Long Live Frank Fixaris!

They had a good discussion about this on WGAN this morning. It sounds like the Pirates are fielding offers while the renegotiate with the Civic Center, they said the team would most likely stay in town.

It all depends on whether the Civic Center will agree to the Pirates requests. The Civic Center people are concerned about not losing taxpayer money, which is very understandable. I think the Pirates want to stay here, but they are also a for-profit business, and if they can't make ends meet here, they will look elsewhere.

To my understanding the sticking point seems to be that Petrovek wants to have the GM rights to the civic center and also wants 85-100% profit of the concessions. The main issues that the county has with those requests are that the concessions and concession workers work for the county not the Pirates. Also the bigger worry is that if Petrovek takes over the building it doesn't become county owned anymore and the other revenue could be gone as well. For instance concerts, family shows and other events may no longer be a priority.

I see where the county is coming from, but IMO selling the CCCC to Petro makes more sense. Yes they generate revenue from concessions and events but they also have a sizeable overhead overall. The CCCC would be a sizeable source of tax income and they would be free of the burden of deciding whether to do renovations and run the place in general.

Apparently the civic center Board is going to meet on Friday. Maybe we'll know something more then.

i believe we will see what happens on Sunday in Buffalo when it is announced that they move to Albany..Im not a blogger so I dont completely know.....

Not sure why, but the PPH has apparently taken down their story from today about the CEO disputing the story. Not sure why that is. Maybe they've got an update coming? It's not like the story or the comments were that out of line, I thought.

Okay, I just found the story again. It’s under the business section. It says it was updated at 10:26 (which may explain why it was down). I can’t tell what updates were made though.

Makes sense, as this is really a business discussion at this point.

I completely agree, I'd sell it to him for a dollar. He'd have plenty of incentive to continue to use it for other events, he'd want the revenue.

I travel to other cities for work, many of them aren't much bigger than Portland and they've invested in conference centers. There's no reason why Portland couldn't do the same thing, it would be a great way to bring money and people into the city.

The Press Herald reports that the CCCC met with Petrovic this morning and received his new lease proposal. They are going to review the lease and make a counter offer. Sounds like theres quite a gap, but that the Pirates are making an effort to stay in Portland.

At this point, I think any reports that detail a deal being done, either in Portland or Albany, are pure conjecture. Until a presser is held or a statement is released from either the CCCC Board or Petrovek, I'm not sold.

I like the aspect of the negotiations that revolve around selling the rights to the CCCC name. I'd pay good money to see a hockey game at Bubba's Sulky Civic Lounge.

I laughed at that for 10 minutes.

I went to Bubba's and a fight broke out- it would take on a whole new meaning.

I'm surprised corporate naming rights haven't been sold for the CCCC long ago. There aren't many civic arenas left that haven't tapped that revenue stream, especially ones that play host to minor league franchises. Has it been by choice (voters, etc) or just lack of a big enough/local enough sponsor to do it? Why not the LL Bean Civic Center or something? Seems to me that such a naming deal might cover renovations or general maintenance on the building at least enough to off-set any concessions in concessions the CCCC Board has to make to keep the Pirates and/or attract a new team.

The Unum Center.

Might cost you guys your bonuses.

Maybe they'll allow for short term naming rights.

The TFGAR Arena.

The latest:

Pirates Statement Regarding Lease Discussions
CENTER TRUSTEES RESPOND TO TEAM’S PROPOSAL

Portland, Maine – Portland Pirates Managing Owner/CEO Brian Petrovek issued a statement this afternoon regarding the continued negotiation of a lease agreement between the team and the Cumberland County Civic Center:

“In response to a long term lease proposal from the Pirates dated February 23rd, the Trustees of the Cumberland County Civic Center today responded and shared their thoughts with me. The ball’s in our court. We will make no further public remarks related to this matter until such time as a final outcome is reached.”

Well, this article certainly makes it look like the Pirates are willing to make an effort to stay, while the civic center trustees are pretty much saying "take it or leave it":

http://www.pressherald.com/sports/trust ... 03-06.html

It is surprising when looked at separate from other sports venues in this State. Then I look at Hadlock and the fact the advertising whores in the Sox organization haven't helped the SeaDogs owners in getting corporate naming rights there either. Maybe there just isn't corporate interest. Who are the companies financially fluid to do such a thing? Unum, LL Bean, Oakhurst, Irving, Cianbro...maybe others.

Well, the "advertising whores" haven't sold naming rights to Fenway yet, so maybe it's not in their handbook.

Lewiston sold the naming rights for the Colisee to Androscoggin Bank, so it doesn't seem like it has to be a huge company to buy the rights. If I were the president/owner of a company that was in a position to do something like that, I'd think now might be the time. Bad economy might result in getting a steal of a deal that pays off when the economy recovers. Buy low, and all that stuff. So long as it's enough to get the CCCC into the black, it could be worthwhile for both sides even in the short-term.

Let's all pool our resources so we can name it the Long Live Fixaris Center...as for Fenway it's so historic that you just can't sell naming rights to it. If they ever build a new one then I could see it.

The latest:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/Pirates ... lking.html

This may not mean anything in terms of staying or going, but the Pirates and Sabres extended their affiliation agreement to a "long term" deal. Maybe the Pirates will get their 15 year lease after all?

Now it looks like the Pirates won't be moving to Albany:

http://www.pressherald.com/news/albany- ... 03-15.html

Maybe there never really was a deal in place, as was reported?

Now maybe I can watch a hockey game at [b]THE FURNITURE CIVIC CENTER, THE FURNITURE CIVIC CENTER, THE FURNITURE CIVIC CENTER.[/b]

Fixaris Arena has a nice ring to it. Though they already have the Fixaris press box.