By Maureen Werther
The Adirondack Civic Center Coalition made its final payment of $50,000 to the city of Glens Falls in June, completing the lease-purchase of Cool Insuring Arena.
While the monetary component of the agreement has been fulfilled, the arena is still under lease from the city until the end of 2019, at which time the coalition will exercise its option to purchase the arena for the sum of $1. The total cost of the agreement was $600,000.
Dan Burke, president of the coalition, said that the final payment was the result of “years of hard work by the Adirondack Civic Center Coalition board and a dedicated staff.”
Burke, who is also regional president of NBT Bank, said that the coalition raised more than $800,000, all from “individuals writing checks to keep the building and keep it as an arena.”
“We put ourselves on the line and, so far so good,” said Burke.
The coalition also purchased the Adirondack Thunder hockey team from Calgary Sports & Entertainment in June 2017. Burke said that the coalition originally had no intention of buying the team. But, when Calgary decided that they would move the team to Stockton, Calif., the coalition decided to consider a purchase option.
“They [the Thunder] are our major tenant,” said Burke. The team uses the arena some 36 nights a year and not having them could have possibly put the building in jeopardy.
“So, we took another risk and raised more money. We now owe [Calgary] one more payment on Jan 1, 2019,” said Burke. Neither Burke nor Calgary Sports & Entertainment have disclosed the purchase price of the team.
Burke said because the coalition is a 501c3, any profits generated in the future from the building itself will not go back to the coalition. But the hockey team is a for-profit entity and if they are profitable, money will go back into the 501c3.
“Our goal is to make the building profitable in the long run” said Burke.
Jeff Mead has been general manager of the arena since 2015. But this is his first time managing both an arena and a hockey team.
He said he expects to see a small profit for the hockey team, but he has not seen the numbers yet. The arena experienced a huge financial turnaround in the last year, with a 30 percent increase in ticket sales over the previous season. This was the biggest increase per team in the ACHL, something for which the team received recognition, said Mead.
“It’s still a hockey town. But the world has changed so much, with technology and different ways of being entertained,” he said. “We do have a hardcore fan base. It grew by a few hundred last year and we hope to grow it again this year. But not every family can afford to commit to 36 nights a year,” which is the team’s home schedule.
The arena offers a reduced package for families that includes a pass for 18 games instead of the full 36-game season pass, which Mead says “really makes sense” for families. . “We saw a huge spike in that last year. Families and groups is our focus going forward.”
Another sign of the team’s growing popularity were six sold-out games this past season. “In the two years before that, we had a combined total of five games that sold out,” said Mead. “If you’re a fan, coming to a game for the first time and there’s 5,000 people in the arena, it’s a great atmosphere.”
Mead is also planning on other popular events. The public high school basketball tournament was held there for 25 years and he said that they will be bidding to bring it back to the Cool Insuring Arena. The basketball tournament was always popular, particularly if local schools were in the tournament. Other events will include rodeos, girls high school volleyball state finals in November and the Section II wrestling tournament in February.
Mead said plans are in the works for a large concert in October, but he could not yet make an official announcement. He hopes to attract more concerts and floor shows, such as car shows. “We are focused on filling any open dates we have to bring more people downtown.”
The arena has 4,794 seats. It has a $2.7 million operating budget. It opened in 1979, but has gone through numerous upgrades thanks, in part, to state grants in recent years. A $1 million video-scoreboard and a digital marquee outside are the most visible, but there have been other facelift improvements.