskedSonja
Registered User
Yes, it certainly sounds like there are issues here-wow it seems deja vu all over again on a smaller scale, but instead of millionaire players, these are guys that are just trying to MAKE the big leagues and make peanuts in comparison-and for this stuff to go on, you gotta feel for them here
TheLegend
Megathread Gadfly
From what I've read in earlier reports, K (and it's admittedly very little)...
The Pirates thought they had a lease agreement worked out earlier this year and the commission that controls the arena changed it at the last minute with a "take it or leave it" attitude.
The guys here who cover the Pirates probably have a better handle on this. Maybe they can fill in some details.??
Glacial
Registered User
- Jan 8, 2013
- 1,704
- 116
Yeah, wasn't there someone who posted very intermittantly in the Coyotes mega-threads who worked for the AHL team of the Coyotes?
Llama19
Registered User
Portland Pirates sue Civic Center over lease dispute
To quote:
"The lawsuit was filed “to get the home ice back for the Pirates, its fans and the public,†said Harold Friedman, an attorney with Verrill Dana LLP in Portland, who is representing the Pirates.
The Pirates’ National Hockey League affiliate, the Phoenix Coyotes, also have “grave concerns†about whether the Portland team will be in its home arena, Friedman said.
“If the Pirates are unable to return to their home ice after the renovations are done, there is a very real possibility that the Coyotes will terminate its relationship with the Pirates,†the Pirates asserted in the lawsuit. “The Pirates would then be unable to stay in business.â€
The AHL and the Phoenix Coyotes did not immediately return calls seeking comment."
Source: http://www.pressherald.com/news/maine-Portland-Pirates-sues-Civic-Center-cumberland-county.html?searchterm=portland+pirates
To quote:
"The lawsuit was filed “to get the home ice back for the Pirates, its fans and the public,†said Harold Friedman, an attorney with Verrill Dana LLP in Portland, who is representing the Pirates.
The Pirates’ National Hockey League affiliate, the Phoenix Coyotes, also have “grave concerns†about whether the Portland team will be in its home arena, Friedman said.
“If the Pirates are unable to return to their home ice after the renovations are done, there is a very real possibility that the Coyotes will terminate its relationship with the Pirates,†the Pirates asserted in the lawsuit. “The Pirates would then be unable to stay in business.â€
The AHL and the Phoenix Coyotes did not immediately return calls seeking comment."
Source: http://www.pressherald.com/news/maine-Portland-Pirates-sues-Civic-Center-cumberland-county.html?searchterm=portland+pirates
Press conference Monday at 2 in Glens Falls regarding the future of hockey in the GFCC. Doubt it's related to Pirates, but fun to speculate.
Mightygoose
Registered User
Wow! The big club finally has some stability and now this.
If the Yotes end up cutting ties with the Pirates, it will be a set back in their player development.
Otherwise, Ii the team can't operate out of Portland and Lewiston doesn't seem to be a long term solution then what? Pirates to Seattle perhaps?
. Oh the irony that would be!
Overall, not pretty
If the Yotes end up cutting ties with the Pirates, it will be a set back in their player development.
Otherwise, Ii the team can't operate out of Portland and Lewiston doesn't seem to be a long term solution then what? Pirates to Seattle perhaps?
. Oh the irony that would be!Overall, not pretty
wildcat48
Registered User
wildcat48
Registered User
A couple of FYI's.....
The Pirates website is down because they are building a brand new site.
Also, playing out of the Colisee in Lewiston wouldn't be a money loser, in fact, the Pirates are likely to make money because ownership now has a majority stake in the arena and they collect all the revenues from the building.
The Pirates contend that both sides came to an agreement back on April 17th and the trustees approved and signed the so-called lease agreement. Therefore, it’s an enforceable agreement in the state of Maine – most likely anywhere really – and the CCCC is now trying to use the liquor licensing issue as a way to getting a better deal.
