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Absolutely!! Donner may have seized the opportunity to con the CCIDA, but he didn't create the situation. The County (and City at the beginning) have refused to cut our losses and admit the Arena is a burden that needs to be abandoned as a publicly owned facility. I think that the last 20+ years of drama have possibly blurred perception of what “success” for the Arena is supposed to look like. Simply offsetting a small portion of the taxpayers’ ongoing costs is a net loss – not a “successful” business venture. Admittedly, I’m not a live hockey fan or player or parent of a hockey kid......I don’t even have an understating of the various leagues like ECHL or FPHL, etc (other than NHL is the “big” one). But I will totally accept the word of hockey fans who say that, at some point, First Arena was filling seats at hockey games. The (several) million-dollar question is whether just hockey will pay the bills. From the start, it was assumed that was not the case, and the Arena would need to be a multi-use venue that drew crowds for events in addition to hockey. In 1999 when the City and County first “invested” in the place......it was touted as a “Civic Center” that would host all kinds of events for broad audiences year round. The original owners almost immediately defaulted on bills and were several years in arrears for property taxes before the County took ownership (and removed it from tax rolls). To date, no operator has ever been able to draw enough revenue to maintain the facility and cover operating expenses.....let alone pay City, County and School taxes. In fact, other than the original Afr promises (that quickly proved false), has anyone ever even offered to try to operate the Arena as a fully self-sustaining business that can pay for operations, staffing, maintenance and taxes from its own sales?

I may have that printed as a poster to hang on my office wall.

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