I’ve read the complaint, request for injunction and affidavit from Petrovek and it’s compelling, but I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t read the briefs yet from the Civic Center so it’s difficult to weigh one over the other at the moment.
The CCCC contend that it’s nothing more than a resolution, a guide for further negotiations, and there was never a deal in place. They say it was only to allow them to further lease talks.
I’m calling bunk on that because in the time I’ve been dealing with the trustees and the Pirates they’ve never approved a set of talking points to keep taking. To further that point here is what Neal Pratt said in an April 18 article which I wrote.
http://mainehockeyjournal.com/2013/04/17/pirates-civic-center-come-to-terms-on-new-lease/
That certainly doesn’t sound like a resolution to me.
I’m not sure how the judge will rule… I suspect he might kick them both out of the courtroom for wasting his time and tell them to fight it out in the playground or he may force them to mediation of some sort, but I think both sides will get a deal done. It might not happen until Jan. and the Pirates may have to play the entire season in Lewiston, but as I said that’s not a doomsday problem because the team is likely to make more in Lewiston with fewer seats than in Portland.
The bottom line is the Civic Center needs a full-time tenant. These people who are appointed as trustees are a bunch of dinosaurs. Most of them eat dinner by 3pm and are in bed before Wheel of Fortune comes on. For the longest time they just had to deal with their little building and now because of the renovation they are forced into the real world of building management and they haven’t the first clue at what they are doing. They need the Pirates because the trustee’s just pick pocketed the county residents of $33M to renovate a building that isn’t going to attract one more event then they were already getting.
Another point…. Folks who think they’ll end up in another city. I’m not so sure on that. I won’t say it can’t happen, but you need to understand that we’re not just talking about an AHL franchise that would be for sale, but rather a lot of real estate, branding and copyrights/trademarks.
Huh? You say….
The AHL Pirates are only a piece of a much bigger conglomerate. Ownership also owns OA Sports Performance Center, which is a complex that houses MHG Ice Centre, OA Center for Orthopedics, Michael Phelps Swim Center and the offices for Octagon Olympics & Action Sports. It’s also the home of the Portland Junior Pirates and the practice facility of the AHL Pirates. They recently spent $3M to expand the rink, add office space, add locker space and make other improvements to the facility. The ownership group is also majority owner now in Firland Management which owns and operates the Colisee in Lewiston. The AHL Pirates is the engine that makes this work financially for the ownership group. Its brand power they’ve built in the marketplace. If they can’t play at the CCCC, it’s not necessarily that they moved to Adirondack or Houston or another city, but I suspect they’d play in Lewiston for the short-term while building a new 4,500 seat arena on property they own near MHG Ice Centre.
The number of seats is not important…. Petrovek has said they have a business model based on 3,250 fans attending each game. The model is based on corporate sponsors and the business community buying into what the Pirates are doing. So far, until this latest fiasco it was working.
mHlnGXt9Xlnn1Qes3Vtn
Registered User
- Dec 9, 2011
- 2,548
- 0
A couple of FYI's.....
The Pirates website is down because they are building a brand new site.
Also, playing out of the Colisee in Lewiston wouldn't be a money loser, in fact, the Pirates are likely to make money because ownership now has a majority stake in the arena and they collect all the revenues from the building.
The Pirates contend that both sides came to an agreement back on April 17th and the trustees approved and signed the so-called lease agreement. Therefore, it’s an enforceable agreement in the state of Maine – most likely anywhere really – and the CCCC is now trying to use the liquor licensing issue as a way to getting a better deal.
I’ve read the complaint, request for injunction and affidavit from Petrovek and it’s compelling, but I’m not a lawyer and I haven’t read the briefs yet from the Civic Center so it’s difficult to weigh one over the other at the moment.
The CCCC contend that it’s nothing more than a resolution, a guide for further negotiations, and there was never a deal in place. They say it was only to allow them to further lease talks.
I’m calling bunk on that because in the time I’ve been dealing with the trustees and the Pirates they’ve never approved a set of talking points to keep taking. To further that point here is what Neal Pratt said in an April 18 article which I wrote.
http://mainehockeyjournal.com/2013/04/17/pirates-civic-center-come-to-terms-on-new-lease/
That certainly doesn’t sound like a resolution to me.
I’m not sure how the judge will rule… I suspect he might kick them both out of the courtroom for wasting his time and tell them to fight it out in the playground or he may force them to mediation of some sort, but I think both sides will get a deal done. It might not happen until Jan. and the Pirates may have to play the entire season in Lewiston, but as I said that’s not a doomsday problem because the team is likely to make more in Lewiston with fewer seats than in Portland.
The bottom line is the Civic Center needs a full-time tenant. These people who are appointed as trustees are a bunch of dinosaurs. Most of them eat dinner by 3pm and are in bed before Wheel of Fortune comes on. For the longest time they just had to deal with their little building and now because of the renovation they are forced into the real world of building management and they haven’t the first clue at what they are doing. They need the Pirates because the trustee’s just pick pocketed the county residents of $33M to renovate a building that isn’t going to attract one more event then they were already getting.
Another point…. Folks who think they’ll end up in another city. I’m not so sure on that. I won’t say it can’t happen, but you need to understand that we’re not just talking about an AHL franchise that would be for sale, but rather a lot of real estate, branding and copyrights/trademarks.
Huh? You say….
The AHL Pirates are only a piece of a much bigger conglomerate. Ownership also owns OA Sports Performance Center, which is a complex that houses MHG Ice Centre, OA Center for Orthopedics, Michael Phelps Swim Center and the offices for Octagon Olympics & Action Sports. It’s also the home of the Portland Junior Pirates and the practice facility of the AHL Pirates. They recently spent $3M to expand the rink, add office space, add locker space and make other improvements to the facility. The ownership group is also majority owner now in Firland Management which owns and operates the Colisee in Lewiston. The AHL Pirates is the engine that makes this work financially for the ownership group. Its brand power they’ve built in the marketplace. If they can’t play at the CCCC, it’s not necessarily that they moved to Adirondack or Houston or another city, but I suspect they’d play in Lewiston for the short-term while building a new 4,500 seat arena on property they own near MHG Ice Centre.
The number of seats is not important…. Petrovek has said they have a business model based on 3,250 fans attending each game. The model is based on corporate sponsors and the business community buying into what the Pirates are doing. So far, until this latest fiasco it was working.
Unfortunately MHG is still run by the same people as before
Ron Cain is essentially the one who financed the MHG work (who also owns a majority stake in the Pirates). Even if the team moved and he sold his portion, he makes out with a rink with some critically needed upgrades.
Last edited:
Llama19
Registered User
Unfortunately MHG is still run by the same people as before
Ron Cain is essentially the one who financed the MHG work (who also owns a majority stake in the Pirates). Even if the team moved and he sold his portion, he makes out with a rink with some critically needed upgrades.
Steve Solloway: The faceoff that's leaving fans in the cold
To quote:
"I don't lay the blame squarely on Petrovek. He doesn't have the personality of his counterparts with the Sea Dogs and Red Claws.
He squeezes and then squeezes more to get the revenue he says he needs to keep the Pirates in Portland. That's the best and the worst of American sports capitalism. His sweat equity is in this franchise.
The problem is he hasn't learned how to not make the squeezing feel like choking. Just ask Pratt and the commissioners. They've learned how to squeeze, too. Rather than working together, we get this perpetual standoff. My lawyer will be talking to your lawyer.
Flush it. Quebec City wants an NHL franchise. Petrovek could move the Pirates there, prime the pump and perhaps be part of an NHL expansion. Good for him."
Source: http://www.pressherald.com/sports/t...d_2013-09-07.html?searchterm=portland+pirates
Now, doesn't this sound just like IceArizona 'squeezing' the CoG,
where all the CoG will be getting is the rind and not the juice?
- Status
